Register Guidelines E-Books Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Go Back   MobileRead Forums > E-Book General > News

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 06-24-2006, 09:55 AM   #1
Alexander Turcic
Fully Converged
Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Alexander Turcic ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Alexander Turcic's Avatar
 
Posts: 18,163
Karma: 14021202
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Switzerland
Device: Too many to count here.
Are e-books trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist?

So says Franklin's chief Barry Lipsky. Remember Franklin? They distributed the Nuvomedia Rocket eBook, one of the first dedicated e-book reader devices, in the late 90s. It was followed by the eBookMan device, which boosted an awe-inspiring 200x240 LCD display, fast USB 1.1, and spacious 8MB of built-in memory. Marked by its failure to catch on, the company then sold the e-book business to Ectaco, another company who specializes in selling dictionary hardware and software.

And today, while many of us are still desperately waiting for a decent e-book reader to come out, Mr. Lipsky thinks the situation for e-books has fundamentally remained unchanged. From a recent article by Mark Evans of the Canadian National Post:

Quote:
Barry Lipsky, Franklin's president and chief executive, said e-readers continue to be a tough sale because there are few benefits for consumers other than being able to carry a small library on a portable device. He said the industry has been hurt by a lack of creativity, failing, for instance, to provide such features as search capability not available in a printed book. "In general, the challenge is that e-readers are still somewhat a solution looking for a problem because paper works," he said. For e-readers to be successful, they must overcome the user-friendliness printed books have offered for more than 500 years.
The article is worth a read, not only because it discusses the various dilemma still faced by e-book devices, but also because it depicts the discrepancies among various publishers' opinions on the forthcoming launch of the Sony Portable Reader.

Quote:
Not everyone is convinced the Sony Reader will be a hit. Michael Cader, president of Cader Books Inc., a Bronxville, N.Y.-based boutique book publisher, contends the Sony device will be "dead on arrival" because it is not different enough from previous e-readers except for a better screen. "Consumers have made it very clear they don't think reading is something they should pay hundreds of dollars for [for] a dedicated device where the [book reading] experience ... is not as good," he said in an interview at a recent industry conference in Toronto. "Look, there will be technophiles who will embrace it, but the Sony Reader doesn't offer any new solutions or twists."
Alexander Turcic is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-24-2006, 10:51 AM   #2
Liviu_5
Books and more books
Liviu_5 juggles neatly with hedgehogs.Liviu_5 juggles neatly with hedgehogs.Liviu_5 juggles neatly with hedgehogs.Liviu_5 juggles neatly with hedgehogs.Liviu_5 juggles neatly with hedgehogs.Liviu_5 juggles neatly with hedgehogs.Liviu_5 juggles neatly with hedgehogs.Liviu_5 juggles neatly with hedgehogs.Liviu_5 juggles neatly with hedgehogs.Liviu_5 juggles neatly with hedgehogs.Liviu_5 juggles neatly with hedgehogs.
 
Liviu_5's Avatar
 
Posts: 917
Karma: 69499
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: White Plains, NY, USA
Device: Nook Color, Itouch, Nokia770, Sony 650, Sony 700(dead), Ebk(given)
Hi,

What problem does BlueRay and the other new hi def dvd format solve that current dvd's do not?
If you put the question this way, I think I can come up with derisive things about any new tech. Why replace horses and buggies with cars that go 20 km per hr and are so unreliable, as it was until Ford say came up in the 20's? After all horses were tested through human history...
This question about ebooks is so ridiculous that it does not deserve an answer.
If you want to predict that SonyReader will be DOA, it is a different issue, but at say 350$ I think it is priced at the upper end of acceptability, and that the price needs to come down to the 100-150$ range for broad acceptance. But technology is getting better, tablets/laptops are getting cheaper, so I see the price coming down significantly on eink too. Also even though still mostly drm'ed, there is much more content available, and with the spread of the Net everywhere it is far easier to propagate that content whether legally or not.


Liviu
Liviu_5 is offline   Reply With Quote
Advert
Old 06-24-2006, 01:28 PM   #3
yvanleterrible
Reborn Paper User
yvanleterrible ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.yvanleterrible ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.yvanleterrible ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.yvanleterrible ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.yvanleterrible ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.yvanleterrible ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.yvanleterrible ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.yvanleterrible ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.yvanleterrible ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.yvanleterrible ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.yvanleterrible ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
yvanleterrible's Avatar
 
Posts: 8,616
Karma: 15446734
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Que Nada
Device: iPhone8, iPad Air
Nice response Liviu 5
I remember buying a printer some 15 years ago. I paid around $1000.00 for it, only to learn the following year, that it cost $35.00 to manufature; wages materials r&d and infras included. This is when mistrust towards tech companies set in. Sony is in any market for big bucks. This is why they always steer towards niche markets to ensure temporary non competitivity. Yes prices will fall, but not for a good while. We have to buy the prs-500 in great numbers to ensure that small players, like Samsung or others, get in the playing field. I'm afraid, as you judiciously point out that e-book reader fans will have to bite the bullet or be verry verry verry...patient.
yvanleterrible is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-24-2006, 04:08 PM   #4
rlauzon
Wizard
rlauzon put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp.rlauzon put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp.rlauzon put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp.rlauzon put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp.rlauzon put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp.rlauzon put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp.rlauzon put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp.rlauzon put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp.rlauzon put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp.rlauzon put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp.rlauzon put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp.
 
rlauzon's Avatar
 
Posts: 1,018
Karma: 67827
Join Date: Jan 2005
Device: PocketBook Era
It's all about the money.

The last time I checked, for a $7 paperback book, the author gets about $0.55. So let's assume that all costs for an eBook (plus author's cut) amount to $1 for a paperback. That means my technical books (which run about 5-6 times the cost of a paperback) should be about $5-$6 each.

Now, looking at my bookshelf, I figure I have 70 technical books. Times $5.50 is $385.
I probably spent about $2695 (My God! I spent THAT much?! ) for the paper versions.

Now, if the eBook reader is only $700, and assuming that I can get my techinical books in eBook form for $5-$6 each, I would save over $1000 on my technical book costs.

Plus I would have the benefits of having my whole eBook library in one convient, portable form. Plus updates for my technical books would be able to come out very quickly - because there's no longer a need for the physical creation of the book.

And that's just my technical books - if you factor in the manga and other "entertainment" reading that I do, my savings is substantial.

All this comes at a cost, though: The irrelevancy of publishers.
rlauzon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-25-2006, 08:41 PM   #5
pruss
Evangelist
pruss ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pruss ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pruss ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pruss ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pruss ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pruss ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pruss ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pruss ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pruss ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pruss ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pruss ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 461
Karma: 819417
Join Date: Nov 2004
Most of my fun reading is public domain stuff. Downloading the Plucker ebooks from gutenberg.org (Project Gutenberg automatically generates Plucker format ebooks from all of its texts now!) saves me 100% of the per copy cost.

I don't know about the userfriendliness of books. My arms would fall off if I physically carried the four bookshelves worth of books that I normally have in my pocket in an 8 oz package.
pruss is offline   Reply With Quote
Advert
Old 06-26-2006, 01:02 PM   #6
CommanderROR
eink fanatic
CommanderROR is fluent in JavaScript as well as Klingon.CommanderROR is fluent in JavaScript as well as Klingon.CommanderROR is fluent in JavaScript as well as Klingon.CommanderROR is fluent in JavaScript as well as Klingon.CommanderROR is fluent in JavaScript as well as Klingon.CommanderROR is fluent in JavaScript as well as Klingon.CommanderROR is fluent in JavaScript as well as Klingon.CommanderROR is fluent in JavaScript as well as Klingon.CommanderROR is fluent in JavaScript as well as Klingon.CommanderROR is fluent in JavaScript as well as Klingon.CommanderROR is fluent in JavaScript as well as Klingon.
 
CommanderROR's Avatar
 
Posts: 2,022
Karma: 4924
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Germany
Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2
The trouble is that the authors don't dare sell their books as ebook deirectly even though it would increase their personal profits tremendously.

With ebooks, every half-wit could cobble together a story, make a PDF or whatever and then sell it (making a webshop is easy too...all you need is either somebody who does it for you or a package like the one 1&1 offers here in germany...it probably doesn't look too professional but it works).
The trouble is, that most authorsare still heavily dependant on the whol publishing and advertising industry.
New, startup authors or those who couldn't get a publisher before might try it, others will meekly ask their publishers for permission.
And I don't think many publishers would be willing to sell ebooks for cheap because that might eat into their paperback profits.

The dilemma is, that unless the ebook market is large enough, authors won't dare venture into it for fear of angering their publishers and losing the paperback sales without having adequate "recompense" through ebook sales.
But where do you get the large market if nobody dares to enter it...

Maybe some day there will be a big revolt...all the people (or at least a significant amount) will refrain from buying paper books for 4 weeks and instead just download whatever they want to read from emule/kazaa/bittorren/whatever. If something like that happens, authors and publishers will feel the urge to change something.
If something momentous like that doesn't happen, then it'll take a long time for the ebook market to grow, a long time for ebook prices to drop and for eink devices to become commonplace and cheap.

And believe me...i'm an Optimist..^^
CommanderROR is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-26-2006, 01:37 PM   #7
Liviu_5
Books and more books
Liviu_5 juggles neatly with hedgehogs.Liviu_5 juggles neatly with hedgehogs.Liviu_5 juggles neatly with hedgehogs.Liviu_5 juggles neatly with hedgehogs.Liviu_5 juggles neatly with hedgehogs.Liviu_5 juggles neatly with hedgehogs.Liviu_5 juggles neatly with hedgehogs.Liviu_5 juggles neatly with hedgehogs.Liviu_5 juggles neatly with hedgehogs.Liviu_5 juggles neatly with hedgehogs.Liviu_5 juggles neatly with hedgehogs.
 
Liviu_5's Avatar
 
Posts: 917
Karma: 69499
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: White Plains, NY, USA
Device: Nook Color, Itouch, Nokia770, Sony 650, Sony 700(dead), Ebk(given)
Hi,

I tend to agree a lot with the quoted comments, and some authors commenting here and there expressed exactly the same sentiments (even the top selling ebook authors that are published in print, say like David Weber and John Ringo at Baen still make no more than 10-20% of their money due to ebooks and this with very favourable ebook deals they get from Baen, which other authors may not get from other publishing houses).

The math is very simple: (fiction) ebooks ain't go to sell for more than 10$ (and that's optimistic I think, maybe 7-8 would be closer) for something new and 5-6$ for something older than 1 year, unless you throw in big incentives like earcs (and that term depends of course of a print date existing), while hc sell for 25$ or more of which the publisher gets 40-50% at least. From here you can go to argument, returns vs piracy and so on...

Also how libraries are going to be handled will be very important in any viable ebook model (let us not forget that here in the US publishers make tons of money of libraries, and for many hc titles the library sells are a very significant part of total sells).

To me though it seems obvious that as of now no current pure ebook business model has any shot at decent profitability, so what is needed are different business models to be experimented until some that work are found.


Liviu



Quote:
Originally Posted by CommanderROR

The dilemma is, that unless the ebook market is large enough, authors won't dare venture into it for fear of angering their publishers and losing the paperback sales without having adequate "recompense" through ebook sales.
But where do you get the large market if nobody dares to enter it...


Liviu_5 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-21-2009, 12:23 AM   #8
daffy4u
I'm Super Kindle-icious
daffy4u ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.daffy4u ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.daffy4u ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.daffy4u ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.daffy4u ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.daffy4u ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.daffy4u ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.daffy4u ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.daffy4u ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.daffy4u ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.daffy4u ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
daffy4u's Avatar
 
Posts: 6,734
Karma: 2434103
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Long Drive, Calinadia Candafornia
Device: KDXG, KT, Oasis
An interesting blast from the not so distant past.
daffy4u is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-21-2009, 02:19 AM   #9
basschick
Wizard
basschick ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.basschick ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.basschick ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.basschick ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.basschick ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.basschick ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.basschick ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.basschick ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.basschick ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.basschick ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.basschick ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
basschick's Avatar
 
Posts: 1,096
Karma: 4695691
Join Date: May 2008
Device: Kindle Paperwhite
there is a problem ebooks do solve - the problem of having so many books that your house is too full and there's nowhere to put anything. for me, this was one of the two reasons to get into ebooks. it may sound funny to some, but to us it was a real problem. books are 2 layers deep on all our shelves, sitting on tables, desks and chairs - and it's not like i was going to give up reading. but i know plenty of readers with this problem. heck, there's a used bookstore down the street that started because the couple who now own it had so many books they had no room at all any longer.
basschick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-21-2009, 02:33 AM   #10
Jill75
Zealot
Jill75 doesn't litterJill75 doesn't litter
 
Posts: 135
Karma: 150
Join Date: Mar 2009
Device: none
The good in ebooks and having an eReader is that you can take it anywhere and read it anywhere. But before you get to read the books you want, there are various format that you need to deal with -- KINDLE, EPUB, PDF, LIT, and MOBI, etc. This again falls into money and protection of some publishers and authors with the copy of their books....

Wish we could have just one format that any eReader can read.... but I guess this will not be ..... oh well... we just have to deal with it.
Jill75 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-21-2009, 02:41 AM   #11
PhishStyx
The me that I am
PhishStyx can extract oil from cheesePhishStyx can extract oil from cheesePhishStyx can extract oil from cheesePhishStyx can extract oil from cheesePhishStyx can extract oil from cheesePhishStyx can extract oil from cheesePhishStyx can extract oil from cheesePhishStyx can extract oil from cheese
 
PhishStyx's Avatar
 
Posts: 413
Karma: 1078
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: In my house! Duh!
Device: Kindle 1 & DR 1000s
Hrm, as it happens "being able to carry a small library on a portable device" is exactly the problem that my iRex DR solves for me.
PhishStyx is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-21-2009, 02:53 AM   #12
HarryT
eBook Enthusiast
HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
HarryT's Avatar
 
Posts: 85,544
Karma: 93383043
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: UK
Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6
I'm really not sure that there's much point in "reviving" a three year-old thread.
HarryT is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-21-2009, 02:55 AM   #13
Kris777
Banned
Kris777 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Kris777 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Kris777 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Kris777 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Kris777 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Kris777 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Kris777 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Kris777 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Kris777 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Kris777 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Kris777 ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 1,767
Karma: 2520493
Join Date: Oct 2008
Device: Nexus 7, jetBook-Lite, jetBook mini, Toshiba Thrive, JETBOOK COLOR
Quote:
Originally Posted by daffy4u View Post
An interesting blast from the not so distant past.

Yes, good topic...it will be interestng to read it and compare with situation on ebook market in 2 years
Kris777 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-21-2009, 03:04 AM   #14
snipenekkid
Banned
snipenekkid can understand the language of future parallel dimensionssnipenekkid can understand the language of future parallel dimensionssnipenekkid can understand the language of future parallel dimensionssnipenekkid can understand the language of future parallel dimensionssnipenekkid can understand the language of future parallel dimensionssnipenekkid can understand the language of future parallel dimensionssnipenekkid can understand the language of future parallel dimensionssnipenekkid can understand the language of future parallel dimensionssnipenekkid can understand the language of future parallel dimensionssnipenekkid can understand the language of future parallel dimensionssnipenekkid can understand the language of future parallel dimensions
 
Posts: 760
Karma: 51034
Join Date: Feb 2009
Kris77:

I agree. Add that, ironically, the situation has not improved all that much software wise in the previous 2-yrs. The same issues and concerns are still there for us as cconsumers.

And the market has not seened all that much movement hardware wise either, except for size and lower power displays.

I sense the lack of competition as the reason. Little innovation and the UI & OS seem to be a bolt-on after thoughts. I do like your little Jetbook though and if I had not made myself a promise to wait until at least November before picking a reader, I would likely go with one.
snipenekkid is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Humor Drib, Dr.[Editor]: Memorable First Sentences To Books That Don't Exist. v1. 15 Jan 08 Dr. Drib BBeB/LRF Books 6 05-10-2015 11:16 PM
Authors and readers unite! Let's solve the problem together... ficbot News 42 04-25-2011 10:09 AM
Classic How to solve problems while registering your nook :D ominik Barnes & Noble NOOK 7 02-05-2010 01:34 PM
Device for Safari Books Online? Does it exist? DerekTheGeek Which one should I buy? 3 11-19-2009 03:28 PM
Humor Drib, Dr.[Editor]: Memorable First Sentences To Books That Don't Exist. v1. 15 Jan 08 Dr. Drib Kindle Books 6 01-16-2009 11:53 AM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 01:18 PM.


MobileRead.com is a privately owned, operated and funded community.