Gemstar Ebook Crashes, Burns

Robotech_Master writes "In a lengthy announcement on its ebook catalog page, Gemstar, owner of TV Guide and the Rocket/Gemstar eBook, has announced it is going out of the ebook business. Gemstar will not be selling any new devices or ebook content after July 16th. Of particular interest to those who purchased the newer Gemstar eBook models that eliminated the ability to install free content directly on the devices: 'We will also continue to provide the newly released Personal Content feature available through the web bookstore at least through July 16, 2006.' It's too bad, really; I've heard that the Gemstar has one of the most legible displays of any of the ebook alternatives available. They could have done quite well as general-purpose reading devices, if Gemstar had not locked them directly to its own overpriced content in a stunning demonstration of self-proctology."

Comments

What does this mean for GuildePlus+?

[Anonymous Coward]

Gemstar provides the TV Guide-like listings for my ATI AIW video card. Will this still be operational?

Too bad for Ebooks

[l810c]

They had a really nice reader, but they kept it so locked down and there was so little content.

I've been using my Franklin EBookMan for 3 years now. I love the backlight, I can read in bed at night and not bother my wife. It's also facing the same problems as the Gemstar.

I was really excited and taken in by all the hype several years ago. I like to read books. I also thought there was unlocked potential in the Rocket(Gemstar) or something similar for technical manuals. I frequently use Many different technologies(HPUX, AIX, WinNT, Oracle, SQL, Shell, ASP, Cold Fusion etc. etc.) in my consulting business. I always thought these devices would be great for carrying multiple reference manuals instead of those 10 pound books.

Ebooks

[slux]

As long as the current copy protection mechanisms (of which Lawrence Lessig talks about in his excellent free_culture are in place, ebooks will not become common. Or I should say I hope people can see how useless they are and opt to not use them.

When you think of what the technology could do... You could have access to the digital version of any book, there would never be problems with acquiring a copy of a book. You could always get the book you wanted instantly from your local library, even through the net. Right now, the only thing they have is "gee-it's-new-technology"-effect, and they're really just severely restricted versions of real books.

But it's all inevitable. Even if every library in the world will decide to buy these pathetic excuses of a book, the unrestricted versions will come. They just won't be in the library. They'll be in p2p. Because we all know the ebook protection is fundamentally flawed.

maybe they can open it up

[io333]

It would be nice if they put out the specs on everything so some enterprising and bored guru could find a way to stick a teeny version of linux on it and make it a reader again. Why waste a good display?

Re:eBooks

[jonathan_ingram]

And might I also mention that if you want to get involved in helping PG, we have a wonderful Distributed Proofreading project. It's now the main route through which books go to get only DP, and we're almost up to 1500 books processed. Anyone can join -- we need all the proofreaders we can get!