Re: "The Elusive E-book"

From: "Robotech_Master"
On Wed, May 7, 2008 at 9:07 PM, joseph harris 
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
> Which leaves the interesting question:  To what extent has the
> stand-alone ebook a future?


We still don't have the ideal reader for ebooks-something that is 
easy to
read, easy to use, cheap, and durable. Ebooks are still in their 
"early
adopter" phase.

I know I wouldn't buy a Kindle, and I *like* reading ebooks. It's 
just too
expensive.

Remember when mp3s and other digital music were the sole province 
of
"pirates" and warez sites? Then along came the iPod, and 
boom-suddenly Apple
is the number one or two music store in the USA.

Until there's a device that is to ebooks what the iPod was to 
mp3s, printed
books are in no danger, and it doesn't really matter whether 
ebooks are
given away free or not-the price of the device for entry is so 
high that the
difference between adding zero bucks to that price and adding 
five or ten or
twenty bucks to that price to buy a book to put on it is trivial. 
We haven't
gotten that device yet.

Give it a decade or so for cheap epaper to become a reality, and 
then we'll
see. Or maybe two decades. Or who knows, maybe even never?

-- 
Chris Meadows aka | WWW: http://www.terrania.us | Somebody help,
Robotech_Master | ICQ: 5477383 AIM: RoboMastr | I'm trapped in
[email protected] | Skype, Gizmo: Robotech_Master | a sig 
file!
[email protected] | Yahoo: robotech_master_2000 |


Chris,

I think that the question here is less about ebook reading 
devices, and more about human ebook readers.   Despite some of 
the intensity here about readers and text files and so on, for 
most people I reckon the monitor on a desktop or a laptop is 
going to remain the best digital reading device for a long time.

I often see the comparison to music, in copyright as well, but I 
don't think it stands as template for book publishing.   The most 
important difference is a business one.   the music world is 
dominated by a few giant concerns that guard their product 
fiercely.   The giants in books are looking to join google and 
amazon in screwing authors.

Now though I think good epaper could change that to a degree,  I 
can do no better than join you in 'maybe even never'.

Joseph Harris 


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