Interesting article on eBooks

[johnridley]

This article over on ArsTechnica, The once and future e-book: on reading in the digital age is pretty interesting. Written by a guy who started with Peanut Press back in the 90s.

He knows what's going on, and I think he's spot on, and addresses why some people read ebooks, why some don't, but mainly all the myriad ways in which the publishing industry continues to shoot themselves in the foot.

Having read it, I think the print publishing industry is only dooming themselves if they continue to crush ebooks. Steve Jobs has said Apple isn't getting into eBooks because "people don't read anymore." I've personally found that I do read a lot more if I have a book with me at all times; a few years ago that meant having them on my PDA, now it means having an audiobook on my player (I have an ebook reader but it's too big to carry everywhere; and things that are small enough to carry everywhere I don't want for other reasons (mainly, they're all phones these days and I don't really want a big, expensive phone). I still have a PDA but I don't carry it with me everywhere anymore.

I think a lot more people would read if they had books available cheaply on the device they've already got in their pockets (maybe their iPhone). They could encourage reading if they did so, generating their own market.

All the publishing industry is doing now with their ridiculous pricing and DRM policy is driving people to piracy. Just a couple of days ago, I decided I wanted to read Meacham's "American Lion." $20 in hardcover, $30 in ebook form. What's the justification for that? And the ebook form is DRMed, so I can't loan it or sell it, and if I ever have to replace my reader, I just lost all my stuff. It's no wonder so many people are reading primarily pirated material, even though we would gladly pay a reasonable amount for a reasonable ebook copy. In fact, the only ebooks I've actually purchased have been from Baen books, who charge less than paperback price, and deliver non-DRMed files.

Here's a fun excerpt:

"Books will never go away." True! Horses have not gone away either.

"Books have advantages over e-books that will never be overcome." True! Horses can travel over rough terrain that no car can navigate. Paved roads don't go everywhere, nor should they.

"Books provide sensory/sentimental/sensual experiences that e-books can't match." True! Cars just can't match the experience of caring for and riding a horse: the smells, the textures, the sensations, the companionship with another living being.

Lather, rinse, repeat. Did you ride a horse to work today? I didn't. I'm sure plenty of people swore they would never ride in or operate a "horseless carriage"—and they never did! And then they died.

Comments

[mbcrui.livejournal.com]

I spent some time saying "I don't like ebooks, they aren't portable, the readers are too expensive, the books are too expensive."

And now I have 1/2 dozen on my very nicely backlit PDA, which I carry with me anyway because it holds my check ledger and, well, my books and games :).

It pisses me off that they're still so expensive, though. I've found a couple of smaller publishers who publish mysteries and romances that pay the authors very well and also do a print on demand service and allow you to download a pdf and to keep a login on their server, where you can download anything you've purchased if your reader or computer should crash.

It's going to be like VCR's and CD's and DVD's. They were expensive, and the people who fought them did poorly for a long time... until suddenly they're the norm, and you look at the old fashioned way and wonder... do you know of anyone who gets their television over the airwaves anymore? I think I know of one person.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Two. We mainly use satellite, but we still have an antenna on our roof for local stations. In fact it's our only HD source. But mostly it's satellite and through the DVR. We're the only house in our neighborhood with a TV antenna. But we're expected to be weird I guess; we INTENTIONALLY built a detached garage. People already talk about our nonconformity.

Actually, if it was just me, I wouldn't even have the satellite feed; I could easily get everything I want to watch over the internet. I've actually stopped recording the Daily Show because it's easier to watch it online at their website.