Slashdot Mirror
Digital Books Start A New Chapter
conq writes "BusinessWeek has a piece on the latest advancements in eBooks, and how this time they might just take off. From the article: 'Portable devices are becoming lighter and more appealing. The most important step forward may be in digital ink, the technology used for displaying letters on a screen. A small company called E Ink has created a method for arranging tiny black and white capsules into words and images with an electronic charge. Because no power is used unless the reader changes the page, devices with the technology could go as long as 20 books between battery charges'."
Article is a dupe...articles covering E-Ink's advances can be found here, here, here, and here.
I'm as excited about electronic paper as the next geek, but this story has no information we haven't already covered in the last four electronic paper stories. 'News for nerds', indeed.
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
I just bought the White Album in .lit format, I am NOT changing formats again!
How many freakin articles about this do we have to read before it's actually in production? Wake me up when it's ready.
I really love the idea of E-Ink, I liked it the first time Slashdot posted it a couple years ago, the many times they have covered in between, and the time it was covered in relation to the new Sony E-book reader coming out with it.
If you don't vote, you don't matter, so don't waste your time telling me your opinion
this was new years ago.
And the bad:
Having to spend $400 before getting any actual content is pretty harsh. The readability and low power consumption are a step in the right direction, but until the price drops considerably this won't be mainstream thats for sure.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
This sounds really darn nifty. No backglow = better reading experience for my pleasure reading.
The only thing I'd be concerned about is burn-in type effects, which you just wont see for a long period of time.
Everyone's got that monitor that's the 'build bench' monitor or the 'data center' monitor because it was sitting on a login screen too long and it has permanent burnin on the screen.
Even though this thing doesn't have constant power putting the words there, I'm concerned about somethign like this even leaving a little trace of what used to be there . . . leave an etch-a-sketch picture too long and it's not gonna wipe, but you won't find out for months and months later.
If they've solved anti-burnin effects, woowoo! I want it for more than just a portable reader...
This is the format of choice I hear... for the Duke Nukem Forever Manual... mu ha ha ha!
Hmm, maybe I have been working too hard.... mu ha ha ha!
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
From all indications, the vast majority of people have never read 20 books (not counting comic books, of course.)
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I only care about e-books if the following conditions are met:
1 - The image has to be inert - no glow effect of any kind. Ideally it should look just like paper.
2 - The "book" has to be waterproof. I read in the tub.
3 - The technology has to be sturdy. ANY portable technology should be sturdy.
4 - It has to be affordable.
5 - In the event of a crash I need to be able to replace the books in it without charge.
If I'm going to read, oh, say 100 books over the life of the product, it better cost me less for the unit plus the e-copies of the books than it would to buy the books outright. Otherwise there is no point.
Oh -- they hate DRM and only distribute standard unencumbered formats. They have this quaint notion that if they treat their customers well, their customers will respect their copyrights.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
'Cept they stopped carrying Asimov's and Analog magazines last year, due to publisher. Dang.
there's another technology where they actually process wood pulp and then use a contraption called a typebeaver or something to imprint dyes or inks on the product, and it is supposed to show promise, but may not be environmentally sound. i think they're calling it woodonix, or p-ink or something.
I think I would love to have digital reference materials (including news), but for entertainment, I would still like to hold something printed on paper and bound. So far, the devices I have available to me are either too bulky to read easily (laptop) or too small to read easily (PDA). A book is cheap, light, durable, and (god forbid) disposable.
Web 2.0 == Giant Blogspam Circle Jerk
Has anyone else made a reader with this tech besides Sony?
Does Sony have exclusive rights to the E-Ink technology?
TFA has vague allusions to other companies making readers but not much more than rumors, and no mention if it is the same technology.
Sony is akin to a George Romero zombie. It's a shambling monster that is relatively slow and harmless if you keep an eye on it. Just don't turn your back or get distracted. One minute you're fine then *bam* you're having your entrails eaten and your brain sucked out.
Critical technology for alt.binaries.e-book
Many people have over 100,000 ebooks thanks to merely half a year of usenet skimming... but these people NEVER have read more than 2 or 3 books in ebook form.
Why?
Because paper books have a certain inexplicable ease of use or approachability. I cannot explain why. It just Is. trust me.
I feel these newer devices might help but the idea that they will be used for PDF is a joke.
PDF is the worst possible format for an ebook.
CHM (microsoft help file format--- basically HTML ) is best.
CHM books open immediately, compared to slow pathetic PDF and allow lines and paragraphs to REFLOW based on the size and shape of your viewing window.
Its like adjusting the size of your web browser window on a compliant web site.
raw text and CHM make ebooks a possibility... the disheartening fact sheets for these DRM laden viewers with their meager 600x800 rez screens boast about PDF
PDF is a dinosaur
PDF is total misery for hand held devices, it has obnoxious wide margins, no choice of reading font, and the text cannot be reflowed or repaginated. For math texts for some reason djvu is the format math book collectors use often.
I will pay 100 dollars more for one that opens CHM files. and chm is overtaking PDF for computer books on alt.bonaries.e-book.technical.
In the last 8 years of ebooks the only popular formats ever seen are CHM,PDF,TEXT,LIT,HTML,PDB,DJVU,RTF : thats it!
And of all of them, though all can be read or converted into other formats... the only one hostile to small hand held devices is the fascist printing-press oriented PDF
I will not be happy until all ebooks are converted to chm, except graphics-rich pop magazines and graphics novels (most everything on a newstand) which sadly are best in PDF but unusable on a hand held device. (yes hundreds of magazines are also smart-scanned into the usenet groups)
If these newer devices lack CHM (and they do currently), then they are a useless piece of crap to most people I know.... though thankfully they do display text file formats.
E-Ink has been around for a while, but no one has actually developed hardware around them until recently. Sony's new Libre http://www.sony.jp/products/Consumer/LIBRIE/ ) , IRex's Illiad ( http://www.irextechnologies.com/shop/products/ilia d.htm ), and Jinke's Reader V2 (http://www.jinke.com.cn/compagesql/English/embedp ro/prodetail.asp?id=20)all look to be exciting e-book platforms which may make reading e-books something not tied to the tiny screens of PDA's and heavy laptops or neck and eye wearing desktops.
Publishers like Fictionwise, Orsen Scott Card and Jim Baen have seen this coming and are ready to deal with it. Particluarly OSC's Intergalatic Medicine Show and Jim Baen's Universe on-line magazines look to be set to take particular advantage of the forthcoming increase in portable displays.
so e-ink's been around for awhile, but how cool would it be if it could get things like the daily newspaper or RSS feeds too?
I've read 20-30 books on my Clie...but only because they sell for less than a physical book and don't "expire" or have other idiotic restrictions. I won't buy one of the new Sony units (despite actually working for Sony) because I don't trust it not to put idiotic restrictions on my reading.)
The cake is a pie
"Every other form of media has gone digital -- music, newspapers, movies,"
True. Music has gone digital, mostly because people take their un-copy-restricted CDs and rip them into MP3s. Then they can use the MP3 on as many computers and devices as they want, give it to friends, and have backups. Newspapers exist as un-copy-restricted HTML pages, which may be printed, sent to friends, and stored digitally without restriction.
What the publishing industry is peddling right now is copy-restricted garbage. It will be locked to a particular computer or device. I can't have backups of the text or lend it to a friend. Often I can't even print it. If the Microsoft operating system that stores the text wipes it out, oh well, go buy another one. Meanwhile the publishing industry salivates at the thought of copy-restricted electronic textbooks that expire after a single semester!
This copy-restricted garbage will not take off. If I want digital content, I'll go for something that does not have these ridiculous restrictions. Such unrestricted media can and will take off, because it has advantages--i.e. it's searchable, and cheap to distribute. For example, Wikipedia is far superior to its dead-tree equivalents for these two reasons alone. Also, the Amazon Shorts model looks promising. But I'll take a dead tree over copy-restricted garbage anyday.
Penny - plain text accounting
While this may be news to newsweek readers...I think I've known about this technology for around 2 years now. Maybe its finally getting to market just now, but really, is this news to us?
From TFA:Now, a paper airplane that can change colors as it flies across the room...that may be something special.
Who is this that even the wind and the waves obey Him? Surely this computer must submit also!
I love the idea of caring a library of books with me but do I neeed to? Of course not but I also don't have to have game sytems or even TVs but I got em. Anyways this is all good but as stated before this dog has been beaten to death. We already now all about the black and white capsules that are clear as print. The thing is with a product like this we need to see it, which means sell something that uses this brilliant technology or shut up already. The $400 sony ebook reader sure doesn't count as most of my ebooks I got free. Why would I pay $400 to use something I got for free or really cheap. If this thing cost say $100 or under then we can talk until then I have heard enough about black and white capsules and how crisp the text looks.
WTF?
I was leading a test group at Sony last summer to examine 200 ebooks for visual bugs as the reader was Japanese-language hardware with a English-lnaguage BIOS. The technology does work as advertised and I had no problem reading the display for the 20 days that I was on the project. It did suck batteries like a Gameboy Advance. That should be fixed in the American hardware.
E-Ink has been working on this, for, uh, ever.
..then you need to make it damn near indestructible, and no thicker than a small pad of paper.
I was thinking about this the last time I was flying transatlantic; there's no way I can justify the added expense of business class - so no power. That means you're lucky to get a notebook to run the whole way. Nevermind you might be hopping off one plane and onto another one for another six hours. It's HARD to beat paper. HARD. It's cheap, disposable, recycable, everywhere, and you can easily print on it at rediculous interruptions. No biggie if it's lost or damaged. Infinate battery life. Great capacity (look at a newspaper).
All of these ebooks have the power problem, and the price problem - even if they've finally come up with an attractive display.
I'm convinced the only thing that would make e-books possible would be if the Federal Government stepped in and issued one of these to every person in the country for a nominal - like $20 or less - fee. That would create a defacto platform. It still wouldn't solve the power problem - I think you'd almost have to be able to run the thing off self-contained solar cells.
It's a tough problem.
I'd be tempted to pick up one of these if it came in 8.5x11 form factor in paper resolution for reading technical manuals and PDF's - right now I have three monitors, and at any one time, one of them has a specification sheet for a semiconductor open on it.
As far as an ipod for books goes, maybe that's the ticket, if the next ipod has a large screen. It still is a hell of a lot smaller than a copy of wired.. and a lot more expensive.
..don't panic
Saunders penned a humorous essay stemming from the events. It was a confession to Oprah Winfrey that all of the fiction he'd written had, in fact, been true. But Saunders had a hard time getting the piece published quickly, and now it feels dated. "There might be a different model for a literary community that's quicker, more real-time, and involves more spontaneity," he says.
Helllllloooooo Blogoshpere! God, that word sucks.
I first found the Baen free library poking around the 'net looking for free books to read on my Palm Treo (gotta do something while the wife is shopping) and I was amazed--authors I'd actually heard of, books in series I'd actually started reading in paper, and for free... sweet!
I've read through all the free offerings (and bought some paper books based on things that interested me) and recently purchased a Webscription. It's a pretty good deal--five books for $15, in plain-vanilla HTML (so I can back them up and read them on any device I want), and three of the five were books I would have probably been tempted to buy as paperbacks. Baen passes a portion of the savings from not having to produce paper books along to the authors, saves on printing an distribution, and everybody wins.
I'm not sure about the digital ink stuff--my biggest concern would be display lifespan. I read at least a hundred books a year either as paper or eBooks (yes, seriously) and the reason my Palm works is that it's my phone so I take it everywhere and charge it up each night, and I'll replace it in a couple of years.
Overall, I'd love to see more publishers doing what Baen is doing. I definitely look for Baen books when browsing brick and mortar bookstores, and would patronize other publishers who would 1) provide compelling content 2) at a reasonable price, 3) in an open format
Interested in a Flash-based MAME front end? Visit mame.danzbb.com
I like paying $2-5 for used paperbacks on the street, or $0-0.25 for newspapers. When those are lost or damaged, I can forget about it. When my mobile "phone" can spring into a 9x16cm reflective display (with backlight) for long reading sessions, I'll be willing to replace paper books with nondisposable digital ones. Because then I won't be carrying around an extra thing to worry about. If I can still buy "books" for $0-5, and lend them to friends whose minds I'd like to colonize without paying a franchise fee.
--
make install -not war
coloring books? For the non-us folks; that would be colouring books (I think). Sorry US education at work here.
A chinese company produce some of these products http://www.jinke.com.cn/Compagesql/English/index.a sp. I m particulary interessed in this one http://www.jinke.com.cn/compagesql/English/embedpr o/prodetail.asp?id=20 But I would like to see the stuff before to buy.
"Use cases are fairy tales..." I. S. 2005
I wish it wasn't made by Sony, which has too much of history of screwing up consumer devices. I fully expect there to be something radically stupid with it.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
Books aren't very waterproof either.
Not waterproof, perhaps... but I've dropped quite a few books in water over the course of 35 years and countless baths. Let them dry, and they puff up somewhat, and no longer stack nicely... but you can still read them just fine.
of reader devices becoming so cheap in the future that they're sold bundled with their content, wich of course expires after some time, say one month, then the user is forced to pay to renew the access to the same content he/she already paid for. This will kill the whole concept of library and make culture and knowledge not so different from other marketable products.
You mean the Libre that was released two years ago?
'news' for nerds indeed.
Dear Mr U.C. Blockhead,
This is your friendly neighbourhood Sony human resources department. Please be advised that we have engaged S.P.E.C.T.R.E. to track you down. Seventy-five AIBO drones are currently circling your position and are preparing to terminate your employment forthwith.
Please prepare for beam-out.
"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face! It's just a goddamned piece of paper!" -- George W. Bush
There's a lot of talk about the DRM on here, peppered the the same valid criticisms that come up all the time ... but what I wonder is if the content providers realize how patently stupid trying to protect WORDS through technological locks is.
I mean, it's just words. If someone creates a DRM mechaism that makes it really, really hard to copy and distrubte the latest hit single, OK, they've sort of accomplished something. I can't just record my garage band doing a cover and expect it to sound the same. But if we're talking about an in-demand book, how freaking hard is it for a pirate distributer to transcribe a copy? Or even more simply (and very commonly), to use OCR software?
They're just WORDS!
Let's see - with my current library, I can -
1) Skim through the pages at high speed without wearing down the battery
2) Keep reading through an EMP
3) Knock my library off a high bookshelf onto concrete multiple times without damaging it
4) Lend books to friends and family
5) Read any book hundreds of times without having to recharge it
6) Hurl a book across the room without damaging it
7) Toss a book into a crate and ship it UPS without packaging, and be reasonably certain it will be readable if it ever arrives at its destination
8) Have ten people reading books from my library at the same time
9) In less than two seconds, take a book from the library and hand it to a 90-year-old who's never used an electronic device in their life, and have them start reading it without any problems
10) Sell my books to other people
I'm sorry, but every time I read about eBooks, I can't figure out how it will ever do more than take a small dent out of the dead tree book market. I personally like real books. Maybe I could get used to reading things I only intend to read once (pop literature, etc.) on an electronic device if the price was right, but there is no way I'm ever buying any sort of book in electronic form that I want to keep forever and refer to often.
My shelves at home are covered with texts on the industrial history of the American west from about 1860 to 1960 - mining, railways, early roads, electrical generation and distribution, etc. A good chunk of these are approaching a hundred years old or more, having been printed as contemporary reference material around the turn of the last century or before. I have original maps going back as far as the 1860s. Some, especially the maps and blueprints, are fragile, but they're still very usable. Nobody is going to convince me that any eBook will have a service life of 100 years, or even close. Plus there's nothing like researching for an article by being able to spread a whole bunch of sources on the same topic out on a large table. The advantages of being able to see it all at once simply cannot be replicated in an electronic device, nor can the ability to make photocopies when needed.
Now, if I wanted to pick up the next Clancy, Grisham, other misc pop lit novel for a long flight, I might consider something like this if the price was right. I probably won't read it more than once, so if I lose it I don't particularly care, and if it's cheap enough, it might just make sense.
RTFA/common knowledge: E-ink is called ink because it remains in whatever state you put it in without using power. Actually you don't need to RTFA, its mentioned in the summary: "Because no power is used unless the reader changes the page, devices with the technology could go as long as 20 books between battery charges."
When the technology will be more mature/advanced, programmers, data analysts, writers or spreadsheet users can benefit of e-ink based monitors. For example when I need to study some technical-report in PDF format I must print it on paper, because I am stressed from the LCD screen light bulb and I can not concentrate enough on the content.
What do you guys use?
I'm still using my old PalmIIIc to read eBooks on and I haven't found anything that matches it for screen size, brilliance, etc.
I tried changing to a Sony Clié, but the screen is just too small. I guess I could just keep using the IIIc, but the technoelite in me needs a new device.
Suggestions?
The technology might be cool, but what will keep me away is how much the so-called "content owners" are willing to be complete assholes about how the material is used, transferred, retained, etc. The technology may very well be ready, but I'm not so sure the content industry is - or ever will be.
>>CHM books open immediately, compared to slow pathetic PDF and allow lines and paragraphs to REFLOW based on the size and shape of your viewing window.
/.), I would suggest trying Foxit Reader. It is free, small to install (single file, the executable, fast to start). I recovered 80Mb that Adobe Acrobat reader needed and used 2.5Mb for Foxit. When comparing to Adobe's reader and loading a large (~100Mb) file, it was noticably fast loading and faster changing pages.
Perhaps the problem is your PDF reader. If Win32 is your choice of OS (yeah, I know... this is
If you are on another OS, there are other choices...
Would be more accurate. Just say no to giving others control.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Just appreciate the since of progression the simple act of turning the page gives? I used to think I'd like eBooks as a concept, but simply find it more of a tangible, qualitative, and quantitave experience to be able to actually turn the page. Further, until they produce an affordable (and by that I mean sub $100) reader that approximates the size of a large format paperback, with close to the same heft, and the ubiquitous availability of ALL the subjects I'm apt to read (not just oprah's book club, ny times best sellers, or random obscure titles) I'm just not interested. It isn't worth it. I'll also ditto mark up, book marks (the digital dog ear), and bad lighting. Battery life be damned, the thing better mimick the actual reading experience.
The english language is in beta. It's evolving but has not yet reached a level of usability.
The gist of the article points to an industry smugly patting itself on the back (and possibly massaging other body parts) in glee now that they've "solved" the problem with previous e-book introductions and their failings. Unfortunately (but not surprisingly), they're wrong.
I've sampled the e-book offerings, both hardware and software since the day they were first introduced. I was so excited to finally merge my appetite for reading (about 20 novels/year) with the convenience and power of technology. Yes, I was disappointed with the first e-book hardware, but it wasn't the only reason I returned the merchandise.
First and foremost, the problem with e-books is not the presentation (though it can be better), it's the frigging business model! Did I mention the problem with e-books is the business model?
Though I haven't done complete research for this latest round of e-books I suspect the landscape is similar to before. What I'd found was yet another money grab. Consider that:
You'd think with all of these super advantages, at most you'd pay 50% what a hard copy book would cost. Guess again. Especially early on, when I did go "shopping" it wasn't unusual at all to find electronic books selling for more than the hard copy of the same book!
No, the problem isn't only hardware, and the problem isn't mostly hardware, it's the frigging business model!
Yeah, can't imagine where they might have gotten that idea...
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
Yeah, until topics about Republicans and/or Intelligent Design come up. Then the heart turns to pure venom and bile -- and based on TMM's posts he's right there with the most venomous. So much for heart.
Or are you actually admitting that TMM is annoying, inane, and often wrong?
When I first got my Dell computer, I noticed that there was no manual, and the only printed documentation for it told you how to plug it into the wall and connect the monitor. Now, assume somebody is having a problem with their computer and is looking for a solution without calling up Dell. The natural thing to do would be to flip through the documentation, find the likely cause, and then try what the instructions say to do. How the hell am I supposed to do that if my computer is having problems? Odds are that if I can read the documentation that is stored in the computer, I don't need to read it, and that when I do happen to need it, that I'm unable to.
It kind of goes along the lines of Dell having all of its users rescue disks stored as images on their computers - how the hell am I supposed to restore the computer if I can't get access to the image? Fortunately for me, we called Dell, told them that the computer didn't include the software required to burn the image onto a CD (Actually, we even bought the computer with only a DVD drive, not bothering to pay for a burning drive as we had an extra laying around,) and they mailed out a copy of a Windows XP install disk. At least now I can reformat the hard drive and reclaim access to that wasted space.
The ebook situation riminds of the 1980s when InfoWeek would declare "198X: The year of the network" and the market hardly budged. I think the thing that finally pushed was for an office to share (then) costly laser printers on IBM PCs.
Reliable online music stores took a while.
Someday there will be a comphrensive collection of handsomely formatted ebooks. I'm guess its not the reader, but the price. Ebooks are about the same as print versions. Plus you dont get used discounts. If some publisher would sell an ebook for $5-$10, then the market might take off. There is no printing or wharehouse cost, so all that fee would be royalties and profit.
I love my books. I have lots of paper ones and lots more electronic ones. But when I spend my money on books I always buy the paper even though I would prefer the ability to grep my recycled electrons. Why?
When I buy a paper book I can:
Read it anywhere, at home, in the office or on the road
Lend the book to a friend
Sell the book
Give the book away
Photocopy a page for my notes
Photocopy a page to pass to a friend
Read it in a year
Read it in a decade
Have my grandchildren read in 100 years from now
When I buy an electronic version of a book I can do none of these things. It all depends on the license and on the technology. For some reason the publishers have the impression that because it's electronic that consumers no longer expect the same rights.
I do.
Beyond the licensing issue is the technical issue. That book isn't going to be readable in a few years when the current reader and DRM technology is defunct. In ways far removed from the restrictions publishers may impose are the restrictions that the technology will impose. A portable reader will only last so long before it requires a new charge or a replacement. A portable reader will die if it gets wet, not require a few minutes with a blow dryer. A portable reader limits the number of places I can enjoy a book in a way that a paper book does not. And if the reader is not portable I will be restricted even further in where I can read. So an electronic version of a book is of less value to me than a paper edition.
And yet it almost goes without saying that the publishers will try to charge more for the electronic edition.
But I won't go entirely negative on electronic books. They have many benefits to me when they are implemented in a consumer friendly way. Here are the instances of electronic books being superior to me:
I like being able to search my books. This is especially important with technical volumes where I need specific information and I need it now.
I like viewing books efficiently and for novels that means using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to read quickly and with excellent comprehension.
I like being able to concentrate the knowledge bound in books a single location so I can find them when I need them. 1000 books on a disk weigh no more than 1.
So while I am the epitome of the book reader, large library appreciating geek who adopts new technology quickly I will be staying away from electronic books until publishers learn to play to the strengths of the electronic edition and not lock them away from their most interested adopters.
Ok, so it's not the same, but how about printing with fading ink/toner? Print off an article, read it, put it to the bottom of your stack of blank paper, and then use the paper again when the article's faded away.
Has anyone tried anything like that?
I'm not going to buy a dedicated platform to read digital books. I suggest that publishing companies start looking at options for popular portable electronic devices we already want or need for other reasons. I'd look into books for cellphones or even the DS. I'd seriously consider buying books for my DS. In fact, the prospect of the web browser and project gutenberg is making me salivate!
I seem to recall that text on a computer screen is harder to read than printed text, because the viewer is confused about its exact position in space, so the eyes are tricked into focusing slightly wrong. This certainly continues to be my experience. So as cool as ebooks are, I would not expect them to be good sellers until they are noticeably cheaper and more convenient that physical books. And of course intellectual property will be a problem.
Currently hooked on AMP
I wish that old stories would give the year along with the date. Is the June 18 article from 2005 or from 2004? We don't know without deep investigation.
Imagine the flop Apple (Sony) would have (will) faced if the iPod (ebook reader) was released without the ability to play (read) plain old DRM-free mp3 (text). People already have a massive collection of music (books); they want a player (reader) that will play (read) that.
//text// messages (CLUE!), PDAs, phones, etc. Hell, even the iPod can read plain text files as it is - it's just not so pleasant as an e-ink screen. It will be ridiculous if an iPod could read more extant media than this ebook reader.
//industry//, but that's not saying much. media is not industry - it's information. Your prospective customers have better things to do with their time than pay you for things they can't use.
For every money grubbing pig of a media conglomerate, there are thousands of writers that people want to read who give away their writing. As such, they look at DRM and go, "what the hell is this for?" Any media display device that doesn't display DRM-Free content is pretty useless to consumers. No one will buy it.
"Every other form of media has gone digital -- music, newspapers, movies," says Joni Evans, a top literary agent who just left the William Morris Agency to start her own company that will focus on books and technology. "We're the only industry that hasn't lived up to the pace of technology. A revolution is around the corner."
I hate to tell you this, but text was the FIRST medium to go online, not the last. I realize that pretty pictures make nice eye candy, but the the web is essentially MADE of it. The reason is that text has a tremendous meaning/bit ratio - it's extremely heavily compressed. Images are next, followed by music, and now video. You are WAY, way behind if you think you're the last medium to get online.
Text is already everywhere - PCs, web pages, email,
Maybe you're the last
Baen has also put out a number of CD's bound in with hardcopies of books. Licensing: You can do whatever you want with it, EXCEPT sell it. I've been making copies and giving them to fellow readers. Which is the point - effective promotion via word of mouth and free goodies.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
I am wondering how many of these ebooks are going to be readable in, let's say, 20 years? I own far more than one thousand books, some older than 20 years. And all of them are valuable to me. Although I am developing digital solutions since more than 20 years, I have no trust in the industry to produce something digital that lasts for 20 years or more. Good old paper books work just fine.
Take Adobe, for example. They keep changing PDF just to force people to "update" Adobe software. These constant changes and the dependance is troublesome. This is no way to archive documents.
I would also not trust the industry to grant me access to something I bought 20 years ago. With the given DRM schemes they would probably ask me to pay for the information over and over again. The industry has shown that they act no different than criminals by installing malicious software.
Literature is culture and an essential asset for every modern information society. We cannot surrender this value to an inconsiderate industry. Ebooks are not the only attempt of companies to monopolize information. Archives like Google are another kind. Recent examples clearly show how they censor information, and nothing will refrain them from doing the same in the future in the interest of profit.
The worst thing about the entire development is that governments worldwide do almost nothing to secure the basis of our information society. Politicians are apparently blissfully ignorant. How is it possible that lawmakers allow the distribution of media which cannot be traded, exchanged and read worldwide (e.g. DVD region codes), despite all the talk about free trade, WTO etc.? Why is it legal to lock out certain software (e.g. Linux), restrict the owners ability to access their computers (e.g. "trusted computing"), while it is illegal (e.g. EUCD, DMCA) to circumvent unfair barriers (e.g. CSS)?
I say let them eat their ebooks.
No way in hell am I going to pay for a separate piece of hardware to read ebooks when I already have four perfectly good computers to use. If I can't read it with the equipment and software I already have, I'm not interested.
I could see a good e book device to be good for folks who travel a lot. That aside, I don't think I'll be getting any e books unless there's no other choice. The reason is simple: I like real books too much. I Don't need a powered device to read with regular books, and most importantly, I can sell them when I'm done with the book. With e books it's probably another "we're selling you the license to read it" line of bullshit and to be honest with you, when I spend money on something I want to own it, not just "have rights to use it".
I expect the same exact rights as if I'd purchased a printed version. Based on the overall direction we've seen recently with various DRM-related efforts, that probably isn't going to happen.
Persistent, reflective displays have been around for years. They're used mostly for signs, and for sunlight-readable military displays. (One of the military features - displays readable with IR night vision equipment.) These haven't been used much for e-books, but prototypes have been built.
I can even loan them out, as a friend and I bought Shuffles we swap back and forth from time to time.
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
$400?!?
Four years ago I bought a refurbished Toshiba Pocket PC for $199, and it came with Microsoft Reader. Without quibbling over whether this is the "best" format, I'll say it does work, I can add bookmarks, notes, etc., and I can use Word to convert any text into an e-book compatible with the reader. All that in addition to keeping contacts, reading websites via AvantGo, appointments, etc.
Having said all this, I can't help but wonder each of the following - perhaps someone here can enlighten me:
(1) Why hasn't this caught on; or more specifically, why are we still seeking the "holy grail" of electronic books, when a viable e-book format has been around for years?
(2) Why on Earth should this contraption cost $400?
Don't get me wrong, there are probably very good answers to both of those questions. I just don't know what they are.
When you're not looking, this sig is in Latin.
I too have a lot of books on bookshelves. This is one of the features in my living room.
I love it when I visit someone's house and they have a bookshelf with books on them. Very few people have that these days. It's more like a large collection of DVDs/CDs (and the odd Videos). I love being able to stare at a bookshelf to see what others read, or to randomly pick up a book that hasn't been read for a while.
these are things that won't be realisable with digitised books (ebooks in any form).
I tried ebooks when I had an iPaq. It's not the same.
Myself, I doubt that ebooks will overtake paper books for a very long time. It's got nothing to do with the technology advances. It's the usage.
It appears we've found where Sony intends to make p the production costs of the PS3. $400 is highway robbery.
If Apple enters the electronic book market, I wonder what they will call their device. iBook is obviously already taken for their laptop line, so perhaps their electronic book line will be called the iLaptop?
Wow...I'm surprised there's no feature that causes the eBook to spontaneously combust after X number of minutes.
Dry the book completely. a barely warm oven is good. Then put it on a shelf in the bathroom while you take a hot steamy shower, or humidify it just a hair by other means. The idea is to moisten the paper just enough to soften it, not enough for it to stick.
Then put the book on a flat surface somewhere, and stack a ton of weight on it. If you can arrange a couple of metal plates in a bench vise, that would work too. In a week or two, the fluff should be barely detectable.
Both the new version of the Sony ebook reader and the Illiad are supposed to be available in April. Seeing how Sony is treating its customers, I would go for the Iliad - even if the updated Sony product is supposed to be allowed to display open formats.
The Iliad supports reading PDF, XHTML, TXT and playing MP3. It is provided by iRex, a company backed by Philips. Other than that, the products appear to be very similar.
PS: Don't forget that project Gutenberg provides a load of good literature for free.
this isn't new. this tech has been around for years.
You do know this is the same product right they are bringing to the US???? Anyway, as long as they let me transfer pdf's to the device I really could care less.
Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.
Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.
Since textbooks - in the US anyway - are big business, what do you think of DRM for textbooks? Any companies out there you see doing this "right"?
Perhaps some day ALL readable material will appear in this "book" you speak of!
Oh come now... I'm sure all of us geeks have read at least one Sci-Fi story written in the 60's, set in the year 2000, where kids poke at the pages of a book and say "It's not working. I keep trying to activate it, but it's not talking to me."
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
Will somebody please print this friggin page and send it to Sony?
What if, say, it's 75% cheaper? Would price savings compensate for the additonal restrictions?
Not for me. This reduction is only temporary, until they gain control of the market- at that point, they'll charge whatever they want.
Nowhere on their site is there a place to buy just a display, or just the material.
Also - those of you wanting to mark up the documents, etcetera - use another tool for that. E-readers will become cheap enough primarily by focusing on just reading documents, and reducing the costs involved with that.
Sometimes it's better, especially in the early stages of a technology, to have a cheap, single-purpose implementation, than a more expensive multi-function one. For example, the telephone. Early simplicity caused widespread adoption, which then created the markets for later technological improvements.
I've always been a voracious reader. I used to get about 30 books a week from the library and read them all, when I was younger. As I've grown older and have more responsibilities (and less free time), I'm down to perhaps 5 books a week now. I've found though, that I almost never buy paper books anymore. My last few trips overseas, I've loaded up my PDAs (over the years) with 30-40 books, and managed to read those during my vacations.
I listen to audiobooks with my PDA as well (yay Audible.com!).
I completely agree though, that DRM is the key factor that turns me off any proprietary device. Except for Audible (which has a great model for recovering lost books or burning to audio CD), I don't really trust any single manufacturer or publisher to lock their books into proprietary formats.
Does anyone else think that a standalone book reader will work? Lets see:
- my PSP (or DS) for games and movies/TV shows - $300
- my cell for phone calls - $600
- my eBook reader for books - $400
- my iPod / MP3 player for music - $400
- my PDA for, well, everything else? - $600
- a geeky vest with enough pockets for all of these things, and probably a personal security system so I don't get mugged - priceless
I've gotten myself down to three devices, and I'd love to get to one that will do them all. I'd be willing to pay $1000 for that!
AoD
A more accurate statement is that, like most things, they'll charge what most people are willing to pay...
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
Myself, I doubt that ebooks will overtake paper books for a very long time. It's got nothing to do with the technology advances. It's the usage.
I believe that ebooks won't overtake anything, but rather the same book-loving crowd will adopt them.
Having 4000+ books I certainly share your views, but as I happen to travel a lot I'd kill for a device that carries 100 or so of them with good legibility. And yes, that means no Palms.
Cheers,
Carlos Cesar
I don't think and e-book reader will be successful if it only allows the use of DRM-based formats. In order for it to be successful, it must also allow the use of open formats, with at least plain text as the minimum.
Without that option, there is a risk that the device will be unusable in the future, say if the company producing the content goes out of business. There is also the problem of: what if my e-book reader wears out/breaks? I think that in that case you would be required to repurchase your DRMed e-books, unless an option is allowed to redownload your e-books for free as a replacement.
I don't have a problem with DRMed e-books as long as my reader also allows the use of an open format for the above reason. If you buy a DRMed e-book you take a risk that it will not be reable in the future and that is a risk that you take. Despite its limitations, a plain text e-book is readable on just about every computer ever made, and it is not tied to a single device.
Many formats allow fancy formatting and other options, but for many books (such as those in the public domain) plain text is all that you need. Unlike many e-books in DMRed formats, plain text e-books are readable in any format and will always be available.
I like the concept of electronic books and look forward to the day that it becomes a practical reality. PDAs are okay, but the screen is a bit small.
A book to read concerning this is Cyberbooks by Ben Bova. It is a sci-fi novel set a few years in the future and it covers the issues concerning the introduction of an e-book reader, and the forces that work against it. It is a very good read and has quite a bit of humor too.