|
I don't think the author understands either. The internet is nothing but a method of data distribution. People often confuse the internet with the world wide web, but they aren't the same thing. The web is still just a method of data distribution.
We already get e-books via the internet, that's nothing new. But using the web to read books, I'm skeptical of that. The web is better suited for things like newspaper articles. As it is, you can read the articles in paper newspaper or read them on the web, it's the same article. Newspaper articles tend to be read in a single sitting, where books are often read in many sittings over a number of days. People like to have access to their books whenever they wish, without needing to have internet access.
It wasn't uncommon to serialize books, putting one chapter at a time in the newspaper, but books and newspapers didn't merge. People will read articles online for free, and not be bothered by the ads. But they only read the article for a few minutes. I can't see free ad-supported books being common, because articles might be written every single day, but writing a book takes considerably more time.
|