12:04 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Thanks to raevyn1 who dropped this one into my inbox today: John Dvorak hosted Neil Gaiman and Dan Farmer on his last videocast Crankygeeks and devoted about 3 minutes to a brief discussion on the future of e-books and on publishing them online. No super-brilliant insights, but it's interesting to glimpse what well-known writers think of the shape of things to come. Excerpt:

JD: Sony's e-book reader just came out. Do you do any of the e-stuff?
NG: I do some of the e-stuff. The only thing I really like e-books for is reading in the dark when you have like a wife fast asleep in the bed next to you who really doesn't want you to turn on a bedside lamp.
DF: Books are dinosaurs. We love books because we have this emotional attachment. When we grow up we love learning from books and they mean so much to us (I've written one myself). But kids these days they're going to say good-bye to books as soon as there is a good reader. I don't want to carry this book around I want to carry something that has all my books. When I am in the kitchen I want all my cook books in the one reader.
JD: E-book readers will continue to fail because they are inconvenient. There is no way you can flip through.
DF: You are suffering from the mentality of the ? of the present software. We are going get passed these technological limitations. I agree, we don't have any good ones right now. It will happen. It is deterministic. These things [pointing at a book] are gone. Within our lives - the kids will be laughing at us. They are already laughing at us!

JD: What do you think about the idea of publishing online for free and selling in the background?
NG: Fine. I don't have a problem with it at all. I think that the Internet for an author is the best advertising tool in the world... The main reason [why NG doesn't give out his books for free online] is because I have sold the rights to the books, the copyright, to the publishers, and I don't have the rights to put them up online myself.

Neil Gaiman is the award-winning SFF author of Anansi Boys, American Gods, and Neverwhere, just to name a few. I highly recommend you to check out his journal where he interacts with his readers and provides all sorts of insights into the world of a writer.

This Crankygeeks episode is offered for download in various video formats.

07:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Another week, another steady stream of mobile goodness here on MobileRead. Our authentic roundup of what's been going on:

Elsewhere on the Net
Do libraries have a future?
Is Borders preparing for a Sony Reader book club?

Future E-Book Devices
Fujitsu - Prototype Colour Ebook Reader

Handhelds and Smartphones
ActiveSync 4.2 has a troubleshooter
CorePlayer (the new TCMP) to be available Oct 16, 2006
Get ready for new Palm handhelds

iLiad Developer's Corner
Web2iDS for undocumented communication with the iRex Delivery Server

News
How newspapers can be relevant in the age of digital publishing
Is DRM necessary? Should publishers be concerned about piracy?

Others
By 2008, UMPC processors will shrink and use 1/10th power

Reading Software
eReader software updated for PalmOS

Which one should I buy?
Do you pick the book first or do you look for books available on your device?

09:25 AM by Bob Russell in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

David Rothman over at TeleRead has posted a nice article, Debate in the American heartland: Are physical libraries obsolete?. In it, he discusses a newspaper column by a resident of Lawrence, Kansas who argues that public libraries are limited and obsolete, and that investment in Internet access is not only much more important to a city, but that it replaces the most information resources of a physical library.

David points out that an excellent case has been made for the Kansas Library, and that "E-books aren’t going to replace all p-books instantly, and we badly need public libraries, especially neighborhood branches. They are essential as community gathering spots, for example, and as safe havens for children without good places to study at home." However, he also considers more closely the whole idea of a main library location versus the availability and investment in branch locations.

It seems to me that the discussion about the role and form of libraries has never really seemed to get off the ground very well. At least not in public forums. Oh yes, certainly there is a lot of talk about libraries, but has there been very much realistic discussion? Everyone seems to have such different ideas about why a library is important, or what a library should provide, or how technology fits in. Even the whole meeting place and community area side of things is a sensitive topic. But at the root of it all, is the frequently spoken underlying belief in almost everyone that we would all be better off if we read more.

Of course, I have some strong views about libraries also. One more sound to add to what seems like a cacophony of random voices. So let me just throw out a couple of thoughts into the mix and leave it at that. It's an important topic.

To start off, let me ask why is it better for us to read more? We all seem to just accept that without questioning it. And, for the record, I agree. But let me point out that I'm not sure that all kinds of reading are equal. I've mentioned before that I don't believe we get the same long lasting, character building and life improving benefits from gorging ourselves on the fast foods of the written word. In other words, if it takes you away from good books, you lose out on many of the benefits of reading if you are only reading all the latest tech news, newspapers and magazines and blogs. Well, except for MobileRead, which of course builds character and improves your life!

I'd also say (sorry Jane) that reading a romance novel is of questionable benefit to the soul. On the other hand, there are many kinds of reading that is not meant to be life changing, but simply entertainment. We will always have differences of opinion about what is better entertainment and is it good for you, but in one form or another we all seek it out, and we all need ways to escape from the rigors of life in a regular fashion. Certainly in general, books are a wonderful way to do this.

So at the core, libraries are important to be a supply of reading materials. Whether for research, learning or for fun, books are waiting at the library for us. Oops, that's one of the problems isn't it? You have to go get them! To my surprise, people still do that. But most people just buy books in these affluent cultures especially. What's a few dollars for a good book? Not much. And then you don't have to put up with old books that seems have developed a musty smell to them, and you don't have to make two trips to the library, and you don't have to worry about late fees.

Which brings me to the topic that interests me the most - the push toward library resources being available over the Internet. As libraries seek to remain relevant, they are looking for new ways to better get books and resources into the hands of patrons. There are collections of free movie rentals and audio book tapes and CDs that seem to bring some people to the library. There are many branch locations and all sorts of conveniences to allow books to be transferred to the local branch for patrons with a particular book of interest.

I bet they would start shipping books out to people at their homes if it wasn't for the cost involved, and the potential for loss. Well that's similar to what is accomplished with online audio books and e-books, isn't it? Just like e-book publishing efficiencies, you get all kinds of library efficiencies if you move from paper to Internet.

Fortunately, libraries understand that e-books are important for the future, and are pushing forward with e-books even though it's not widely understood and used. It's sort of the chicken and the egg -- you need the nice online libraries and familiarity of the public in order to justify the expenses of expanding online e-books. But you need to expand and improve the online book selection and service quality in order to pull in the people.

The only thing that we seem to forget in the public forums is that there's a big pink elephant in the corner of the room that nobody knows how to talk about -- format compatibilities and DRM. Without a few universal formats (including the DRM), which are supported on just about every platform present and future, you have problems. Not only does e-book reading become a pain in the neck (you can't choose what device to read the e-book on), but the library has no guarantees that it can continue to access and provide access to the e-books, because everyone is dependent on a third party to have continued availability to the content. And as we've seen, that's a nightmare to resolve because, if I may go on to demonstrate why it's not good to mix metaphors, every dog has their own bone in the race. Well, something like that, anyway.

Consumers and libraries want ease of use and reasonable prices for e-books. Publishers should want ease of use and reasonable prices, but it's hard to worry about that too much when you are focused on protecting content, controlling how and when and where it gets used, and keeping profits high. So, as has been noted before, not only are libraries almost universally viewed as important parts of society, but they may also become one of the best allies of the e-book fan. It's a lot more powerful to talk about the needs of libraries and the threat that DRM schemes pose to libraries than it is to talk about how I can't read an eReader e-book on my Sony Reader device!

Fortunately, the more that technology advances, the more successful e-books get, and the more pervasive the Internet culture grows to be, the more likely we will start to see some realistic discussions about how to make libraries relevant throughout this century, and how to find a compromise in the next generation of copyright law. I just hope that the general reading public that copyright law was initially created to benefit, doesn't become the victims of that very same body of law.

09:21 AM by Stuart Young in E-Book General | News

Fujitsu has busted out this nice prototype for us to drool over. Not much is known about it currently other than:

• 4.7-inch x 6.3-inch
• 4096 Colour Display
• MiniSD Slot
• Mini USB Port
• Weighs 6.2 Ounces

Keep and eye on the MR thread (here) for more news to appear. Thanks to MR reader Maquevil for breaking the news in the forums.

08:26 AM by Bob Russell in E-Book Software | Reading and Management

PalmInfocenter is reporting that eReader has released a minor upgrade of its reading software for PalmOS, and says that this is usually an indication that a new Palm device is about to be released.

"As of October 4th, E-Reader has quietly updated their E-Reader and E-Reader Pro clients for Palm OS devices. Both versions are now at version 2.6.3, up from the previous 2.6.1 release. As it is a very stable application, E-Reader is usually only updated immediately prior the release of a new Palm OS handheld or smartphone. No change list or release notes are available to indicate what is new in this version."

04:50 AM by Laurens in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Ed Hardy from Brighthand writes Get Ready for New Palm Handhelds:

I've seen some very good indications that Palm intends to release new traditional handhelds this fall. I haven't published anything about this before because I don't know any details and can't reveal where I got the information from.
...
Palm, Inc. has scheduled a press conference on October 12 at the DigitalLife show. It's possible that this will be the venue where Palm will announce its latest handhelds.
...
Why am I so certain? Because Palm still depends on handheld sales for a big percentage of its revenue. Despite the fact that the mobile industry is moving in the direction of smartphones, it will still be some time before things have completely moved in that direction.

I sure hope he's right, but I'm not convinced. That press conference may very well be for the official announcement of the Treo 680 rather than new handhelds.

08:20 PM by Bob Russell in E-Book General | News

There has been speculation about mainstream news agencies becoming irrelevant in the future. Newspapers often get carried along in those arguments, branding them irrelevant also. And with social news sites of the future to determine what is news and what isn't, even editors can't seem to escape the digital web. They are a dying breed, hoping only to remain somehow relevant, right? Not so fast!

First of all, the news needs to come from somewhere. While there have been some exceptional news sources outside the mainstream sources, one cannot possibly consider the coverage to be nearly the quality and breadth that we see from traditional sources. Turns out large networks of paid news reporters are actually a reasonably good way of documenting, and even creating, the news.

How about social news sites like Digg and Netscape? Have you ever read them? There is a barrage of news generated, but it's mostly bringing awareness to other original sources. It's more about publicity and aggregation than news generation. Probably the best thing about them is their ability to keep interesting stories in front of a large audience, and to discover what might have been unnoticed stories that could easily have disappeared if not for being picked up by one of the social news sites. Yet they still seem to have a core set of users that are essentially doing the editing and choosing the stories. Eventually, maybe mechanisms will exist to distribute that better, but until newspapers are completely forgotten, newspapers still have a few big advantages.

We hear mostly about how newspapers need to reinvent themselves to compete in the digital age. They need to rethink how the content is provided. They need to allow for customization, mobile devices and all kinds of new formats for the digital age. Agreed. But, contrary to popular opinion, the strength of newspapers is not their potential for customization, but their ability to give people a common view of the news. I had better explain!

A friend of mine is an avid golfer. And she has longed for the day when she might possibly get a hole-in-one. This past week, she did. And where do you think that got documented? In the local newspaper. That "dying" newspaper is still viewed by so many people that her hole-in-one, buried inside the sports results, was actually noticed by her friend. If I get a hole-in-one, is it going to appear on Netscape? Probably not even a local Netscape news of the future. And if it does, what are the odds my friends will see it? If the newspapers don't throw it away, one of their best assets is community.

What about the want ads? Have you wondered why they stay so popular when there are better ways to do sales? Online want ads would be so much more effective and efficient. But they don't (yet) have the same commonality. We still look at the local paper for want ads, even though they have done almost nothing to compete against the eBays of the world.

People standing around the water cooler still talk about articles in the paper. "Did you see that story about the ....?" It's still a common question, it's just supplemented with other types of common experience based on TV shows or TV news.

Newspapers seem intent on requiring online logins, and sometimes online subscriptions. Online advertising revenues, together with online content subscription fees seem to be the answer for newspaper publishers in the future. Maybe so, but I'm arguing that they have a much more urgent concern, and that's to preserve and build community for the next generation of readers and the next wave of digital content. It's not about format and fees and advertising right now. It's not even really about eyeballs. It's about community.

Local papers should do everything they can to sell themselves as the water cooler publication. They should make it clear that if you and your friends follow the paper faithfully, whether by subscription or free online reading, you will have something to share together. If people in a community, get in the habit of following the local newspaper, they build their community. Conversely, if everyone looks somewhere different to get their news, at best there's some overlap of key stories. It's just not the same.

I won't bore people with ideas about how to market and cultivate that image. Nor will I insult anyone by saying that I've presented a complete and thorough argument here. I haven't. But what I have presented, is a fresh and new way of looking at the role of newspapers for the future. One that works, but is very different than the direction we see the newspapers going with their online efforts. Is it too late? I don't think so. But there has to be a change of mind about what matters. Community, not ads and custom content filtering is what will save the newspapers.

Update: Here's an example of standard "forward" thinking about the newspaper industry in the digital age. I don't mean to rip on that article... it's got all valid points. But I do mean to demonstrate that there is another aspect to maintaining their relevancy in the future. And it's not all about format, it's about community.

02:06 PM by Bob Russell in E-Book Readers | Which one should I buy?

Radleyp made an interesting statement on another thread, "...it's the book and not the way it's made available that counts for me. I think we are going overboard with this gadgetism, and losing sight of what's important, namely the book we want to read. If I want to read a book, then I read it: that it's available as an ebook (or not) is not the issue. I do not decide to read a book because it's in ebook form."

Personally, if I'm reading for fun, I will probably look for e-books available on the device I want to read with. There are a lot of choices, so I want to pick the device first.

But many people will surely agree with Radleyp and pick the book first, and then read it in whatever form works best for them.

Which way do you do it?