[LINK] ebook readers -- here they come!

[Richard Chirgwin]

Kim Holburn wrote:
> 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.
>   
Unless, of course, that never happens, for various possible reasons:

- "Kindle" == e-book in the mind of the punter, and there's no shift 
away from it.
- Publishers refuse to license content to any reader without DRM, and 
start pursuing users suspected of moving books to unlocked devices.
- Amazon, Sony et al see DRM-less readers as a threat, and suddenly roll 
out 2005-dated patents for "system and method for rendering content" 
lawsuits.

I wonder, for example: what's likely to happen to existing licenses if a 
manufacturer abandons the market? I don't feel like reading a bunch of 
T&C documents to work it out.

RC
>
> 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]
>>     
>
>
>