| Author |
Message |
    
Harry Simenon
Hsympothai Member
Post Number:
329
Registered: 10-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 18, 2004 - 05:15 pm: |   |
I wonder about the future of the book.
E-books are still not very popular (regular books easily outnumber them.) It isn’t very comfortable to read from a monitor, and a laptop or a palm isn’t everything. For some reason a printed page is still the easiest to read. (I detect much more errors on paper than I do on a monitor.)
But how would you like it if you had a nice plastic sheet that looked exactly like sealed printed paper? And with a push on a button the ink would rearrange itself to show the next page? (Like Harry Potter)
My company is developing this concept called “E-ink” right now. I have seen quite a few prototypes, but it still needs some improvement to make it available for production. I estimate it will be a matter of a few years before E-ink devices will be wide spread. This might make E-books very popular.
It will be fun to own a flexible sheet that contains a whole library. And later on I suppose it will have a bluetooth connection with the Internet to download books directly.
There is a whole range of consequences to this technology; many already connected to E-books, but much more wide spread.
Publishing E-books is not as risky as publishing traditional books, and when E-books become easy to read, more new authors might get a chance.
More new authors mean a development in writing style and topics in general, a wider range of reading material.
This will also mean more crap on the market, like the POD technology also caused. But mouth to mouth or sms to sms or E-mail to E-mail will regulate this somewhat. Bad POD books don’t sell, while good ones still do.
The possibility of a virus in your favorite novel, changing the text into something totally different than the author had meant. I suppose that means a virus scanner in your book!
And illegal copies of books, like we know today of CD’s and DVD’s. The price of the books will have to come down so low that illegal copying doesn’t pay off. (I don’t believe in copy protection systems, they will always get hacked.)
Does this mean that we might become well read, but not well paid? (Still better than the other way around I think)
On the other hand: what if the people only like to watch movies or video clips on the E-ink devices? It takes more effort to read than to watch TV. Will the people stop reading in a far future? I think/hope not. |
Gary D. Kessler
Wandering Member
Post Number:
209
Registered: 07-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 18, 2004 - 05:35 pm: | |
E-books have four advantages going for them:
1. They are word searchable.
2. They can be multimedia.
3. They are portable. (But the question here is the "can they be taken to the beach" question of durability.)
4. They can be cheaper than print books. (The "can be" being strategic--for the most part, they aren't cheaper yet, because the readers for them are expensive and are obsoleted about every 10 minutes.)
Guess whether or not the E-ink devices can catch on depends larger on whether they maintain the advantages above over print books and/or have new advantages to offer.
http://www.editsbooks.com
"Finding Go: Matching Questions and Resources in Getting Published" (with Carol Kluz; Winterwolf, September 2004) |
Harry Simenon
Hsympothai Member
Post Number:
330
Registered: 10-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, August 19, 2004 - 01:51 am: | |
E-ink devices can be taken to the beach in future and even in the water if you like.
The price for the devices will be no problem in the future. Think of history of the pocket calculator. I remember that the one I got in elementary school costed about $30 and only had basic functions. Today you can buy scientific ones for about $5. The ones with basic functions cost cents.
I think the biggest advantage of the combination E-book/E-ink wil be the easy way of purchasing books through the internet while you are on the beach with your flexible sheet of plastic. |
Emily Veinglory
Awareness Member
Post Number:
37
Registered: 07-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, August 19, 2004 - 02:49 am: | |
I have trouble seeing e-ink or similar is being any closer than 10 years away in a consumer friendly, affordable and robust format.
But for me the thin-ness of the sheet is not an issue, paperbacks are not thin. The problem is reading contrast. Rocketbooks etc are a fine shape but they need a high contrast matt reading surface to lure me in. I despise their greay, shiney aria-fonted displays with a passion. |
Bill Nelson
Hsympothai Member
Post Number:
393
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, August 19, 2004 - 09:21 am: | |
Harry,
I'm not against this medium for reading.
I recently checked out a dedicated reader from the library
and enjoyed it very much. It had all the features that make
it easy to use, it was the size of a hardcover book, and had
six novels pre-loaded.
One could include technical material, magazines and reading for enjoyment, all in the size of one book, rather than a handful.
I like them and think the technology (ala the E-ink) will just get better.
BN |
Gary D. Kessler
Wandering Member
Post Number:
211
Registered: 07-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, August 19, 2004 - 10:58 am: | |
I'll also be interested in seeing what happens, but just have to note that "everything will be wonderful--in the future" has been the usual answer on the front end of any such venture. It means nothing--either positive or negative--but it does fill in the time while we're waiting to see what actually happens.
http://www.editsbooks.
"Finding Go: Matching Questions and Resources in Getting Published" (with Carol Kluz; Winterwolf, September 2004) |
Harry Simenon
Hsympothai Member
Post Number:
331
Registered: 10-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, August 19, 2004 - 01:58 pm: | |
Emily,
The contrast of E-ink is the about the same as printed paper. The thinness is nice as you will be able to roll it up.
The prototypes look good, but the are only displays at the moment. They only need power to change a page.
The first ones that will be in production will not be flexible, as the electronics behind it need to be made out of semiconductive plastics. This is in development too, but the first chips are running.
I do foresee some problems with color. The system works with tiny bubbles filled with electrically charged white and black particles. If the current (tension would be more correct) is applied one color is attracted to one electric pole and the other color to the opposite pole. By reversing the polarity of the poles you can change the color of the bubble.
This means that you will have only two colors per bubble. For printing you will need four colors, thus four bubbles would make one pixel. This will mean that the colors will not have much depth in them. For black it is perfect, as you will have one bubble for one pixel.
This might make it less suitable for multi media purposes, but still great for books.
It is a matter of extrapolation to see where this might end. |
Trina Green
Wandering Member
Post Number:
147
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 20, 2004 - 06:55 am: | |
I buy only E-books. The palm pilot can go anywhere and I have all the books that I love with me. Imagine a college student with all his books on the palm or any portable reader for that matter. These kids are spending in excess of a hundred dollars a book. The E-book would probably run 20-30. That's a hell of a savings! The average palm pilot cost between 3-$400.00. And you can always update the software. 10-15 minutes tops. I love technology, it will either kill us or free us. |
Jennifer Lynn
Unity Member
Post Number:
1399
Registered: 03-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 20, 2004 - 08:32 am: | |
I'm with you Trina. Most of the books I buy now are ebooks for pretty much the same reason. I don't have the space to store piles and piles of books. But I can put piles and piles of books on a little memory stick.
I buy ebooks from NY bestselling authors, as well as from e-authors (I'm one of 'em, so I'm supporting my industry) and find the quality just as outstanding in both.
Besides, there's nothing like shopping in your jammies and getting that file delivered immedatiately to your inbox, rather than waiting weeks for Amazon to get it to you.
Jenn
Jennifer Lynn
www.jenniferlynn.ca |
Trina Green
Wandering Member
Post Number:
148
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 20, 2004 - 08:38 am: | |
I agree Jennifer, feels like instant Christmas, minus the tree and Santa. LOL |
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