Comments on: Loves her Sony Reader, but only for manuscript reading, not e-books: Our adrenaline pumper of the week

By: Bryan

Bryan — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:39:56 +0000

Most new technologies are only adopted en masse by the next generation. The adults of this generation have been raised with pBooks and most of them will never adjust to the eBook. But the next generation who is growing up on the internet and the always available information flow will be a much better fit for the eBook. To them it will simply be one of several choices, which has it’s advantages and disadvantages. And without the nostalgia for pBooks, they will accept eBooks for what they are.

And as that happens, eBooks will get cheaper and more powerful, have better displays and longer batteries.

The eBook’s day will come. And when it does, there will be the older generation sitting at the retirement home, little old curmudgeons complaining about how the kids these days have no appreciation for blah blah blah.

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:06:40 +0000

Don, I’d certainly agree with Julie that e-books have a way to go as social objects, especially the DRMed kind; but what could be more social than a public domain book that you can endlessly reproduce and share with friends and discuss on blogs?

Of course I certainly agree with you about Julie’s misreading of the market. Constant readers galore! And as we know, true book-lovers account for more than their share of the market.

What’s more, the publishing industry for the most part is clueless, clueless, clueless about the potential of e-books for the elderly once the right gizmos are out there.

Thanks,
David

By: Don Brubaker

Don Brubaker — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:31:52 +0000

Julie says, ” I think part of what book lovers love about books is owning a physical copy to share with friends or display on their shelves, to look at the cover and hold the book in their hands and flip through the well-worn pages if it is a much-loved copy.” And while David agrees that in some cases books can be social objects, it’s not true for me. I’ve purchased hundreds of p-books and never for the reason that I could share it when I was done or that I could display the books on shelves. So at least for this reader, there is no compelling reason to prefer p-books. In fact, I like having my entire library on a single device. Of course I hate being captive to certain DRM formats… but I find that I am mostly purchasing e-books at this point. And Julie might be interested to know that I’m a heavy reader… I have just completed 3 novels (Michael Connely) this past week.

By: Rob Preece

Rob Preece — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:13:58 +0000

Other readers’ experience may vary but in my case, my preference for reading eBooks was a gradual thing. I had to read several eBooks on reading devices (I have several) before I realized that I was reading faster and reading more conveniently. Perhaps Julie will discover this to be the case for her as well. Or perhaps Julie realizes she’d better say good things about cardboard and pulp because that continues to be where her bread is buttered.

I spoke, last weekend, at the North Texas Romance Writers meeting on eBooks and I had several authors recoil in horror when I told them that eReading is a better experience. So, I told them of the Writers Digest articles I used to read debating whether these new-fangled word processors will ever replace our trusty Underwoods (many authors said no, then. I suspect few (other than J.K. Rowling) would say so now).

Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com