I've actually thought about this quite a bit. Here's what I envision. Please bear in mind that I'm thinking of "lowest common denominator" type units. Devices that could be accessible to pretty much everyone. Something that might be useful for public schools, to reduce their book-related logistics, and even university level literature classes that might want to look at out of print, and rare texts, as well as say
Great Expectations, while still being a solid, functional, and serviceable text reader for the rest of us. None of this is to say that I think there's no place for a really suped up version with every bell and whistle some genius can figure out how to squeeze into an appropriate sized package, 'cause I think that would be just
nifty. I've just come at it from a perspective of what will need to happen to allow e-texts to actually come of age.
I'd like to see the size be no smaller than a paper-back and no bigger than a hardback, perhaps the size of those "large" paperbacks.
Next, build it around the least capable processor that can handle the job: i.e. 286, 386 or wherever that falls out. The idea being to keep the cost down as much as possible. I'd really like to see the intro prices for the base units be under $100 (like around $50). I think that's almost as necessary for the device's long term success as its being able to handle as many different file formats as possible.
I'd like to see either a single purpose OS (to open and read e-files) or a "bootable" SD card approach (like before hard-drives came along), where the reader software is contained on the chip/book for those that have it. I see the first being the preferable option. Something like a stand-alone version of
µBook would be nice.
I'd like the reader software to handle
any sort of "text" I can find to throw at it, including word, txt, rtf, html, pdf, etc. But also pml, as I have a number of text already converted to that format, and it seems to be a pretty compact, functional format.
I'd also like to see the reader power-up, change pages, and power down, in the interest of power consumption (it sounds like that's what Sony is doing with theirs). On power, I'd like to see AA batteries. I know -- that sounds crazy, but NiMH rechargeables are cheap and getting better all the time (I saw some 2500 mAH ones the other day), plus if I get in a real bind, I can always pop in a set of good old alkalines and be good to go while/til I can recharge the others.
I'd like to see SD cards be the medium of choice for books, as they have the copy protection capabilities built right into the chip (same type as a DVD), which I think might ease some publisher minds on releasing e-texts into the world. I've actually given a lot of thought to organizing the files on the card (store each page as a separate file, etc.), but I won't go into that here. I also still like the idea of buying a physical book if I so choose, even though it's a memory card.
I'd like the driver for the e-ink to also be able to
read back what's displayed and save it as an annotation file of some type (.png format perhaps) so that I could use a magnetized stylus (again a power passive method) to write notes on the "page" which the reader software could store and re-display later. As kind of a companion to that, it should allow displaying some sort of static reference info. as to where you are in the text so that, say, teacher and class can all (if you'll pardon the pun) be on the same page, regardless of font, magnification, and such.
I'd like to see an optional "second" page that would attach to the left edge of the base unit, for taking notes on, or displaying 2 pages at once, if someone should really want to do so.
I'd also like to see an optional, removable front-lighting system that operates similarly to the
Lightwedge products. Everyone seems to be thinking "backlighting," but I really think that front-lighting is more appropriate to a
paper-like display -- why bring in all the eye-strain issues associated with backlighting, when there is an arguable better, more flexible alternative?
I think there are some non-device things that will need to happen to smooth the way, not that it can't work without them, just that it will be rougher on us if they don't.
Publishers need some assurance that their IP rights will be protected (that's why I'm thinking SD cards with their copy protection capabilities).
Publishers will have to get it through their heads that if they remove the entire cost of imprint from the equation, they cannot expect to charge hardback prices for e-texts. That's just wrong, and most folks won't cooperate. They need to look at what the per-unit cost for printing books is (which they're quite aware of to the last penny, I'm sure) and drop the price for the e-text accordingly, perhaps not all the way, but close.
I, for one, would be very glad, given a serviceable reader, to trade my paper books for SD Card versions. 4MB SD chips ought to be ridiculously cheap in bulk, and since the entire collected works of Shakespeare, as a plain text file, will fit handily on a 3.5" floppy, 4MB ought to be plenty for most novels, and still leave ample space for user notes, bookmarks and such.