Sure, we pretty much figured that
the V-Book (which is actually not a book at all) would be the final nail in the coffin of what was once known as "literature," but it looks like both Google and Amazon have other plans. Not only have their been
rumblings of a new Kindle, but Amazon has announced that it'll soon be making the popular e-reader's some 230,000 titles available for your cellphone. The company hasn't said when the titles will be available or exactly what phones would be supported -- but we're guessing that we'll be seeing handsets with nice, big screens like the G1 and the iPhone on the list. If that weren't enough, Google's Book Search holdings -- about 1.5 million public domain works -- will soon be available for cellphone-based e-readers like Stanza. This is good news for people who need access to data on the go -- and really good news for anyone who would like to curl up next to the fire with a nice glass of wine and their Curve 8900.
[Image courtesy of
Spacesick, Via
Unwired View]
posted Feb 6th 2009 2:43PM
Please tell me that's a real book...
Eye strain, battery drain.
Aren't these the very issues that e-Ink e-book readers are supposed to over come?
Space Jam the "novelization"! Really? Really?
How do you novelize R. Kelly's role? This is probably a question I don't want answered.
Are these books different then what's at books/google.com?
They would be yes, because the books at google are public domain, commonly referred to as intellectual property—which are not owned or controlled by anyone.
Where as the books at amazon are not public domain, are in fact owned by some publishing company or the likes.
For example, until 2-3 years ago I believe, "It's a Wonderful Life" used to be public domain, which is why it was shoved down your throat everyday leading up to Christmas. Well now someone has claimed rights to one of the songs in the movie, thus relinquishing its public domain rights, and meaning some rich bastard can make money off it again. Yay IP
Without an e-ink display an e-book is just a big text file.
I already do this on my Iphone. It works very well and Stanza is a free ebook reader that works great especially if you know where to get books ;)
There are already a bunch of books on the Android Market. Downloaded Edgar Allen Poe, pretty neat.
My Eternity has and ebook reader that is similar to the iphone and my old sync had an ebook reader so why would I want wait for this?
This isn't a new ebook reader, it's new content for existing readers.
Eye strain, shmye strain.
Make the text bigger if you're so concerned.
Which it doesn't seem anyone is...
Can we download and save the books to the phone, or just "stream"?
Lolz at the Space Jam book.
To see more 'movie books' and 'game books' go to Gamesradar.com (they have an article full of them, very funny stuff).
I've been doing this for years and years on my winmo handset. Why is this news?
Exactly what I was thinking... Microsoft Reader for PPC, came out in, what, 2000? And of course you could always read PDF e-books...
I find this development pretty amusing. When discussing Kindle a few days ago, I got criticized (called names) for suggesting dedicated e-readers don't have much of a future, and that what future e-ooks have will be in an e-reader application on smart phones.
I personally read news on my iPhone via a web browser all the time and can see some potential in Amazon selling e-book content that just works with an application on such a device. It can even be full color instead of monochrome (oh my)!
Have you even used an e-ink device like the Kindle? I used to doubt them as well until my wife got one as a gift. They absolutely destroy any LCD based display for the purposes of reading large amount of text. E-ink displays generally have spectacular battery life, they look very much like actual paper and thus cause virtually no eye strain, and they look superb in bright light. The gap between a good ink device and the iPhone in these areas is not small. And beyond all that, devices like the iPhone are simply too small. I find the idea of sitting down for several hours of serious reading at home on a device like the iPhone to be absurd. FWIW, we have a Kindle, iPhone, and IPod touch in our home... the Apple devices are not even remotely in the same league as the Kindle when it comes to functionality as an e-reader. The comparison is truly laughable if you have direct experience with them all.
I will add that popular devices like the iPhone may be neccessary for growth of the e-book market, but anyone that takes reading somewhat seriously should definitely consider an e-ink device. Anything else is a stop gap solution in comparison... gimmicky toys.
Don't get me wrong, Vidikron, I think e-readers do the job better than the iPhone, it's just that I think an iPhone e-reader app is more likely to gain wide adoption than a dedicated e-reader like Kindle.
It's sort of like the iPhone vs. a portable DVD player. Yes, the portable DVD player is better at displaying video, but I'm not going to take one with me on the train ride to work. I do, however, watch video on my iPhone on the way to work all the time, and I also use it to read news via Mobile Safari (e-reader be darned).
Steve Jobs thinks the Kindle is destined to fail because it's built from the ground up on an aging concept. Only 40% of Americans read more than 1 book a year.
I tend to agree, and because of that statistic, I think that the best future e-books can hope for is to be a feature among a list of features on a more general purpose device (smart phone).
I think the news story about Google and Amazon offering books via smart phones is the first step toward that future.
"It's sort of like the iPhone vs. a portable DVD player. Yes, the portable DVD player is better at displaying video, but I'm not going to take one with me on the train ride to work. I do, however, watch video on my iPhone on the way to work all the time, and I also use it to read news via Mobile Safari (e-reader be darned)."
But that's not an entirely fair comparison. I'll grant that the iPhone has an advantage in standard on-the-go situations because much of the public is practically married to their cell phones and there is a convenience factor with all-in-one devices. But that's missing much of the point of e-readers. They aren't mean to be exclusive to on-the-go situations. They are meant to replace physical books. You use them at home in the same situations where you would find yourself reading a book. Using your portable DVD player example... I wouldn't use my portable DVD player at home, I'd use my TV/Home Theater because it's vastly superior. This is the same siutation. The iPhone may make a decent enough stop gap on the road, but no serious reader would use it at home.
"Steve Jobs thinks the Kindle is destined to fail because it's built from the ground up on an aging concept. Only 40% of Americans read more than 1 book a year."
Reading at home isn't an aging concept and I don't see the significance of the 40% number. That applies just as much to the iPhone and an e-reader. People who don't read much now aren't going to suddenly read more because they can read some text documents on their tiny iPhone screen. Books right now don't seem to have much of a problem existing with that 40%.
I think you have some good points, Vidikron.
I guess the way I see things is that pleasure reading is a bit of a dying hobby and most of the reading people do now is either when their on their computer or on the go, not from the comfort of their home. The studies I discovered over brief Googling seem to support this:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/633075/is_reading_in_america_a_dying_pursuit.html?cat=4
"If you're an American between the ages of 15 and 24, you spend 2 hours a day watching television, but only 7 minutes a day reading,"
Thus, while I see the advantages of having a Kindle at home, I think that the majority of the market isn't going to pay $350 for Kindle, even when I can see them occasionally paying for a book they can read on their iPhone while commuting.
Sure, I can see devices like the iPhone definitely being used on commutes and such, but I can also see e-readers being used by more serious readers at home and on extended trips (e.g. vacations). Especially in the home situations. I really can't envision any avid reader settling for using their cell phone to read at home.
If the e-book market dies then it will die for all devices. I can't imagine that the market could grow purely on devices like the iPhone without also growing the market for e-readers at the same time. There are always going to be avid readers who will want the specialized advantages offered by e-readers and who will want to avoid all the drawbacks of a device like the iPhone. And you have to remember that e-readers won't always be $350. E-ink tech is fairly new, but improving all the time.. including size and color (http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/06/giant-e-paper-display-spotted-ogled-at-taiwanese-book-show/). I could easily see these devices dropping to $100 or less in a few years.
Maybe some new tech will come along with will oust e-ink, but it won't be LCDs and there will always be avid readers that aren't going to settle for reading on their cell phones. Reading on your iPhone at home is as silly a notion as watching movies on your iPhone at home. That's why I think there's a future for e-readers.
I think you're probably right for those use cases. I guess it comes down to the question of how prevelant those use cases will be in future reading trends. I'm more sold on the idea of occasional on-the-go reading and perhaps audio books a la Audible.com, but we'll see how the new Kindle sells (keep your fingers crossed for another Oprah endorsement).
Teehee giggle snort! Thanks, guys. That's part of my "I Can Read Movies" Series of book covers.
I've already emailed Engadget to add my name to the end of the article, but in the meantime you can see the rest here! :D
http://spacesick.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-can-read-movies-series.html
Is that a penis and ball bag under the basketball's motion ghost?
You're a pervert, Flatley.
E-books on cellphones is new? On what planet?
please make it do ieye strain...
Hm... Amazon owns Mobipocket... which is both an eBook reader for PDAs and smartphones and an online store for books for said reader. Where exactly is the news?
Btw., Mobipocket is awesome, especially when you have a dictionary. Don't know a word... no problem, one swipe over the word, a click, and there is the definition. Plus everyone has their phone with them, all the time (ok, almost everyone). And phone displays can be read in darkness as well. I do all my reading if possible on my smartphone, and it works well for me and my eyes (screen could be bigger, granted, but then again I have a 2.8" display in times of 3.5" displays). It's just much, much more convenient than real books.