BBC on current e-book developments

Alexander Turcic · 03-28-2006, 05:10 PM

It's been a long time coming, but the e-book has finally crossed into mainstream. BBC has a story that wraps pretty up everything up we've been talking about in the past few weeks. It talks about forthcoming e-books readers such as the Sony Reader and the iRex iLiad, about the benefits of E Ink technology, the strong demand for audio books, the nasty aspects of DRM, and about iTunes-like stores for e-books. Heck, they did such a good job, they even quoted our friend Nick Hampshire from Afaics Research:

"I think we are talking about a whole new breed of author. New skills, new content, new ideas, new ways of thinking particularly, and this will be quite a wrench for some of them to make that move, but it offers new possibilities. The possibility of being able to create a book that includes audio components, moving image components that includes interactive components is something which to my mind offers enormous possibilities."

Appendum: Check out this accompaining video (Realvideo) to find out how mobile readers in Japan pass the time with e-books on cellphones (via Teleread!)

TadW · 03-28-2006, 07:35 PM

I cannot imagine reading a book on the tiny screen of a cell phone. But then again, Japanese love Manga literature, and there is often more graphics involved than text.

TadW · 03-29-2006, 04:06 AM

Regarding the comparison of Sony Connect Store with Apple iTunes, I found the following interesting quote:

Bogarty [director at idpf] thinks the Sony Reader has great market potential, but cautions against making comparisons with Apple's wildly successful iPod. "I think it's highly dangerous for anyone, including Sony, to make any comparison to iPod types of reach. I would be incredibly surprised if something like that happened because that kind of reach, as far as digital media [is concerned], has happened to only one device, and that's the iPod. I don't think [the Sony Reader] is going to explode the industry, but could it double or triple the industry? Yes, possibly. But I would be careful to say that this is the iPod of ebooks."

rmeister0 · 03-29-2006, 09:27 AM

Interesting yes. Sony is clearly trying to model the iPod+iTMS model, which is a big step forward in making this kind of thing accessible to the masses.

The thing that is missing is this: the iPod existed before the iTMS, and it is very easy to repurpose your own content for the iPod (with the exception of encrypted WMA files, which by the sounds of things not a lot of people are buying or renting anyway). People already had CD collections they could put on their iPod. It is going to be a lot harder for people to take the eBook collections they've accumulated and put it on the Sony, nor can you take your paper books and easily 'rip' them to the device.

The iPod is also a device people inherently understand, having already owned transistor radios, portable tape players, portable CD players, and so on. The eBook is really a whole new ball game for the mass market.

It probably isn't unrealistic to say that eBooks will double or triple their market space, but that market is so small now!

Snappy! · 03-29-2006, 10:27 AM

ya, the pBook ripper is missing from the equation! Maybe that would be the killer app for eBooks?

derekweb · 03-29-2006, 01:16 PM

You know... it'd be fairly interesting to have an e-book reader that would have newspaper stories, complete with photo's ala Harry Potter. Moving gifs or whatnow that actually show the story in action.

Then, the next type of book that would really benefit (I would think) would be the comic book / graphic novels industry. DC, Dark Horse, and Marvel would truly win in a scenario like this, if they offered it. (Since kids can't afford their own e-book readers, they would have to be cross platform for PCs as well).

DRM is definitely an industry LIMITATION, ... not a shield. The faster their business models adapt, the faster they can make more money based on the technology.

03-28-2006, 05:10 PM	#1
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 12,730 Karma: 71589 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Sony Portable Reader	BBC on current e-book developments It's been a long time coming, but the e-book has finally crossed into mainstream. BBC has a story that wraps pretty up everything up we've been talking about in the past few weeks. It talks about forthcoming e-books readers such as the Sony Reader and the iRex iLiad, about the benefits of E Ink technology, the strong demand for audio books, the nasty aspects of DRM, and about iTunes-like stores for e-books. Heck, they did such a good job, they even quoted our friend Nick Hampshire from Afaics Research: "I think we are talking about a whole new breed of author. New skills, new content, new ideas, new ways of thinking particularly, and this will be quite a wrench for some of them to make that move, but it offers new possibilities. The possibility of being able to create a book that includes audio components, moving image components that includes interactive components is something which to my mind offers enormous possibilities." Appendum: Check out this accompaining video (Realvideo) to find out how mobile readers in Japan pass the time with e-books on cellphones (via Teleread!) __________________ Follow MR on Twitter

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03-28-2006, 07:35 PM	#2
TadW Uebermensch Posts: 2,476 Karma: 8172 Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Italy Device: Kindle	I cannot imagine reading a book on the tiny screen of a cell phone. But then again, Japanese love Manga literature, and there is often more graphics involved than text.

03-29-2006, 04:06 AM	#3
TadW Uebermensch Posts: 2,476 Karma: 8172 Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Italy Device: Kindle	Regarding the comparison of Sony Connect Store with Apple iTunes, I found the following interesting quote: Bogarty [director at idpf] thinks the Sony Reader has great market potential, but cautions against making comparisons with Apple's wildly successful iPod. "I think it's highly dangerous for anyone, including Sony, to make any comparison to iPod types of reach. I would be incredibly surprised if something like that happened because that kind of reach, as far as digital media [is concerned], has happened to only one device, and that's the iPod. I don't think [the Sony Reader] is going to explode the industry, but could it double or triple the industry? Yes, possibly. But I would be careful to say that this is the iPod of ebooks."

03-29-2006, 09:27 AM	#4
rmeister0 Addict Posts: 268 Karma: 298 Join Date: Mar 2005	Interesting yes. Sony is clearly trying to model the iPod+iTMS model, which is a big step forward in making this kind of thing accessible to the masses. The thing that is missing is this: the iPod existed before the iTMS, and it is very easy to repurpose your own content for the iPod (with the exception of encrypted WMA files, which by the sounds of things not a lot of people are buying or renting anyway). People already had CD collections they could put on their iPod. It is going to be a lot harder for people to take the eBook collections they've accumulated and put it on the Sony, nor can you take your paper books and easily 'rip' them to the device. The iPod is also a device people inherently understand, having already owned transistor radios, portable tape players, portable CD players, and so on. The eBook is really a whole new ball game for the mass market. It probably isn't unrealistic to say that eBooks will double or triple their market space, but that market is so small now!

03-29-2006, 10:27 AM	#5
Snappy! Addict Posts: 260 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2006 Device: SHARP Zaurus C1000	ya, the pBook ripper is missing from the equation! Maybe that would be the killer app for eBooks?

03-29-2006, 01:16 PM	#6
derekweb Groupie Posts: 160 Karma: 50 Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: United States Device: Palm Treo 700p & iPaq hx2755	You know... it'd be fairly interesting to have an e-book reader that would have newspaper stories, complete with photo's ala Harry Potter. Moving gifs or whatnow that actually show the story in action. Then, the next type of book that would really benefit (I would think) would be the comic book / graphic novels industry. DC, Dark Horse, and Marvel would truly win in a scenario like this, if they offered it. (Since kids can't afford their own e-book readers, they would have to be cross platform for PCs as well). DRM is definitely an industry LIMITATION, ... not a shield. The faster their business models adapt, the faster they can make more money based on the technology.