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Why Nobody Likes E-Books
CybrGuyRSB writes: "In today's Chicago Tribune, there is an interesting article about the total unpopularity of e-books. It seems to partly tie their failure into their copyright protection and briefly discusses the Skylarov case."
Gee, why didn't some of the other dot.com outfits try doubling their prices? It makes as much sense as their other business models....
Uh, they did. The problem is that twice zero is still zero. So, it didn't help much.
Given one hour to live, the student replied: "I'd spend it with professor FP who can make an hour seem like a lifetime."
No one wants to sit on the toliet with a laptop. Things might get a little toasty from the heat...
With paper books, I can look smart by filling a whole bookshelf with stuff I haven't read. With one trip to the used bookstore, I can cheaply purchase a whole 6 feet of classics from the past, and look like a well rounded person. Ebooks need to include some sort of packaging that fills bookshelf space, like the computer game boxes.
Technical references are too easy to use in a well-implemented electronic format. Why would I want to search text electronically when I could visually scan for it, page by page? There should be three ways to find something - Table of Contents, Index, and post-it-notes. Oh - and you shouldn't be able to click on the index entry to jump to the page, you lazy bastard. Navigate there yourself.
It's also too easy to correct errors in electronic books. I have fond memories of spending the first day in class fixing the errors introduced in the 11th edition. Errata should be sent on paper, by mail, so you can make the changes by hand. Think what the children are missing!
One thing that should be implemented is textbooks that change every year, in such a way that they can't be upgraded. This encourages students to keep their textbooks, since they can't sell them to next year's students. My shelf has many inches taken up with important sounding books like "Elements of Style", "Thermodynamics, 3rd Edition", "Calculus Made Easy", and "Learning Programming (with C)", that protects my shelf from getting dusty.
The best thing about reading the newspaper is the feeling of getting up, throwing on a bathrobe, getting your slippers wet with dew, and retrieving the daily paper from your neighbor's yard. All ebook media should be delivered by throwing it on your lawn, preferably at 5 AM, so that the dogs can tell you the moment it arrives. Or shipped in two weeks, the way Amazon does it. Again, don't forget the packaging - I want evidence that I've been getting the daily paper in my trash.
Size is also important - how will the folks across from me on the bus know whether I'm reading Dostoyevsky, Hacking Exposed, Playboy, or Harry Potter? The e-book should be huge, so that it requires a backpack, and should include, in a bright red LCD display on the back, what you are reading. The back-pocket is an unreasonale design goal. Weight is also a good thing - you need a counterweight when you are taking a dump.
Also, current ebooks are a bit too waterproof, and a bit to easy to backup. If I spill a little liquid on the display, I should see the waterspot five years from now. If I lend it to a friend, I want the electronic equivalent of a marked cover and bent spine. Books are a precious thing, and should be fragile, easily transferable, and should age with an old-book smell. Or, just put mold in a aeresol can, I don't care which way you go.
Are any design engineers listening?
Carl G. Jung
--
"With one breath, with one flow, You will know Synchronicity" -La Policia
Until I can buy an ebook reader for $5, which will survive a fall from 6 meters onto cement (or being struck, repeatedly, with a sledge hammer, for that matter) and subsequent dunking in salt water, can be folded in half or rolled into a tube, doesn't need batteries or a power cord, and can be as easily read in bright sunlight as in a dimly lit room, I just don't see that paper has any competition
Remind me to NEVER lend you a book. I don't want you dropping any of my books from six meters onto cement, Hitting it repeatedly with a sledge hammer and then dunking it in salt water.
Dropping a hardback six feet onto cement is liable to damage the cover more than slightly.
Considering the manufacture of modern books dropping them into salt water is not going to do them any good. You're going to damage the paper, The glue may fall apart...
I would rather you didn't fold any of my books in half, or rolled them into a tube either. It may be possible but it's definitely not good for them.
Oh, and I can read my e-book just as well, for at least as long as paper books. In all sorts of lighting conditions.