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jbenny · 04-17-2008, 09:51 AM

Dear ebook manufacturers,

JSWolf has decided that no one could possibly need any storage card larger than 2GB for ebook use. His rationale is that no one would ever need more than 100 or so ebooks at a time (I assume he means small, fiction ebooks with few images). He also has decided that anyone who has more than a few hundered ebooks must be getting them illegally. Since JSWolf knows best for all of us, Mr ebook manufacturer, please do not design future products to exceed these limitations, as it would be useless and would be promoting piracy.

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Now that that bit of nonsense is dispensed with, I have owned many hundred pbooks in the past. I am sure that some readers here own or have owned many more than that. These pbooks were legally purchased. Why is it so hard to believe that someone could also own hundreds or thousands of ebooks?

One scenario in particular that was alluded to by James Bryant is the need to carry large amounts of documentation with you. I have had this need myself from time to time. I realize that most such documentation today is in PDF format, which is somewhat difficult to use on today's smaller readers (but not impossible). However, the discussion of storage card size in this thread was not limited to devices like the Cybook (the Iliad works better for PDF), nor was it limited to only today's devices. To get around the limitations of today's ebook readers, many people use Tablet PCs as repositories of large amounts of documentation (and the hard drives are considerably larger than 2GB).

As larger screen ebook readers become available (like the Astak Mentor series), the use of PDF and other image heavy ebooks will most likely increase. If the capability is there, people will take advantage of it. I fully expect that non-PDF ebooks and periodicals with images to become more prevalent.

Hopefully, ebook device manufacturers will not design future products according to the personal and rather limited dictates of JSWolf, but instead will push the design envelope and deliver products that will find new and unexpected uses.

04-17-2008, 09:51 AM	#11
jbenny Addict Posts: 323 Karma: 358 Join Date: May 2007 Device: Tablet PC and Nokia N800	Dear ebook manufacturers, JSWolf has decided that no one could possibly need any storage card larger than 2GB for ebook use. His rationale is that no one would ever need more than 100 or so ebooks at a time (I assume he means small, fiction ebooks with few images). He also has decided that anyone who has more than a few hundered ebooks must be getting them illegally. Since JSWolf knows best for all of us, Mr ebook manufacturer, please do not design future products to exceed these limitations, as it would be useless and would be promoting piracy. ------ Now that that bit of nonsense is dispensed with, I have owned many hundred pbooks in the past. I am sure that some readers here own or have owned many more than that. These pbooks were legally purchased. Why is it so hard to believe that someone could also own hundreds or thousands of ebooks? One scenario in particular that was alluded to by James Bryant is the need to carry large amounts of documentation with you. I have had this need myself from time to time. I realize that most such documentation today is in PDF format, which is somewhat difficult to use on today's smaller readers (but not impossible). However, the discussion of storage card size in this thread was not limited to devices like the Cybook (the Iliad works better for PDF), nor was it limited to only today's devices. To get around the limitations of today's ebook readers, many people use Tablet PCs as repositories of large amounts of documentation (and the hard drives are considerably larger than 2GB). As larger screen ebook readers become available (like the Astak Mentor series), the use of PDF and other image heavy ebooks will most likely increase. If the capability is there, people will take advantage of it. I fully expect that non-PDF ebooks and periodicals with images to become more prevalent. Hopefully, ebook device manufacturers will not design future products according to the personal and rather limited dictates of JSWolf, but instead will push the design envelope and deliver products that will find new and unexpected uses.