A few years ago, on C-SPAN, I watched a program about books and the publishing industry. A couple authors were on a discussion panel and I remember one of them saying something along the lines of “in ten years I don’t think we’ll have actual books anymore”, implying that eBooks would take over. It made me sad because I love books and I feared they might be right.
However, it doesn’t seem, to me, that that is happening. eBooks are offered at a lot of places, but i almost never hear of people buying them instead of the actual paper book. For me, an actual physical paper book is easier to read than an online web page, especially if the book is rather long. I don’t know if that’s why eBooks aren’t more popular, though…I don’t want them to become too popular because paper could suffer, and we’ve had them for…ever.
I doubt eBooks will every replace books, there’s something visceral about holding a well made book in your hands. But, they can complement them. I keep several books on my Pilot for those unexpected moments of free time when I don’t have a book handy. Well, mainly it’s bathroom breaks but you know what I mean.
I’m on the other end of the spectrum. I’ve read perhaps 2 or 3 paper books in the last 4 years. On the other hand, I’ve read perhaps 50 or 60 ebooks. It’s probably due to the fact that I spend a lot of time at the computer. I find it easier to find the time to read a chapter or two here or there if it’s on the computer than I can with a paper book.
Baen Books has quite a number (several hundred) of sci-fi and fantasy books available as unrestricted ebooks in either RTF or HTML format. They have a free library with lots of books, and a subscription program where you can get copies of ebooks in installments for a monthly fee. It’s quite nifty.
Doesn’t appeal to me aesthetically, the whole ebook thing. I take a book everywhere I go, and they can get pretty scuffed up.
The glow of the computer screen seems more suited, for me anyway, to short attention span reading such as…Chiff and Fipple. I like no-glow print.
I can’t read books at the computer. There’s something about it that makes me unable to concentrate in that way. However, I can, and sometimes do, read books from project gutenberg or baen’s free library on my palm. I don’t know why that’s so different. 'cept, I can hold it in my hand, that might be it.
More generally, there are a few large reasons ebooks haven’t taken over.
Most publishers don’t think like baen, and don’t want unrestricted electronic text version of their books out there. Therefore, they put them in proprietary formats that can only be read by special ebook readers, which most people don’t own.
eBooks are not as convenient as books. They require batteries or powercords, they can’t be used during large chunks of airplane flights, and they may break if dropped or carried in the bottom of a backpack.
No impulse buys. In the real world, there are bookstores that you can just pop into for a minute, and online every other site seems to have an ‘amazon bookstore’ page. eBooks can (effectively) only be gotten online, and at that, by deliberately hunting them down.
I think, eBooks will eventually have some noticeable usage, but when that will happen, I’m not sure. It depends on how the problems are resolved. Only problem (2) is technical, and that one’s a matter of someone doing a good implementation, not technical limits.
Wow! What a “tickle the imagination” sort of day… itunes and ebooks. Mmmmmm…
I wonder if part of it is that the technology to read/transport them just hasn’t become widespread/convienent/inexpensive yet. If/when it did, you might see a sharp increase in the ebook department. Can’t imagine paper books going complety away ever though. There is something special about a paper book, the feel and the smell, that an ebook just couldn’t replace. However, ebooks do sound like something that might be fun to dabble with (especially after looking at that Project Gutenberg site… trying to download Wuthering Heights right now).
For us sort of technologically ignorant type folks… how does this work exactly? Can you download these to your computer to store and then download them to something like a palm pilot to read, then when you’re done, erase that and download another? Which is better, the text or HTML for such a purpose? Other thoughts on ebooking?
I think html is better on the computer, just because web browsers do a nice job on formatting text. I’m just as happy with plain text on a palmpilot, but it doesn’t really matter, as long as you have some utility that can read it.
Ever since The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to The Galaxy I’ve been interested in the idea of ebooks, but still haven’t actually come across the technology on the high street. When my local bookstores stock them I’d be more likely to get hooked.
Theoretically I’d be an ideal consumer, as long as the unit was no bigger than a small paperback, and had a long battery life, and the option of a backlit screen, but screens in general are the bane of my life; I already spend WAAAY too much time looking at screens, and the idea of adding to that time doesn’t greatly appeal. I use book reading time as time to rest my eyes from screens.
My bias is toward paperbacks. I spend a couple of hours every day commuting on trains. If it doesn’t fit in my pocket, I won’t carry it. I may be the only person on earth who hasn’t read the Da Vinci Code.
I can’t read long text at the computer. It just doesn’t work for me I’ve tried ebooks on pda, but that didn’t do it either.
I recall reading a year or so ago about technology that would produce e-text on a viewer very much like paper. That is, it would have the look and feel of paper, could have many pages (10? 100?), would be look and feel like a book, but the text would be produced electronically and could be downloaded, erased and replaced. The concept was that we could each have our own “book” and select whatever we content we want. 3 chapters today, 3 more tomorrow etc.
Does anyone else recall this technology? is it real? Is it coming soon? My recollection is microsoft had a hand in it.
I’m still waiting for the paperback. I’ve read Angels and Demons (too laid back), know the story (the politics of early Christianity are (is?) fascinating) and run from the room every time someone starts talking about it. Have a good read, but if you plan on discussing the details on Chiff and Fipple please post warnings. After two years of waiting, I expect the book to be a let down.
I haven’t read it and haven’t thought about buying a copy.
I read a LOT and one of my favorite times is right before drifing off to sleep. I just finished Call of the Wild and White Fang, and I’m starting Treasure Island (which has somehow been overlooked all these years). Curling up with a good book is a comfort thing for me and will certainly never be replaced by staring at a computer screen.
I read it on a flight back from London. I finished it in about two hours and thought, this would have been a great book if Umberto Eco wrote it.
I couldn’t see what the fuss was about; it was poorly written, with an obvious plot and bad guy. I should have realized based on how hyped it was that it wouldn’t be any good.
That’s one cool thing about the Sony device and some of the eInk technology that’s coming out, it’s reflective like paper. The screen is made of very small beads of black and white and applying a charge forces them to line up. It’s passive too, once you set it up they stay that way so it doesn’t take a continuous supply of power.
I’ve not played with one yet but I hear they look as good as newsprint.
Yes. These things do not look like computer or PDA screens.
The Sony display is very close to real print. This new technology explains the large price-tag - 41,000 yen on Sony’s page.
E-ink is going to be the wave of the future. I’m a technical writer, so I’m constantly reading (and writing of course). If the material is going to take more than a few minutes to read, I always print it out. There are tons of reasons why paper books are superior to computer screens, but when E-ink arrives on the mass market, we’ll have the best of both worlds.
