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Originally Posted by Harmon
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Very good info and a fun read. But I don't see why "believing in ebooks" takes much soul-searching. I believe in ebooks, and don't even have a reader yet.
While only time (and actual ownership) will tell, his notion of pbook/ebook partnering holds little interest for me. My intent is to clear my shelves of books and keep it that way. I would have no interest in ebooks which require me buy the companion pbook, which I would never open.
His observation of the ereading device as mainly a "travel" object is certainly accurate to a point. Many people have stated how great it is to not have to take 5 pbooks on a trip -- only to find they needed a 6th. But I anticipate falling asleep with my ereading device in my hands -- whether in bed, or on the sofa -- as well as being with me on vacation. (Being retired, I don't travel much for business, unless it is the monkey kind). I fully expect it will travel in my backpack on hikes, and will be with me while car-camping and on flights. Although, it might be too tempting to use it to bean some rude wannabecop TSA employee at the security bottleneck.
His comparison of ebooks and audio books is a little off, however, since the mediums and uses are different. Because Olympus agrees with my original assumption on pbook/ebook costs, I will quote him here:
"Therefore a properly tagged manuscript can be used to create a pBook AND an eBook. So an eBook can be the by-product of an pBook and has a lower costprice than an pBook. "
Audio books take bit more to bring to market than an ebook under Olympus' scenario. I have no doubt the ebook niche will be much higher than the abook niche. Abooks don't require any special device beyond those readily available and are pretty much in their niche right now.
I do agree heartily with him that ebooks may well be a niche for many years to come, but the niche will be much larger -- perhaps as big as a nook (hee hee) or an alcove. Perhaps ebooks will take over the market some day, but not any time soon. After all, TV did not erase radio, and TV has pictures. (Yeah, I know. You don't hear any radio versions of CSI or Masterpiece Theatre, which just means each has found its purpose in life.)