Nicolas Negroponte: The Physical Book is Dead in Five Years

[Kumabjorn]

Instead of book signings what about chat sessions? Download a book and you are entitled to two questions within 1 hour. Something along that line.

[queentess]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Because printed books come in exactly one format: one type of paper, one font, one type of binding. They are all readable under all lighting conditions and can be handled the same way.

A standard format isn't going to happen because different types of ebooks, like pbooks, will have different customer bases. A dominant-marketplace format may emerge--I'm voting on ePub--but it won't drive PDF into nonexistence; it won't drive out plain HTML or RTF in some markets, either.

A file format is not the same as formatting. An ebook can be in a 'standard' filetype and still have differing fonts from book to book. I'm a little confused by your point here.

In the world of technology it IS a big deal to lack a standard. The music industry settled on mp3 as the default file format, and I know that if I download and mp3 that I can play it on all my mp3 players. I don't need to make sure I have the Sony brand dvd player before I can play a certain dvd.

Consumers want the same ease of use for ebooks. I don't care which vendor I'm purchasing the book from; it should just work on my ereader.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by queentess

In the world of technology it IS a big deal to lack a standard. The music industry settled on mp3 as the default file format, and I know that if I download and mp3 that I can play it on all my mp3 players. I don't need to make sure I have the Sony brand dvd player before I can play a certain dvd.

Just a nitpick, but the number one music retailer in the US does not sell MP3s, but AACs.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

pbooks ll be as long up as the educating personnel keeps saying "no you aren't allowed to use ebook textbooks on the test, we cannot cointrol what people have else on edevices so they are not allowed"

That won't be long at all.

I got my first RIO Mp3 player in 1998.

I think they were on sale for $86, down from $120. It held about 64 meg of songs with one of those big smartmedia cards in it, and used 2 AAA bateries if I recall correctly.

Today I can get a clip on 2 gig memorex mp3 player for $9 at office depot. I have taken to mailing them to friends overseas with music recorded from our church performances.

Big drop in 12 years.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

I find that the iPad works great for comics.

Originally Posted by Ea

Letter-sized? That's the standard size of those I read. I would think the screen is too small for that.

When it comes to comic books, the screen size needs to be a minimum of 6 inches by 10 inches (its slightly smaller than a standard comic book but not by a significant amount). That way, it can accomdate an entire page without having to scroll around. Even then, sometimes scrolling will be necessary, such as in the last issue of the recent comic book series "The Blackest Night" where there is a four page fold-out spread.

Another factor is screen resolution, which needs to be high enough to clearly display detailed artwork. Even with manga (which is usually gray scale), although my ereader's screen is roughly the same size as a manga page the resolution isn't high enough to display the detailed artwork and lettering.

I think that when these issues are worked out graphic stories will become a significant factor in the realm of ebooks. This is something I'd welcome for the convenience of having my favorite stories in an ebook format.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by queentess

A file format is not the same as formatting. An ebook can be in a 'standard' filetype and still have differing fonts from book to book. I'm a little confused by your point here.

"Books" come in shelf-ready hardcover, paperback, folded-stapled magazine, tiny novelty-size editions, coffee-table hardcover, comb-bound workbooks, soft leather bindings; they are printed on cardstock, 20-lb white bond paper, slick paper that holds color, tissue-thin paper with gilt edges, grey-ish recycled paper, colored paper with embossed artwork; they range in size from inch-and-a-half square (almost cube; I've got an edition of Oscar Wilde's stories that I can wrap my fist around) to 12"x18" and everything in between.

There is no "standard format" for books. Different kinds of books are printed in different formats for different purposes. The majority of novels are printed in two, maybe three formats, which are very similar, and the majority of ebooks need that kind of standardization--but there'll always be space for different formats that just don't fit the standard format.

If ePub becomes the standard for novels (and I hope so, soon), PDFs will still be used for image/chart-heavy publications, and anything intended for print as well as screen-reading. CBZ/CBR will still be better for comics; while those can convert to ePub, nothing is gained by it except "you can put them on ePub readers" while losing the options that comic readers include as standard features. "Interactive" ebooks, with video bits & embedded sound, will need a different format. I have no idea what'll show up as the best format to replace workbooks that need to be written in, but PDF has some abilities in that area.

I'm all for mainstream novels & most nonfic settling on a single format (erm, single set of formats? ePub includes HTML, and RTF is still going to be useful for people who want to customize things). I just don't think that should override awareness that some types of ebooks are not going to be best in whatever the most popular format is.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

When it comes to comic books, the screen size needs to be a minimum of 6 inches by 10 inches (its slightly smaller than a standard comic book but not by a significant amount).

That format has a different height to width ration than European comics - at least the ones I own Just measured a few - roughly 22x29 cm. Without margins it could be reduced to ~20x26 cm. I actually think the iPad's ratio would work fine, just a bigger screen.

[Solitaire1]

I wrote as part of a post:

When it comes to comic books, the screen size needs to be a minimum of 6 inches by 10 inches (its slightly smaller than a standard comic book but not by a significant amount).

To which Ea wrote:

Originally Posted by Ea

That format has a different height to width ration than European comics - at least the ones I own Just measured a few - roughly 22x29 cm. Without margins it could be reduced to ~20x26 cm. I actually think the iPad's ratio would work fine, just a bigger screen.

Sorry for not being clear, the size I mentioned is roughly the size of modern U. S. comic books. The actual size is slightly larger (per Wikipedia its 6 5/8 inches by 10 1/4 inches/17cm X 26cm), but it shouldn't have much an effect on the overall height/width ratio when it comes to ebooks.

Although the height/width ratios between U. S. comic books (the height is 153 percent of the width) and European comics (the height is 132 percent of the width) are different, a screen should be able to accomodate both. What I hope is released is a screen large enough to display them without scrolling.