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Here comes the e-book revolution

computerworld.com

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Re: Here comes the e-book revolution

#11

Post by sdfx »

njharman wrote: post #8
sdfx wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is pretty much the iPod effect - a nice product with a great integration of the marketplace. I guess this makes it appealing to a broad audience who are looking for simple products with name recognition. Maybe other reader are better, faster, more feature-rich, but it seems to be the ease of use that people are looking for.

Being a product of/advertised by one of if not the worlds biggest book retailer had more than a little to do with it. In fact "integration of the marketplace", "broad audience", and "name recognition" are all symptoms of being Amazon.

Sorry if my original post was not clear enough, but this is exactly the point I was trying to make. Maybe it's not fair, but all these points do matter for the target audience just as much as technical superiority matters for the tech-savvy crowd.

Re: Here comes the e-book revolution

#12

Post by TweedHeads »

BvS wrote: post #6

Will file sharing etc. become as big a problem for the book industry as it became for the music industry? Howo are writers going to earn their income in the future?

99cts books, sell a million and you're done.

As long as they try to sell ebooks for $20 or $50 they will fail miserably.

iTunes is about the right spot between price and convenience.

Make it expensive and I'll pirate it.

Make it affordable and put it at my fingertips and I'll pay for it to avoid the hassle of viruses or bad copies wasting my time.

Re: Here comes the e-book revolution

#13

Post by jballanc »

Funny how much I'm reading about this problem right after reading Siracusa's piece: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/02/the-once-and-fut...

I, for one, can say that I was inspired to download "Stanza" after reading that, and have already finished H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine" thanks to it!

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead

Re: Here comes the e-book revolution

#14

Post by unalone »

mapleoin wrote: post #2

I hate it how everyone focuses on Amazon's Kindle. I think it's one of the weakest ebooks out there. And certainly the most proprietary. There are tons of ebooks out there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebook_reader and I think the iLiad should get more headlines: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILiad

You think? What about it makes it weak?

It has access to an online Amazon store. It has free wireless Internet from anywhere. It's owned by the largest online book store on the planet and it integrates into their products. If you need to convert to a format that works for them, they give you a free email address that converts instantly, or for ten cents you can send it right to their book. Physically it's beautiful: the form is one of the best I've come across for any device.

The iLiad looks ugly. It looks clunky and generic and the interface looks just as bad. If you want good press make something that's a joy to use.

Re: Here comes the e-book revolution

#15

Post by electromagnetic »

TweedHeads wrote: post #12
BvS wrote: post #6

Will file sharing etc. become as big a problem for the book industry as it became for the music industry? Howo are writers going to earn their income in the future?

99cts books, sell a million and you're done. As long as they try to sell ebooks for $20 or $50 they will fail miserably. iTunes is about the right spot between price and convenience. Make it expensive and I'll pirate it. Make it affordable and put it at my fingertips and I'll pay for it to avoid the hassle of viruses or bad copies wasting my time.

Everyone knows the value of $1, however I don't think we see a song on iTunes as having a cost because it's less than a dollar.

Re: Here comes the e-book revolution

#16

Post by procrastitron »

unalone wrote: post #14
mapleoin wrote: post #2

I hate it how everyone focuses on Amazon's Kindle. I think it's one of the weakest ebooks out there. And certainly the most proprietary. There are tons of ebooks out there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebook_reader and I think the iLiad should get more headlines: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILiad

You think? What about it makes it weak? It has access to an online Amazon store. It has free wireless Internet from anywhere. It's owned by the largest online book store on the planet and it integrates into their products. If you need to convert to a format that works for them, they give you a free email address that converts instantly, or for ten cents you can send it right to their book. Physically it's beautiful:…

I completely disagree with you regarding the Kindle's physical form; I think the Iliad (and every other e-book reader I've seen) is far ahead of it in terms of design.

When I'm reading an e-book, all I want in front of me is a large screen. However, the Kindle sacrifices screen size to make up for a built-in keyboard. 99% of the time that you are using the device you won't have any need for a keyboard, and the Iliad's 8 inch screen would serve you better at those times than the Kindle's 6 inch screen.

For me, the ideal form factor for an e-book reader would look like one of two things:

1) A larger iPod touch with something close to an 8 inch screen.

or

2) An EeePC with a swivel screen so you could use it in e-book mode, similar to the OLPC XO.

Right now I'm using an OLPC XO as an e-book reader, and although it doesn't have as nice a form factor as the Iliad or the Sony Reader, I do consider it significantly nicer than the Kindle. Of course, the low price doesn't hurt either.

Re: Here comes the e-book revolution

#17

Post by unalone »

procrastitron wrote: post #16
unalone wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You think? What about it makes it weak? It has access to an online Amazon store. It has free wireless Internet from anywhere. It's owned by the largest online book store on the planet and it integrates into their products. If you need to convert to a format that works for them, they give you a free email address that converts instantly, or for ten cents you can send it right to their book. Physically it's beautiful:…

I completely disagree with you regarding the Kindle's physical form; I think the Iliad (and every other e-book reader I've seen) is far ahead of it in terms of design. When I'm reading an e-book, all I want in front of me is a large screen. However, the Kindle sacrifices screen size to make up for a built-in keyboard. 99% of the time that you are using the device you won't have any need for a keyboard, and the Iliad'…

The keyboard is incredibly useful. I annotate things that I read, and I'm grateful that they've got a keyboard. Meanwhile, the screen handles text well enough that on the small setting, one page is about equivalent to a page in a book.

You can't compare a laptop to a Kindle. You just can't. The electronic paper that it uses is in a league of its own. I can see comparisons to Sony's e-Reader or the iLiad, but if you can deal with a laptop for reading you're nowhere near the intensive reader that would benefit from something like a Kindle.

I haven't used an iLiad before. I've never heard of it. The picture Wikipedia showed makes it look ugly, as I said. However, the Kindle is significantly better than the e-Reader, which is the only other one I've heard to be a legitimately good product.

Re: Here comes the e-book revolution

#18

Post by unalone »

njharman wrote: post #10
tontoa4 wrote: post #4

Is there any place to publish and sell your own eBook online? I've had this idea but the PDF creator seems like it'd be difficult to code. The iTunes App Store type business model seems ideal for this.

http://www.lulu.com/ is one of many, many. There are books sold in iTunes App Store today. Many I've seen are just lame repackaging of public domain texts.

Also: Amazon lets you publish books directly from them using createspace.com, and you can sell a Kindle book for no charge (I think).

Re: Here comes the e-book revolution

#19

Post by unalone »

BvS wrote: post #6

Will file sharing etc. become as big a problem for the book industry as it became for the music industry? Howo are writers going to earn their income in the future?

I download a lot of books for free. It doesn't compare to the feeling of physically owning a book. I couldn't ever trade a physical book for an electronic version. A lot of people agree. I still see sales of my book going through, despite the fact that it's available for free on Scribd and for download as a PDF.

Re: Here comes the e-book revolution

#20

Post by procrastitron »

unalone wrote: post #17
procrastitron wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely disagree with you regarding the Kindle's physical form; I think the Iliad (and every other e-book reader I've seen) is far ahead of it in terms of design. When I'm reading an e-book, all I want in front of me is a large screen. However, the Kindle sacrifices screen size to make up for a built-in keyboard. 99% of the time that you are using the device you won't have any need for a keyboard, and the Iliad'…

The keyboard is incredibly useful. I annotate things that I read, and I'm grateful that they've got a keyboard. Meanwhile, the screen handles text well enough that on the small setting, one page is about equivalent to a page in a book. You can't compare a laptop to a Kindle. You just can't. The electronic paper that it uses is in a league of its own. I can see comparisons to Sony's e-Reader or the iLiad, but if you c…

You're right that most laptop screen's aren't good enough for reading e-books, but the OLPC XO is an exception because of its special display. Granted, that display still isn't as nice as e-Ink, but it is good enough for serious e-book reading.
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