Quote:
Originally Posted by scottjl
actually i wouldn't mind some "adult" books that had interactive content. imagine reading a "who-dunn-it" mystery and being able to look at the scene of the crime, look around the room, size up the suspects. let you draw your own conclusions before the author finishes the story and see how well your detective skills measure up. or how about an extra "layer" of text you can overlay on the pages of a book that have notes from the author, explaining their development process in the story? video content embedded into a historical novel. an interactive map in a book on a war. possibilities are endless.
no. most adults don't want to see a white rabbit running around their pages. but don't think adult books can't be enhanced by interactive content.
dvd's aren't just movies, they contain lots of extra content, and people buy it all up.
i think books that are just plain text might be given a run for their money by text with more interaction for the reader. the death of the book as we know it. hell, we don't read things on scrolls or clay tablets any more either, do we?
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I agree 100%, and funny you mention the DVD "features" point, because there was a post not too long ago about about the Vook "video book" genre on the iPod / iPhone, and I brought up the very same point as to why extra content can be a beneficial thing.
It seems for some folks though, no matter which way they happen to be consuming their written media, be it paper books, ebooks or even a standalone app, they want NOTHING but words. The main objection for some seemed to be that they didn't appreciate anyone (including the author) "forcing" content on them that they might not otherwise want to view.
Valid point, if that is what they want. I say that you should simply get what you expect. If I buy an ebook, I don't expect a paper edition to arrive at my house in a week. If I buy a paper book, I don't expect to be able to load it on my kindle. And if I get an interactive digital app on an iPad, I expect it to be a little more than simple words on a screen.
My own opinion is: can't there be room for us all? Having extra options can't be a bad thing. This sort of flashy interactive book might even have the added benefit of getting kids to want to read "real" books down the line. I mean I know most of us didn't start out as a toddler reading Moby Dick. It was a progression of different formats until we reached that golden "real book" zone.