Originally Posted By ecdc <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FI73MA/ref=sv_kinc_0/104-8055330-5518316" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ ct/B000FI73MA/ref=sv_kinc_0/104-8055330-5518316</a> It's hard not to imagine putting this thing down after playing around for a few weeks never to pick it up again. But it really looks cool....
Originally Posted By mawnck The author of "Liar's Poker" likes it. If you can't trust the author of "Liar's Poker" . . . .
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan I saw something similar to this in Border's a couple of months ago. It's a pretty neat thing, and to me the possibilities of this in education are terrific. Textbooks are tremendously expensive. It would be cool to have "textbooks" of this sort that could be updated as needed. It seems like the cost savings would be significant for school districts in the long run. I don't know if this particular device is THE future, but if not, something similar surely will be.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>The author of "Liar's Poker" likes it. If you can't trust the author of "Liar's Poker" . . . .<< LMAO!! I agree, 2oony. Something like this probably will be the future. I think your point about textbooks is particularly insightful - I hadn't even thought of that. I'm actually almost less interested in it for books as I would be newspapers, magazines, and blogs. I also played around on Amazon for a few minutes searching titles. I'm genuinely surprised at what they have available. I found some fairly obscure history titles that most people might not even be interested in, but I know I would. And while it's not an entirely compatible analogy, about 5 years ago my wife and I struggled to decide whether or not to keep our home phone. We both had cell phones and it just seemed...too weird not to have a home phone. Now we wonder why we ever even bothered at all. So as odd as it sounds now to read the newspaper or a book electronically, I suspect if it caught on we might wonder what the fuss was all about.
Originally Posted By peeaanuut I have been reading e-books for sometime and think they are great. Now of course, certain books I go and specifically buy the hardcopy because I want that experience, but some books that I figured I will read twice and are purely for entertainment I buy the e-book. I read it on my treo phone so I dont have to carry another device. As for this particular device, I never figured a stand-alone device would be useful but some think so. the way I look at it is that a lot of us have some device that we could use to read the books (ipod, smartphone, pda). However, the textbook angle is a great thing. A full years of textbooks could be issued to a high school student and one of these devices and we could save alot of money in the long run. College students could buy the book on memory card and there it is. It could even help the resale of the books as the medium is harder to degrade than a paper book. So I think that e-books are a great thing and probably the way that the majority of reading will be done in the near future, but I just dont think that stand-alone devices will take off. Of course no company has put alot of weight behind their reader before. Sony has a great e-book reader but it appears noone knows about it.
Originally Posted By threeundertwo >>I have been reading e-books for sometime and think they are great. Now of course, certain books I go and specifically buy the hardcopy because I want that experience, but some books that I figured I will read twice and are purely for entertainment I buy the e-book. I read it on my treo phone so I dont have to carry another device.>> ditto. I read a lot of ebooks on my Treo. I think the technology will catch on once people see how easy they are to get used to. I love the lightweight portable aspect. I always have several ebooks with me, and I have the Bible with some pretty sophisticated search/highlight/annotate etc software. This medium is superb for reference works. I don't know if I'll get a kindle yet, since I already read so much on my pda, but probably I'll get one down the road.
Originally Posted By DAR The first feature they mention: <<Revolutionary electronic-paper display provides a sharp, high-resolution screen that looks and reads like real paper.>> But it doesn't have the feel of real paper. I'm not saying this wouldn't interest me but there's just something to turning a page in a book making a crease where you last left off.
Originally Posted By alexbook >>The Future of Reading or Wacky Gimmick?<< Both, probably. E-books will probably take over eventually, but it's going to take generations, not just a few years. As for the textbook idea, so many schools don't have the money for new textbooks as it is. Do we really have the budget to hand out $400 e-book readers to kids who are going to break or lose them?
Originally Posted By peeaanuut I think the textbook would take off in colleges first. Students buy a $400 reader that will work for the 4years plus and save about 50% off the paper version of the book. You end up ahead. As far as high schools, we could offer the books in both forms for free. The school could hand out a hard copy or the digital copy at the parents choice. Of course it would be a trickle effect with new text books but it would be pretty easy to digitize older copies as well. Just like laptops took a while for students, they are pretty much standard fare for a college bound student these days so digital textbooks make perfect sense. Whether it be a specific e-book reader or just the digital version for reading on the laptop. But for those students that dont want to carry the laptop to every class, the e-book reader would be quite convenient.
Originally Posted By cheesybaby Looks like the 2007 version of the Segway to me. Who needs a wireless book for $400 when you can buy any wireless paperback for $5.99?
Originally Posted By threeundertwo >>Who needs a wireless book for $400 when you can buy any wireless paperback for $5.99?>> I think the point here is that this includes automatic subscriptions. I personally can't believe people still read hard copy newspapers. They're huge and unweildy and messy and I don't want to turn to page A116 for the rest of the story thankyouverymuch. This is an elegant solution for periodicals. (I get my news off the internet)
Originally Posted By DAR <<I think the point here is that this includes automatic subscriptions. I personally can't believe people still read hard copy newspapers. They're huge and unweildy and messy and I don't want to turn to page A116 for the rest of the story thankyouverymuch. This is an elegant solution for periodicals.>> Well I like the paper for my morning um.....constitution.
Originally Posted By peeaanuut Dar, I was the same way, but its easier to download the paper PDF and load it on the palm every morning. Plus it makes bible study alot easier. (for those that dont know, my Bible is the Frys ad from the OC register on fridays. Its 8 pages of electronics goodness and takes much um, concentration to really understand. =) )
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan Newspapers are indeed wanting this technology to take off. It's a perfect fit for them, magazines, etc. As far as textbooks, there would be a HUGE battle with textbook publishers over this. The portion of state education budgets earmarked for textbooks is TREMENDOUS. Publishers could certainly provide content on this format and profit that way, but no way would they make as much as they do now. It would be a huge bite out of their income and they'll fight it big time. But no matter which way you slice it, it would be a huge boon to taxpayers and students to get out of the textbook industries' iron grip. It's one of the most wasteful education costs going.
Originally Posted By peeaanuut wouldnt the textbook companies make more money because the aftermarket of books be smaller? People would rather pay less for a new digital book instead of more for a used book, wouldnt they? I know I would.
Originally Posted By DAR <<It's a perfect fit for them, magazines, etc.>> Well certain magazines. I like the foldouts for you know....
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Well certain magazines. I like the foldouts for you know....<< That's true, it would affect MAD Magazine. Oh, wait, that's a fold-IN...
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan wouldnt the textbook companies make more money because the aftermarket of books be smaller? People would rather pay less for a new digital book instead of more for a used book, wouldnt they? I know I would.<< Maybe. Maybe it would be the printing industry that would be affected rather than the textbook companies. You'd still need the content, so the big textbook makers could provide that with regular updates.
Originally Posted By jasmine7 I know college bookstores wouldn't be too keen on this. I have a feeling their profit on used books is pretty darn big, considering you buy a book for anywhere from $60-150 bucks and you're lucky if you get $10 or $15 back at the end of the semester. Heck, so much of the time, I've had them tell me that they're not buying that one back at all, so I'm totally out that cash (not all bad if it's a subject I love, but if it's just one of my gen ed requirements, it stinks). I have mixed feelings on this gadget. The techie in me thinks it looks cool & would like to try it, but the book lover in me can't give up the textual feeling of a book in my hands.
Originally Posted By threeundertwo >>the book lover in me can't give up the textual feeling of a book in my hands.>> This is where the big sell is. As a book addict, I can tell you that I really love ebooks, and it's worth keeping an open mind on this. It's very restful to set the auto-scroll feature to exactly the speed you want and just let the words go by your eyes. I can concentrate far easier on ebooks, and I read them much faster than paper books.
