So, a book printed top to bottom is now a Kindle slayer

[Chi Cygni]

I found this article

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ble-paper.html

and honestly to me it's ridiculous. Whatever will the "real book" producers grasp at? And no, I don't think a real normal book will be extint soon although I can't see myself going back the dtb road either.

On a side note tomorrow I will gloriously fail an exam in French after which I will probably order a Kindle. Either way as consolation or as reward for passing (the latter highly unlikely)

just my three eurocents...

PS.: ah, yes I could maybe, just maybe, consider Kindle slayer if it also made breakfast and served it to bed

[SameOldStory]

"So this is a bouk" she asked as she kept turning it around and around.

"How do you turn it on to watch the telly?" she asked when she couldn't find a switch.


Sorry Chi, I just couldn't help myself.

[anamardoll]

Having grown up in a religious household and handled many a "wafer-paper" Bible, I have to say, I would NOT want to read a regular book printed on that paper. The pages are exceedingly fragile and have to be turned with care and delicacy or they will tear, and gods help you if you spill food/drink on the page -- you'll ruin the text entirely.

The format works well for religious tomes because usually you don't read those bad boys at breakneck speed and you tend to keep them well away from damage-potentials like wind, rain, food, drink, enraged cats, etc. But for "regular" books, I have to think they'd have to be marketed as "disposables", and is there really a market for that??

Anyway, I would think most eReaders would tell you that the value lies in having their entire library and/or bookstore a click away. These don't offer a competition to that; and they won't entice the traditionalists who don't want to abandon their favorite formats. So this seems DOA IMHO, but maybe I'm just skeptical.

[taustin]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

But for "regular" books, I have to think they'd have to be marketed as "disposables", and is there really a market for that??

Given the current insanity with DRM, how is that different than ebooks? (Which there clearly is a market for.)

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by taustin

Given the current insanity with DRM, how is that different than ebooks? (Which there clearly is a market for.)

Serious? Because as much as I hate the DRM situation we find ourselves in, it's far from a "disposables" market. At worst it's a "buy a Kindle/Nook/Sony Reader/Kobo forever" market, but does the world REALLY need another "locked in" thread?

[Phogg]

From the original site comments:

As an ingenious alternative Cistercian monks have recently invented a goat hide parchment on which they will hand craft the written word and illuminate in glorious colour dyes made from natural pigments. The volume will fit (just) into a regular suitcase for sublime holiday enjoyment.

-Roy, Chester, UK., 25

[Namekuseijin]

every Bible reader would surely want those tiny Bible editions to feature larger fonts...

[RichL]

My kindle killer is on rollers. A thumb wheel lets you scroll the page up. On the bottom, behind the page is an inkwell and a series of tines, somewhat like a music box. As you scroll up, the tines flip dots of ink on the page to form words. Behind the top roller is a scrubber to clean the page on it's way down to the flipping splines. Books which are disks are inserted just behind the row of tines allowing the pips on the disk to trip the splines to make the necessary letters.

The advantages to this are, of course, manifold but the two key items for the average user is the ability to 're-charge' the inkwell at any what spigot and the 'page turn' rate is instantly controllable with your thumb.

Yup folks, I'm going to demolish the ebook just as surely as the player piano killed the need for pianists.

[carld]

A Kindle killer? If my eyes roll any harder they're going to pop right out of my head and spin off down the street.

[Ditchleyportrait]

would've made more sense on the onion, tbh.

[crich70]

I don't think it will make that big an impact myself. It's like a last desperate grab at what once was.

[Sweetpea]

I've seen those books in my local bookshop some time ago already. The only thing I could think of then was that it was a desperate act based on the theme: "you can take a lot of books with you without the space". They are fun to see, and would look nice in a livingroom where you don't have the space to put some full-sized books.

[Chi Cygni]

*puts up nose from French exercises book* I want entire Harry Potter on da "killer" (tee hee, how fat that would be) And is free microscope included for font enlargement?

or... how about a book on a scroll you can hang on your toilet door? After all if you don't like it, you know...

will answer properly when this frigging exam is over

[DMB]

This made me laugh:

the pleasure of the printed word and turning of a page

For one thing, the printed word is what one gets in an ereader. For another, a big selling point for ereaders is getting away from turning pages and dog-earing them etc.

[charmian]

I don't really think the main value people see in e-readers is the portability per se (a lot of books are pretty small, and those that aren't I think will be bulky even in this form), but the ability to have hundreds of books at once in a reader, and the ability to buy ebooks instantaneously without setting foot in a store.

As for what really would be a Kindle killer? I think an e-ink Android tablet, under $150, like a rooted Nook STR without the need to root. It would be able to truly replace a Kindle by using the Kindle Android app.