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What Will It Take For eBook Adoption?

Posted by michael on from the chicken-and-egg-problem dept.

zmcnulty writes "Gizmodo has a new weekly feature that appears to be off to a great start: their first 'Feature Creep' writeup (by Sanford May) is an excellent overview of some of the obstacles standing in the way of adoption of eBooks, and more importantly, a handheld device that supports them. We've probably all heard of the Sony Librie's lukewarm reception, but if you're not familiar with the somewhat stunted eBook market, this is an excellent essay to get you on your way."

6 of 511 comments (clear)

  1. It will happen eventually by erick99 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I have tried to read ebooks on my desktop, notebook, and Palm Vx. I have a hard time quantifying why I still strongly prefer a printed book. Perhaps part of it is that I find it far easier to flip back in a book to a passage that I want to reread. I also like having a small pile of books on my bed from which I can grab when I go to bed. It is one thing to look at a pile of books and grab one than to go through a directory of titles. However, all of these objections can be reasonably rebutted so perhaps I just have a preference for printed books because I am 46 and I am just too used to paper?

    The common wisdom is that eBooks will have a hard time for two reasons: bad reader devices and book junkies opting only for the hard stuff, the dead-tree form factor.

    There will come a day when there is a generation of folks who use ebooks and consider printed books cumbersome and an anachronism. I'm not part of that generation but I see it coming.

    I do remember doing some research back in the early 80's with kids that had reading disabilities and we found that there was a difference in comprehension when reading from a monitor (more or less direct light) versus a printed page (reflected light). Direct light seemed to yield better comprehension. We controlled for a lot, but not all, contravening variables so I don't know if this is cogent to the ebook debate.

    Cheers!

    Erick

    --
    http://www.busyweather.com/
  2. Readers and Books by Mantrid · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If there was a truly comfortable, intuitive, and usable reader with a wide selection of books then I might be interested. You need to be able to read under any light, and it can't be any more cumbersome than your standard novel. The graphics would have to be print quality.

    And obviously the price would have to be reasonable, probably less than $100.

  3. real books or ebooks? by kingstalemuffins · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Personally, I prefer having a physical book in my hand to page through rather then trying to read something on a screen. An actual book just feels more "solid" and "real" to me. But, there are some advantages to ebooks, especially when used as a reference document. The good old ctrl-F makes finding specific information much faster then looking in an index or table of contents. Also, If you forget your ebook somewhere, it is just a matter of connecting to your home computer to download it wherever you may happen to be.

  4. reading my first e-book by Kevinv · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm reading Andre Norton's Time Traders from the Baen Free Library using Mobireader on a Palm Zaire 72.

    I'm not thrilled with it, preferring a real book, but it is readable and the ability (if I actually bought a dictionary for my palm) to look up words right there and make annotations is pretty cool.

    Tech books seem more likely, but the convience of having a number of books at no additional weight is really nice, especially when I travel.

    The biggest thing killing ebooks right now? High cost and DRM. I don't want to pay more (or even the same) for an e-book and I want to be able to read it on several devices.

    Audible.com has better pricing (and they have to pay someone to read the thing) so I'm not sure why e-books don't.

  5. I don't see eBooks having a huge uptake by CFD339 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The media is wrong for books.

    What I do see happening with extreme speed is on demand paperback publishing.

    The big publishing companies are presently not in the business of book creation. They are in the business of manufacture and distribution of wood products. Instead of varnish, they cover theirs in ink.

    It makes MUCH more sense store the books electronic at a site, and use a credit card (or cell phone) operated printer that can produce a good quality bound paperback in a matter of ten minutes or so.

    "Bookstore" will be the place you go to get the book. They'll be able to have one or two on the shelves of popular books for browsing and tens of thousands of browseable book jackets as well. You'll also be able to go online and decide what book you want and have it "sent" to that printer or possibly even bring your own home-made or open source book on flash or thumb drive or something and have it printed.

    Wired: Kinkos
    Tired: Borders
    Expired: Using Wired Magazine to sound hip.

    --AP

    --
    The problem with quotes on the internet, is that nobody bothers to check their veracity. -- Abraham Lincoln
  6. We're selling plenty of PDF's. by AndyHunt · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The eBook industry may be stunted for some, but we're doing just fine selling PDF versions of our Pragmatic Bookshelf titles.

    *Many* of our customers choose to buy what we call a "combo pack", that gives them both the dead-tree version and a searchable, non-DRM restricted PDF file. While I think the dead-tree form has the best ergonomics, the PDF is really handy for reading on airplanes, etc.

    Paper is better in some ways and eBooks are better in others. Use the right tool for the job!

    -- /\ndy