Books in the Age of the iPad

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by anurag

http://craigmod.com/journal/ipad_and_books/

I actually went and read the article. I find the proposed dichotomy between Formless and Definite content to be interesting.

Certainly, Formless content moves easily among various technologies. But for that very reason, I don't believe that "disposable" paper books are going to go out of existence. Instead, the user will make the choice of how to get the content by considering the manner in which the content is best consumed, and taking into account the economics, practicalities, and convenience of the situation.

In terms of economics, there are many many people who cannot afford to make the investment to acquire any kind of eReader. They just don't have a couple hundred bucks or more at one time to spend on a non-essential device. But they can spend a few bucks on a paperback, or better yet, borrow books from the library. Their personal economics dictate paper, not digital.

In terms of practicalities, I am not, for instance, taking my iPad, eReader, or iPhone to read on the beach. Instead, I'll take a paperback, or a magazine. I am not taking my iPad on the train or bus. It's too bulky, and a target for thieves. I am not taking a hardback book on the train or bus - I wind up standing too often & it just isn't workable. In addition, paper doesn't require attention to maintenance and loading - there's practically no investment of time in acquiring and getting to the content.

In terms of convenience, a paper newspaper or magazine is much more easily shared among several people. A newspaper can be shared out in sections. Newspapers and magazines, and paperbacks can be left in convenient locations to be read when one is at that location, instead of someone having to remember to take the edevice with him around the house.

All of these considerations are important to a lot of people - enough that paper will remain one of the choices for distributing content, even if eDevices become very cheap.

I think that Definite content might be a more important factor in determining whether content is paper or digital. I understand "Definite" to relate to the presentation of the content, its exterior rather than its interior, its presentation rather than its meaning.

But this might be of less significance than it at first seems. For instance, it appears to me that the writer, Craig Mod, thinks that the content of his article is Definite rather than Formless. Yet when I ran the article through Instapaper, which can be seen as transforming Definite content into Formless content, there did not seem to be any meaningful change. And in fact, when I used Readability on the article, I liked the presentation better.

So while some content might be Definite because one medium allows it to be presented better than another, other content presented in a Definite matter might just be a question of aesthetics.

[Nakor]

It's clear enough that people have a basic dislike of Apple, but I think that it could easily change if Apple released something that was generally satisfactory to them. The problem with Apple is that most of the time you can draw a parallel to some non-apple product that can do the same thing but costs less. The rest of the time you can still draw a parallel to something that does the same thing and costs the same price, but with more freedom and potential customization. This is just another example of that.

[fugazied]

Originally Posted by Nakor

It's clear enough that people have a basic dislike of Apple, but I think that it could easily change if Apple released something that was generally satisfactory to them. The problem with Apple is that most of the time you can draw a parallel to some non-apple product that can do the same thing but costs less. The rest of the time you can still draw a parallel to something that does the same thing and costs the same price, but with more freedom and potential customization. This is just another example of that.

I think it sometimes blinds the haters to the capabilities of some of these Apple devices.

If you look at it on it's merits, we have a 10 hr battery life (probably 8 hrs in real world), very high quality touch screen color LCD. Immediately the possibilities for this device and e-books, color newspapers, color magazines, comics and interactivity within those platforms becomes apparent.

This will be a popular device in the mainstream, trendy with kids and their parents will hear about it through them and the mainstream media. Most will buy it for movies, internet, music, email, gaming and to have some of their favourite iPhone apps in a larger form factor. The reader aspect is just a bonus for most of those kinds of purchasers. Suddenly the market for e-books will be growing by a few million. Millions of people who may have never bought a dedicated e-reader will have this all in one device.

That's pretty important for further popularising e-books and it will have a positive effect on the entire e-books industry imo.

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by fugazied

I think it sometimes blinds the haters to the capabilities of some of these Apple devices.

If you look at it on it's merits, we have a 10 hr battery life (probably 8 hrs in real world), very high quality touch screen color LCD. Immediately the possibilities for this device and e-books, color newspapers, color magazines, comics and interactivity within those platforms becomes apparent.

This will be a popular device in the mainstream, trendy with kids and their parents will hear about it through them and the mainstream media. Most will buy it for movies, internet, music, email, gaming and to have some of their favourite iPhone apps in a larger form factor. The reader aspect is just a bonus for most of those kinds of purchasers. Suddenly the market for e-books will be growing by a few million. Millions of people who may have never bought a dedicated e-reader will have this all in one device.

That's pretty important for further popularising e-books and it will have a positive effect on the entire e-books industry imo.

Hmm.. So what the e-book market need is a 10 hour battery to drive and LCD and a closed environment...

Sorry, I disagree.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by Harmon

Actually, what I think I see is people who don't like Apple, and are seizing on the lack of flash as an example of the reason for their dislike.

I don't think that Apple is losing customers, because I really don't think that lack of flash is the reason people don't want to get an iPad. That is, I do not suppose that if Apple relented, and added flash back in to the iPad package, they would wind up selling any significant number of additional iPads.

I think nobody can accuse Sonist of being an Apple hater , and he won't be buying, mostly because of the lack of flash. I myself might have seriously considered it. And there are others. I see them taking a big risk, people will not be happy with the iPod browsing experience on the iPad. And Adobe will not go down easily. Don't expect Flash to disappear just because Apple says so. Even if it does, we are looking at 2-3 years, minimum.

Well, we can argue all day long. May I suggest we come back to this discussion in 3-6 months (when the buying wave of early Apple adopters has subsided) and we will see who is right then.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by Nakor

It just seems to me that my laptop does all those things and a lot more, with much better specs, for $500CDN, and only lacks the touchscreen and battery life. In fact, a lot of that is exactly why I chose to get a physically large laptop with a decent keyboard on it.

Okay, but I don't want a physically large laptop etc. I want a portable interactive reading device about half the size of a laptop that will handle books, blogs, magazines, newspapers, & an occasional movie, with a form factor that doesn't require me to adapt to it.

[Nakor]

So, a tablet PC. :P

I kid. But still, if the people who don't like it are looking for reasons to hate it, I have to say it looks like some people are looking for reasons to like it.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Nakor

The problem with Apple is that most of the time you can draw a parallel to some non-apple product that can do the same thing but costs less.

You know, most people that say that are not always being honest. Many times when you asked them why they chose one product over an Apple 99% of the time it is due to "price"... very seldom do you here... well, the other one was BETTER than the Apple which is why I chose it.

If you take cost out of the equation most people would prefer the Apple product.

Just like most people would rather drive a BMW over a Ford... BMW makes a superior product but it IS more expensive.

If Apple's didn't warrant the higher price, no one would buy them. But, the bottom line is that they usually are worth a higher price because it is a superior product.

No, I'm no Fan Boy, but I have used/owned Macs and I have used/owned several brands of PCs, Dell, HP, Lenovo, eMachines... etc. For example, you can get the eMachines for the same specs for MUCH less than a Dell... but the eMachines stop working after a few years. We have had 4 or 5 of them... and they all failed after a few years. All the Dell desktops I have are still running.

Anyway.. 'nuff said.

BOb

[Nakor]

Well, there isn't always a perfect parallel. The easiest comparison is Mac vs PC though. If you take a Mac and build a PC with similar specs you can generally shave a fair sum off the price. There isn't always a parallel though; for example, the iPod Touch doesn't really have an even parallel because it's selling point is the app store.

As for the various brands of PCs, I wouldn't know on a whole -- I prefer to build my own.