Let me add that we can't anticipate the future needs of historians and others, in regard to old books and other documents. Yes, I'd like everything available for eternity in open formats. But that doesn't mean it'll happen.
As author of the post, I couldn't agree more with the commenters on the need for open standards. The idea is to give people a feel for the devices, not force them to come to the museum to read the books. But, yes, the content issue does enter into it. What if some future DRM is super-hard to crack? Then, if nothing else, screen scans could be made. I would hope it wouldn't come to that. Down with DRM! But just in case. What's more, the museum would let people in the future be able to experience the look and feel of today's e-books. Today's taken-for-granted gadgets will be yesterday's historical finds.
Regarding financing, the museum could happen at LoC or the Smithsonian through donations.
Try this link: http://amberlink.org/#download and email me at davidrothman@pobox.com if it does not work. Don't blame the Amber. It's possible something happened when I was posting the item here. OK. You may now switch off your irony detectors. Thanks. DR (not associated with Amber but glad it's around!)
Thanks, but what about those of us who might prefer nondestructive scanning? Also consider other factors--for example, the speed and quality of the scans, as well as the price. The Czur appears to be several times faster than a $600 model from Fujitsu that allows nondestructive book scans. If you're scanning lots of books, that won't be a trivial detail. As for quality, the Fujitsu is good but not nirvana. Let's see if the Czur will do better.
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Let me add that we can't anticipate the future needs of historians and others, in regard to old books and other documents. Yes, I'd like everything available for eternity in open formats. But that doesn't mean it'll happen.
As author of the post, I couldn't agree more with the commenters on the need for open standards. The idea is to give people a feel for the devices, not force them to come to the museum to read the books. But, yes, the content issue does enter into it. What if some future DRM is super-hard to crack? Then, if nothing else, screen scans could be made. I would hope it wouldn't come to that. Down with DRM! But just in case. What's more, the museum would let people in the future be able to experience the look and feel of today's e-books. Today's taken-for-granted gadgets will be yesterday's historical finds. Regarding financing, the museum could happen at LoC or the Smithsonian through donations.
Try this link: http://amberlink.org/#download and email me at davidrothman@pobox.com if it does not work. Don't blame the Amber. It's possible something happened when I was posting the item here. OK. You may now switch off your irony detectors. Thanks. DR (not associated with Amber but glad it's around!)
Thanks, but what about those of us who might prefer nondestructive scanning? Also consider other factors--for example, the speed and quality of the scans, as well as the price. The Czur appears to be several times faster than a $600 model from Fujitsu that allows nondestructive book scans. If you're scanning lots of books, that won't be a trivial detail. As for quality, the Fujitsu is good but not nirvana. Let's see if the Czur will do better.