[LINK] ebook readers -- here they come!

[Kim Holburn]

On 2009/Aug/29, at 1:44 AM, Jan Whitaker wrote:
> I've been watching the ebook shift. It's not just the access to the
> ebooks themselves, but the reader equipment. Kindle started it all in
> terms of public awareness [Sony had a model out before I think; a
> friend bought one in the US.]

They've been around for a while (at least 3 years in this form and  
we've been able to read digital books for many years now.)

The real problem all along has been the licensing.  That's what the  
kindle has addressed.  It has taken a distributor who is in the  
digital business to have the guts to do it.  Most publishers and  
distributors of paper books won't do it.  The kindle still is limited  
to the US in terms of licensing.  It has some nasty DRM.  It is not  
possible to plug in memory cards and Amazon can cancel a book at their  
own whim and delete it from your kindle without your knowledge or  
permission.

At around US$300 for most of them you can't afford to drop them or  
read in the bath.

> Now the second wave is coming.

Until book publishers learn the DRM lessons the Music industry has  
learnt things will be difficult.  People will start to read books with  
a reader like the kindle and will graduate to book readers with no DRM  
where they can move documents around between devices and can do things  
like people do with real books: things like give or lend books to  
their friends, borrow them from a public library, not have someone  
else delete it.


Oh and it's not what operating system it runs that's important, it's  
what you can do with it.  I reckon ultimately most ebooks will run  
linux or BSD.  It's the user interface that will make them a success  
or not and that is not necessarily related to what kernel they are  
running.

> Good
> article on how to choose one on Wired:
> http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/05/buying-guide-e-book-reader/
>
> That led to another posting that compares the ones currently on offer
> or pre-order. FoxIT has come out with one, the PDF software company,
> but it's not on the matrix.
> Here's the matrix: http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E- 
> book_Reader_Matrix
> Here's foxit: http://www.foxitsoftware.com/ebook/order.html [$259US
> plus shipping of $30US to Australia]


-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
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