Quote:
Originally Posted by poohbear_nc
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...GHTTopCarousel
In a WSJ article lauding the launch of the international K2 as important as the birth of print and the shift from scrolls to books with bound pages, the writer introduces the term " transbook" to replace "e-reader" -- "So far the new technology has been called the "e-reader," a term obviously picked by engineers, not poets. In literary terms it's a transbook, by which I mean that it is the book which can contain all books."
Although the article focuses solely on the Kindle, the sentiments and predictions can easily be extended to all ereaders, err, transbooks.
In particular: "Why are so many writers so afraid of this staggeringly wonderful possibility? A book is a singular object that can contain many voices, but the transbook has the potential to be a singular object containing all voices. It is not just another kind of media; it is the dream of ultimate text."
This is the first article that reads as if it were written by someone who loves to read, and who truly appreciates the place of transbooks in the future of reading. 
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I've never met a "real" person who calls them anything besides "kindle" and "that sony one" so I really don't think you're going to get anyone to adopt a ridiculous name like transbook, liseuse, or even ereader. You're going to get people calling them "Kindles" or whatever is popular.
At best you can expect eBook Reader to persist.
However, given the likely short future these dedicated devices even have, it's probably a moot point to worry about what we call them in society.
Of course, people have a really hard time realizing they are operating in an isolated microcosm on sites like this so I'm sure there will be no end to the disagreements on this matter long, long after the general public has forgotten about it. Just like the public forgot that "Kleenex" and "Windex" are brand names.
And finally, why would you call something that is most definitely not a book a "book" anyway? If it deserves any classic physical object applied as part of its name, these should probably be called tablets or slates or something. But, since they are technology meant to perform an operation, I favor sticking with "reader" and I don't see any special reason to capitalize it or further describe it with brands, or "e" or whatever. Especially because just saying "reader," in context it's obvious what you mean even if you are talking about an application on an iPhone or something. Before you jerk that knee, consider that programs meant to view files are usually called "viewers" and even that term is good enough for most of these devices considering how little your average reader device does beyond a regular file viewer. Seems like, for the sake of remembering your last position, and maybe for handling a specific set of file types, it magically gets a new name.
When it boils down to it, though, all these devices are just file viewers.
So let the flamefest begin
