TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Library tech expert loves the Pepper Pad–and sees it as a good e-book machine

By David Rothman

When we last tuned in, consumer tech writer Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal was bashing the Pepper Pad.

But some other gadgeteers loved the machine. And now Casey Bisson, a library technology specialist at Plymouth State University, has done a post for the most part singing the Pepper’s praises (”Put A Pepper In Your Library”). Just back from a hands-on at Pepper Central, Casey tells me:

I’ll do a more complete review of the hardware in an upcoming post, but it I can say that the little machine actually works, and works pretty well. The most remarkable thing is that it really is different from laptops, it really is as easy to pick up and put down as pen and paper…

I think you’d like it as an ebook device. The display is quite good, despite Mossberg’s complaints about the fonts. It’s rather light for its size–my Sony Clie TH55 is far more dense–so I think it would be easy to hold for long periods of time. And it’s quite versatile (more details about what it can and will do in my post later). What you won’t like is the limited battery life it now has. I’m told it has a three hour life, and the battery status indicators during my meeting seemed to confirm that. To note, however, is that it was running very bright in a fairly bright room, and streaming MP3 radio for about an hour as well.

No, I myself haven’t tried a Pepper yet, but out of vanity if nothing else, I’m rooting for it to succeed if it’s as good as Casey says. Back in ‘92, I was saying that the ideal school and library machine would be a tablet with a detachable keyboard and a stand to prop it up for writing. Well, the Pepper is of, course, a tablet, and while it doesn’t come with a keyboard, you can add one. And the stand is already built in.

Meanwhile, here’s part of Casey’s post, which, far from being a mere review of the Pepper Pad, helpfully tells how he believes it could fit into a library:

What’s so special about the Pepper Pad? It’s portable, more portable than a laptop. Laptops move from desk to desk, but patrons often leave them behind when they go looking for books or other materials. See it? Books and computers — even laptops — don’t mix. In this age of computers, PDAs, and iPods, a pen and notepad are still one among our best information tools. The Pepper Pad is small enough, light enough to go with the patron among the stacks, around reference, even (god forbid) into the bathroom.

It’s portable, but it has a big bright screen (8.4“ diagonally) that makes web pages (displayed in Mozilla) and other text easy to read. Your library catalog will look great on it, and any maps or location guides will make a lot more sense when patrons can view them in-situ. It will help them find the books they’re looking for, then offer them a lot more once they do. They should be able to use it to mark the book as useful, or not. And if they stumble across something they didn’t expect, they should be able to mark that too–or look up bibliographic details to help decide what to do with it. Got search-inside-the-book going? How better to use it than on a Pepper Pad from within the stacks?

The portability, the touchscreen, and the stand that keeps it upright and available at all times could make it an ideal research companion. Of course, the built in web radio and AIM client help too. Better, it could enable new applications, new modes of accessing library resources that current technology hasn’t yet revealed.