Quote:
Originally Posted by bowerbird
yvan said:
> People who are not hard core
> will not read on portable devices
> because they will need a computer
> to get content to it.
huh? i don't follow that. to get to a book on the web,
all an iphone user needs to do is to surf to that website.
want to read "my antonia" by willa cather? go here:
> http://z-m-l.com/go/iphone/myantp001.html
click on the right side of each image to page forward,
and the left side to page backward. what you'll see is
each page as it was scanned. the type is big and clear,
and i'm one of those guys getting the old-people eyes,
so i'd imagine each page is very sharp to the young'uns.
moreover, each image fits nicely onto the iphone screen,
so there's no need for scrolling about. all in all, very nice. |
Nice find! are there others? I know that you can read online on a huge number of sites, but would their formating 'hug' to the iPhone as well as this one?
Quote:
Originally Posted by bowerbird
back to pournelle, what he's saying -- and i'm saying too --
is that once millions of people are carrying iphones around,
the few of them that _might_ be readers (not "hard core",
but who do occasionally read a book) might -- if only by
_accident_ -- stumble upon a book online, start reading,
and realize "hey, this isn't a bad way to pass the time
while i'm sitting and waiting here at the doctor's office,"
and that -- multiplied across millions of people -- this will
hasten even further the decline and fall of the paperback.
|
Agreed but there is no way of maintaining an infrastructure with such a marginal readership that would sustain the livelyhood of the authors and assure of following works.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bowerbird
i mean, i don't find _any_ weakness in that "speculation",
and believe you me, i would certainly tell you if i did...
will a convenient machine that they are carrying anyway
turn non-readers into readers? no, certainly not... and
nobody has said anything that stupid in this thread...
> I still firmly believe that you can not use
> a tiny screen to take the place of a bigger one
i would certainly hope you don't think i disagree!
because i second that emotion strongly!
|
Logic is logical.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bowerbird
i never even considered buying a p.d.a. for reading,
because the screens were so small it was ridiculous.
and i wouldn't even _think_ of telling anyone here
that the iphone screen was big enough if i hadn't
been convinced out of my _skepticism_ that it is.
would i like a machine with a bigger screen? yes!
i have wanted a paperback-sized screen forever!
(but if i pay $300+ for it, it'd better surf the web.)
-bowerbird
|
Agreed, we're all waiting for it. I guess in a way the iPhone would be the first. But I still like to curl up with what feels like a page, in a visual sense. It's the easyest way to make the words disappear into the images of the stories the brain imagines... so far. I do resent the fact that readers so far are considered merely as luxury items. And that first eink study machine still has us waiting. I'd love to be writing on one.