eBook Acceptance: Involves Software and Hardware Both
Teleread has reported on two interesting posts: one by a publisher lamenting lack of affordable hardware readers and a response by an advocate of open software solutions.
I do not think this is an either/or proposition, because both are right. We need a $50 - $75 easy to use ebook hardware reading device because paying $200 or more dollars for a PDA just to read books on is not going to fly with the public. And there has to also be an easy way to get an ebook purchased online onto that device easily. More easily and more intuitive than the present PDA sync software.
But this has to be combined with some simple standardized software that will read a uniform format on that $50 device, plus also on PalmOS, Pocket PC, Windows, Mac and Linux.
As you can see from the posts I have been making over the last week, there is a bewildering array of ebook formats and software that will read them. This is enough to put off all but the most hardcore geeks. Add to it the DRM schemes and it is a wonder any ebooks are sold at all. Right now you really need to publish in several formats.
I am willing to bet that if a decent open reader software could be developed a hardware device could also be designed and manufactured in China or India for global distribution.
4 Comments:
According to the ads in this morning's paper, Office Max has a Palm model on sale for $48.97. That is below the threshhold of acceptance, so is a major step.
Granted, the model is limited, holding less than 2mb internal memory, but it should result in others competing - first method, include more memory!
If a program can be developed soon that dumps most proprietary programming, the e-book is going to explode as a major factor in publishing.
This is getting exciting.
That is an important Price point. All the growth in the PDA market is in the lower end units. I see they also have a $99 unit and that price is not too unreasonable.
PalmDOC is a decent enough format to tide us over until some good open ebook standard can be made, the only problem is that PalmDOC cannot be DRM'd. I'm not advocating DRM, but it seems to make the big publishers happier.
Long term they need to make buying and uploading ebooks to a handheld as easy as iPod makes it for music. Right now it is easy once you figure out how. But the process needs to be smoother.
Checked the price again, and the one offerred is the $99 model, but with a couple of rebates. Neat thing is that you can go to Office Depot with Office Max ads and they give you the same deal.
If Palm gives you a deal, you can bet the others are going to try to top it. Once the price is broken, it never does go up much again.
What we need is a program like Omiformat (on pdf995 converters) for handhelds that will change any format into any other format with a click.
It is still a good deal. However I must say I do really like the a PDA with a backlit screen for reading. It makes a difference.
Yeah one big converter program would be welcome. Some formats work better on handhelds than others.
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