Is this the end of the book?

[Namekuseijin]

Originally Posted by vxf

Personally... I hope books stay books... but I recently had a very pleasant experience with a new National Geographic subscription on the iPad. The magazine is all there, but the articles often have links to multimedia content - videos, additional pics, interactive charts and maps. Truly, it makes for a great 'reading' experience.

sounds like yet another web page...

[Namekuseijin]

Originally Posted by taustin

That's called an "iPhone," and, in fact, I believe I could do all that on my color Nook, as well. And it not only hasn't, and won't, kill the book, it may well have saved Barnes & Noble from going out of business.

precisely.

People just aren't interested in multimedia books. That's the reason it's never taken off. There's nothing new here.

Oh, there certainly is something new here: wide availability of ereaders of all sorts.

[Anke Wehner]

Embedded videos or other animations might be useful for nonfiction, to illustrate things that cannot be easily communicated using text and static pictures.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by BenBanned

"We could soon be opening an e-book and encountering not just text and pictures, he thinks, but audio and video clips, perhaps even games. You could even see films from within books."


Picture books for the masses?

Maybe they could get actors to play the parts of characters in the book, and add atmospheric music and special effects and stuff. And the books could come on Blu-ray disks so that you could read them on your TV. Wouldn't that be great? Even better if they condense the book down to about an hour and a half, then you could read a new book every day.

[Maggie Leung]

Originally Posted by Anke Wehner

Embedded videos or other animations might be useful for nonfiction, to illustrate things that cannot be easily communicated using text and static pictures.

Agreed. Learning a foreign language would be easier with a mix of text and video, for instance. Lots of possibilities for teaching, say with medical books that might show bio functions, operating techniques and such. Books on travel, art and architecture are other possibilities.

[natasha_fawn]

Originally Posted by Maggie Leung

Agreed. Learning a foreign language would be easier with a mix of text and video, for instance. Lots of possibilities for teaching, say with medical books that might show bio functions, operating techniques and such. Books on travel, art and architecture are other possibilities.

Yes, textbooks would be good to enhance this way. Many already come with supplementary CDs (that almost no one uses because it's a pain), it would be much more convenient if the supplementary audio clips and such could be embedded directly in the textbook.

And I can imagine the enhanced NatGeo was just great.

[queentess]

Ho hum
http://vook.com/index.php

[boxcorner]

What is a Vook?

[elcreative]

Ho hum indeed... seek and ye shall find... just what I want, a piece of fiction accompanied by loads of irrelevant "historical" video with an irritating commentary... thanks queentess, now I can easily avoid this site and its content

When I read, i want to relax in peace and quiet with just the author's and my shared imagination... probably OK for some of the instructional stuff but leave my fiction alone...

Originally Posted by queentess

Ho hum
http://vook.com/index.php

[Maggie Leung]

We've discussed Vooks on various threads in the forum, but I think they're just a start. I think books embedded with other media have growth potential, with school books as a key.

Many readers dismiss the possibilities of media+ books now, but I think kids will grow up with them and they'll be perfectly comfortable with 'em.

As things develop, there will be good uses and bad uses of media+ books. No sense ruling out the possibilities so early in the game, I figure.

[Namekuseijin]

Originally Posted by Maggie Leung

We've discussed Vooks on various threads in the forum, but I think they're just a start. I think books embedded with other media have growth potential, with school books as a key.

Many readers dismiss the possibilities of media+ books now, but I think kids will grow up with them and they'll be perfectly comfortable with 'em.

As things develop, there will be good uses and bad uses of media+ books. No sense ruling out the possibilities so early in the game, I figure.

it's already hard enough to get my daughter to read books, rather than just appreciate the (ever larger) pictures or drop it altogether and get to play some casual flash game (even ye old games like Super Mario is way too hardcore for her).

I can only imagine the fine art of interpreting text, reading in-between lines and letting imagination roll to fill in details is doomed and we're well into the path to Idiocracy, if not there already...

[Maggie Leung]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

it's already hard enough to get my daughter to read books, rather than just appreciate the (ever larger) pictures or drop it altogether and get to play some casual flash game (even ye old games like Super Mario is way too hardcore for her).

I can only imagine the fine art of interpreting text, reading in-between lines and letting imagination roll to fill in details is doomed and we're well into the path to Idiocracy, if not there already...

I don't see imagination being threatened by effective use of media+ in books, but I think there will be good and bad uses.

As for your daughter, no comment.

[queentess]

Originally Posted by elcreative

Ho hum indeed... seek and ye shall find... just what I want, a piece of fiction accompanied by loads of irrelevant "historical" video with an irritating commentary... thanks queentess, now I can easily avoid this site and its content

Do you commonly keep a list of sites that you wouldn't normally stumble across?

Originally Posted by elcreative

When I read, i want to relax in peace and quiet with just the author's and my shared imagination... probably OK for some of the instructional stuff but leave my fiction alone...

That's a perfectly valid opinion, and one that you and I share. I like to read without distraction. But if done correctly, it wouldn't be a distraction. How is it all that different from how we read and interact with content on the internet? It's perfect for "instructional stuff": imagine learning to knit from a 'book' without needed a separate dvd, or learning how to cook and prepare food, or how to perform certain exercises. Imagine, if you will, the "pop-up video" of books. Sure, I wouldn't want to read this way all the time, but that doesn't mean it's somehow inferior to straight reading.

[elcreative]

No... but I have a memory so should I inadvertently stumble across the "Vook" material in the future, I will remember to skip it... that's one thing memory is useful for, once you've found something then you can avoid it at a later time.

Originally Posted by queentess

Do you commonly keep a list of sites that you wouldn't normally stumble across?

[vxf]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

sounds like yet another web page...

It does... but I am not sure that's bad. Different people look for different things - and they look for different things at different times.

I would not want any sort of interactivity in my books. It would interfere with my imagination... Yet, I do like having a dictionary work with a tap. Or footnotes...

But then again, the lines have been blurred before. Ever read The Lord of the Rings with Tolkien's own illustrations? Or the Don Quixote with illustrations by Gustave Dore?

But I am less clear on magazines and newspapers. I have been reading the Financial Times in iPad as well and that has some videos as well - as the above National Geographic. I don't have a problem with that - the text is all there and the use of multimedia is optional. I don't see why an option should bother anyone.