Quote:
Originally Posted by K-Thom
ahi, 100 years ago most cars looked like horse carriages without horses....
|
Actually, this is where much of your argument against PDF is grounded.
The current ereader hardware is at the horse carriage stage. Beyond 6", screens are still prohibitively expensive for mass adoption. There is no color, and the quality of the experience is still fairly marginal.
Screen sizes will increase and prices will drop, as the technology improves. Due to both manufacturing and market efficiencies, there will also be size standardization, just like there is for computer monitors, and for TV screens.
Frankly, I don't see ereaders becoming mainstream, until there is full color and larger screens, combined with affordability. More people read magazines and other periodicals, than books. When the technology supports those, then ereaders will be mainstream.
And magazines do not lend themselves well to reflowing.
What most "reflowers" are talking about, is not ebooks, it's simply documents, as others have pointed out. Yes, you can get the content, but it's like reading a manuscript. It's a different experience, and it's not new -- it's just not all that appealing to most.
And to boot, PDFs already reflow. And within a year, I would imagine Adobe will make such ability even more robust, to apease those who insist on reading on their watch.
Speaking of small screens: 3"-5" is not the market. It may appeal to more now because of price, but so did 13" TVs at one point. But people seem to gravitate to certain sizes - most don't buy printed "pocket" editions, even though these have been available since the dawn of publishing.
Yes, you read something on the iPhone for a few minutes, but most people would not enjoy reading on it for extended periods. Just like you can watch the fixed-format, widescreen LOTR on an iPhone, but most prefer to see it in the theater, or on a much larger screen.
Anyway, me thinks, larger screens will make these arguments pointless.