Right now, ebooks are stuck w/ a dichotomy of:
- lowest-common denominator of ebook format (.epbub, .pdf, &c.)
- being significant enough to merit existence as a separate app (certain magazines, publications such as The Elements for iPad (which has made the jump to a physical book))
For a paper book, it doesn't much matter if it's a deluxe coffee table edition or a cheap paperback --- storage / management / filing is much the same --- for ebooks, there's this problem of books as apps which then don't get filed w/ one's ebooks (perhaps there could be a .epub stub which would open the app?)
Until ebook formats become as flexible as paper, allowing things as arbitrary as:
- pop-up books
- fancy slip covers
- memorial insertions and signatures (while I hated that it was so expensive, I was thrilled to get a canceled check w/ Manly Wade Wellman's signature when I got the limited edition _The Complete John Thunstone_ (it's also signed by the editor and illustrator))
&c.
There will be a market for paper books --- there's also the question of how one would do a limited edition ebook....
That said, there have been a number of technological tour-de-forces which show that there's a lot of untapped potential for ebooks:
-
http://bemboszoo.com/ --- requires Flash --- mute speakers if animal noises aren't appropriate
-
http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/jav.../elements.html
-
http://www.atpm.com/4.06/page13.shtml --- I really wish this were still workable and available --- the codex viewer was way cool
-
http://periodictable.com/ipad/
-
http://motionmountain.net/ --- free physics textbook as a .pdf w/ animation
Any others? Please post follow-ups in this thread:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...13#post3045013 (I already added the Living Books successor Wanderful).