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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'."
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!
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
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.