[LINK] ebook readers -- here they come!

Kim Holburn kim.holburn at gmail.com
Mon Aug 31 18:59:22 AEST 2009


On 2009/Aug/31, at 10:28 AM, Richard Chirgwin wrote:
> 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.

Market forces.

> - Publishers refuse to license content to any reader without DRM, and
> start pursuing users suspected of moving books to unlocked devices.

Seen it all before, already.

> - 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.

In some ways this is where general purpose computers come into their  
own and it is quite difficult to make DRM that works on them.

Oh and we already read book-loads of text on computers all the time.   
Patent that eh?

> 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.

Like what happens if your online DRM server stops and all the people  
who "bought" music from you suddenly can't play it anymore?

>
> 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]
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>
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-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
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