Professor blasts e-books over unfulfilled promise

[wawasteele]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I don't mind if they add extra stuff, if the devices can handle it. The only three things that count are:

1. The book must work completely independent from the source where you downloaded it, WITH and WITHOUT those extra functions. (I might want to try them in 5 years. You never know.)
2. I want to be able to fully disable those extra's.
3. If such an enhanced book is more expensive than an unenhanced book would have been, then there should be two versions: a cheap unenhanced one, and the more expensive enhanced one for the people who want it.

You make some valid points.

Originally Posted by tompe

Kindle's X-Ray is a start in the development towards a richer and better reading experience.

I do admit starting to really like the X-Ray feature. The built in dictionaries are also great.

So, upon thinking about it more, ebooks already have some enhancements, and I like them! I am still resistant to sounds, except for text to speech for those that want or need it. However, I guess I can understand others wanting more. I just don't want to be forced into using the extras I don't want.

I also hope that if ebooks start having a lot of extras, the prices don't rise. I rarely ever bought pbooks in my lifetime and I am almost 60. I used the library for almost all of the books I read. Money was an issue. Since I have been reading eBooks, I buy too many! If the prices go up much, I will have to stop buying and resort to sticking with the elibraries and freebies. Although I use elibraries a lot, I like now that I can buy for two reasons. 1. I do like to give the worker his due, in this case the author. 2. I like being able to read what I want, even if the library doesn't carry it.

[Ripplinger]

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

I get a sense he doesn't even understand the technology or why people use it. The advantage of ebooks is in the means of storage and consumption, not a change of content (or a change in the entire art form for that matter). Some of the things he wishes for actually exist to some degree with things like Kindle's X-ray, and I'm sure more stuff like that will come, but really most enhancements are going to rely on hardware functions, which has little to do with the publishers he is pointing a finger at. There's just too much "not getting it" in that article.

This ^. I'm sure you can already embed extra audio and video clips in PDFs for instance, certainly in html and read books with the extras in your browser or PDF viewer of choice.

That's not the purpose of ereaders as OtterBooks said much better than I did before, and I'd rather not be forced into reading that way either. I want an ereader just to allow me to change font style and size for my crappy eyesight, carry a much smaller device with me than one paperback and store all my books to save my space at home. If I wanted the extra audio/video content and what it offers, I'd have gotten a tablet.

[speakingtohe]

Sounds like the professor is incredibly naïve or has misplaced his brain, More likely just a diatribe to see his name in print.

Where on earth did he get the idea that all or even most ebooks provided what he was expecting.


Helen

[Tarana]

You can carry hundreds of books on one device and read entire series. Add 'enhancements' and suddenly, each book is so bloated you won't be able to fit the Harry Potter series on one unit.

In the CD and DVD world, enhancements are often just junk to get people to upgrade and buy the CD or DVD again even though the amount of value added is minute.

[Merischino]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

For many if not most of us, e-books are digital versions of printed books. And they are just that. Others, on the other hand, believe that e-books should offer additional content and multimedia enrichment. Meet Bill Adair, Knight Professor for the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke University, who recently described his disappointing experience with e-books in an article published on Poynter's.



Do you think e-books need to be "enhanced" with multimedia features for a richer experience? Or do you prefer the single-dimensional aspect of text, where any kind of enhancement could potentially be intrusive and get in the way with the story?

I agree with Prof Adair -- considering that ebooks are all being sold at prices close to or at the cost of the print edition, where the publishers are reaping the profit benefits of eliminating the costs of production and most of the costs of distribution.

I think that if ebooks are going to continue to be sold at these inflated prices then publishers should start doing as much content-enrichment as they can feasibly do without putting undue pressure on ereading devices. Following the transition from VHS to DVD, with the addition of so much more storage space on the new medium film companies began including commentaries, biographies of actors, directors, and producers, alternate endings, and all sorts of neat stuff which purchasers of the DVDs could either watch or ignore as it suited them.

I see no reason why electronic versions of ebooks could or should not also include additional enrichements. Such as, hyperlinks to online content (wikipedia pages for the author, that particular book series, etc.) or embedded audio or video content to supplement the text. In the case of Dan Brown's Inferno, supplementary material on any of the renaissance art and architecture mentioned in the text would have been both easy and cost effective to include.

Other ideas would be images of the actual book jacket information (or included book jacket text and quotes), interviews with the author (video, audio, or text... however originally published), index of related material available in an electronic format (whether for sale or for free for registered purchasers or whatever the "offer" might be), or even a tool for searching for further recommendations based on this book combined with information about other books on your e-device (richer than mass, more targeted to what you are interested in now and across multiple sellers than recommendations would be based only on your purchase history at a particular e-seller)

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by Tarana

You can carry hundreds of books on one device and read entire series. Add 'enhancements' and suddenly, each book is so bloated you won't be able to fit the Harry Potter series on one unit.

In the CD and DVD world, enhancements are often just junk to get people to upgrade and buy the CD or DVD again even though the amount of value added is minute.

This... if I want to clutter my ereader up then I'm perfectly capable of doing it myself... and one of the joys of books has always been that the pictures etc, that I imagine, are far superior to someone else's TV/film portrayal - and this applies to audibooks and radio drama as well...

Originally Posted by Merischino

I agree with Prof Adair -- considering that ebooks are all being sold at prices close to or at the cost of the print edition, where the publishers are reaping the profit benefits of eliminating the costs of production and most of the costs of distribution.

I think that if ebooks are going to continue to be sold at these inflated prices then publishers should start doing as much content-enrichment as they can feasibly do without putting undue pressure on ereading devices. Following the transition from VHS to DVD, with the addition of so much more storage space on the new medium film companies began including commentaries, biographies of actors, directors, and producers, alternate endings, and all sorts of neat stuff which purchasers of the DVDs could either watch or ignore as it suited them.

I see no reason why electronic versions of ebooks could or should not also include additional enrichements. Such as, hyperlinks to online content (wikipedia pages for the author, that particular book series, etc.) or embedded audio or video content to supplement the text. In the case of Dan Brown's Inferno, supplementary material on any of the renaissance art and architecture mentioned in the text would have been both easy and cost effective to include.

Other ideas would be images of the actual book jacket information (or included book jacket text and quotes), interviews with the author (video, audio, or text... however originally published), index of related material available in an electronic format (whether for sale or for free for registered purchasers or whatever the "offer" might be), or even a tool for searching for further recommendations based on this book combined with information about other books on your e-device (richer than mass, more targeted to what you are interested in now and across multiple sellers than recommendations would be based only on your purchase history at a particular e-seller)

Guess you missed out on the pricing breakdowns showing that costs of printing were a minor part of book production compared to little things like actually paying an author...

As for all the "neat" stuff added to DVDs, most people I know rarely view such material and just want to watch the film - most of 'em would be even happier to lose the credits as well...

And for something like Dan Brown's Inferno, well if you want that sort of supplementary material then there's thing called the internet that lets you find it but if you want it added in to the ebook then it isn't going to come free - research, organisation and getting rights to reproduce material don't come cheap so definitely a "no thanks" to that as well...

Text books, manuals and quite a bit of non-fiction could benefit from such additions but again don't forget TANSTAAFL - as above, research, organisation and acquiring rights will all cost so people will still want choice - vanilla book (you know, something to actually read) or enhanced for those who have trouble with just having words and "stationery" pictures in a book...

Nothing against multimedia but my choice as to what to get in that form - we have books, DVDs, streaming video, satellite TV, radio etc - most of us seem to like the differentiation but each to his own as long as that doesn't mean destroying things that we still want...

[Fluribus]

My internet pipe is all clogged up. I would not like to spend an hour downloading each book.

[Penforhire]

I don't object to additional link-type or hypercard-like content but I'd rather my favorite authors spent their labor working on their next book(s) than making enhanced versions. For me the promise of e-books is completely fulfilled by being able to carry a library of plain text books around the world easily and read them anywhere.

[calvin-c]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I never thought I'd say this, but ... there might be some interesting enhancement possibilities, at least in nonfiction. When I was reading a book on D-Day, for example, when there was an account of General Eisenhower's "order of the day," I went in search of the audio file so I could listen to it--it would have been nice to have the ability to click on an icon and hear it immediately.

I wouldn't want any enhancements to be automatic, though. I'd want them to be unobtrusive unless I specifically wanted a particular item. Something along the lines of a clickable footnote, perhaps.

The main enhancement I'd like not only applies at least as much to fiction as to non-fiction but it's also not technically possible, yet. That's smell. But I agree it would have to be controllable-my spouse is allergic to many odors. I'm not so I think a nice smell of flowers when reading about a garden would be great.

[mahou]

As many of you already said, I like ebooks as electronic versions of books. No enhancements. It is true that the book he talks about, 'Bruce' has a lot of references to songs or videos that you want to listen while reading, but I prefer to stop and look for it on my collection. What if in that moment you are in the bus with your Kindle without headphones or a non-audio device?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I never thought I'd say this, but ... there might be some interesting enhancement possibilities, at least in nonfiction. When I was reading a book on D-Day, for example, when there was an account of General Eisenhower's "order of the day," I went in search of the audio file so I could listen to it--it would have been nice to have the ability to click on an icon and hear it immediately.

This.

Do I want an enhanced version of "Pride and Prejudice" with clips from various film versions? I most certainly do not. Nor do I want sound effects or animated graphics in novels.

But in non-fiction? I can see that there could be many useful and welcome enhancements to ebooks in terms of extra audio, video and animation features.

As a very basic sample, a diagram of a four-stroke engine that could be zoomed, rotated and would loop through the engine cycle, would be a vast improvement on a set of static diagrams of the engine in various stages of the engine cycle.

In short:
Fiction: No
Non-fiction: Yes

[Yolina]

As far as fiction is concerned, I'd much rather keep my ebooks plain and simple. I can see the use for non-fiction, but then it would have to be fairly non-obtrusive. I'm just slightly worried that under the guise of enhancements and making things "easier", we're going to get stuff shoved in front of us whether we want it or not like automatic pop ups or similar... that would be a complete nightmare.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

This.

Do I want an enhanced version of "Pride and Prejudice" with clips from various film versions? I most certainly do not. Nor do I want sound effects or animated graphics in novels.

But in non-fiction? I can see that there could be many useful and welcome enhancements to ebooks in terms of extra audio, video and animation features.

As a very basic sample, a diagram of a four-stroke engine that could be zoomed, rotated and would loop through the engine cycle, would be a vast improvement on a set of static diagrams of the engine in various stages of the engine cycle.

In short:
Fiction: No
Non-fiction: Yes

The Encarta CD-ROMs did a lot of that as do a lot of educational packages.
Microsoft's ASIMOV'S THE ULTIMATE ROBOT CD-ROM was a brilliant implementation of those concepts, 20 years ago.
But such products are *software* not books.
The kind of stuff the professor wants already exists: appbooks. Plenty to be found all over.
But appbooks are not ebooks.
If he left the ivory tower and visited the real world from time to time he'd see the difference.

[Mivo]

I prefer my books to be in the 1 MB instead of the 1 GB range.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

But such products are *software* not books.

They *were* software. And so quickly became unusable unless frequently updated by the publisher.

An illustrated book is still a book. A book illustrated by animations is still a book. A book that can play audio and video clips is still a book.

It's good that such books are soon going to be produced in ways that are open standards, and so should be readable on ebook readers for decades or centuries to come, not reduced to unopenable software apps in a few years.

But such features need to be used when appropriate, not just as a marketing gimmick.