Shatzkin Proposal for Enhanced Ebooks

[cerement]

Mike Shatzkin begins a series of posts laying out his proposal for ebooks ...

Originally Posted by The Shatzkin Files

I want to try to lay out a strategic approach to enhanced ebooks which I believe is more extensive than any general house has shown an inclination to pursue so far. I thought the clearest way to express this would be as a letter to an author which is, after all, how a strategic approach would have to begin.

[dreams]

Interesting blog post and I'm waiting for Part 2..

A quote from the Part 1....

"3. We speak of ebooks as if they are one thing, but they’re not. Most ebooks today are still read on desktop and laptop computers; only a minority of sales are for handheld devices like iPhones or Kindles. We expect this to change; Kindle is having a big impact on changing it. What this means is that what an ebook can do: whether it can “show” video, make use of outbound links, deliver clear images (even in black and white, let alone in color) is variable. We can’t give the same capabilities to somebody on a Kindle as we can on a PC. And what we can give somebody on an iPhone (and ultimately a Blackberry or an Android) may depend on whether the ebook platform is a Stanza reader or a Scrollmotion reader."
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For some reason this made me think... I would want to have all the extra goodies included in my ebook download purchase even if my current device is unable to utilize them. I may later buy/upgrade to a device with the capability to utilize the extra goodies and I wouldn't want to have to buy the "book" again... Maybe just "turn on" the new features?
[Well, I don't know if this is even possible (non-tech savvy person here) but makes me want to have it, just in case]

Then, again, what if I have an iPhone, PC, Mac laptop, and a Sony Reader? Just as now, I would want to be able to read my purchased ebook on whichever "device" I chose to.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by dreams

Most ebooks today are still read on desktop and laptop computers; only a minority of sales are for handheld devices like iPhones or Kindles.

I wonder where he gets this datum from? I have serious doubts about its correctness!

[cerement]

Originally Posted by dreams

[Well, I don't know if this is even possible (non-tech savvy person here) but makes me want to have it, just in case]

As long as you stick to semantic markup (ie. markup text by function - title, author, chapter - ex. XML) and NOT by layout (ie. how it should look - bold, italic, blink - ex. PDF) this is completely possible (and what ebooks should be aiming for). Then it simply becomes a matter of what each device is capable of and the reader programs create a layout appropriate to that device.

[Format C:]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I wonder where he gets this datum from? I have serious doubts about its correctness!

You can't pretend to work while reading on the iPod Touch screen!!!!!!

[Format C:]

Originally Posted by cerement

As long as you stick to semantic markup (ie. markup text by function - title, author, chapter - ex. XML) and NOT by layout (ie. how it should look - bold, italic, blink - ex. PDF) this is completely possible (and what ebooks should be aiming for). Then it simply becomes a matter of what each device is capable of and the reader programs create a layout appropriate to that device.

Will we have, in the future, soundtracks for books?
Almost every reader has MP3 capabilities...