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Next Apple iPod to do eBooks?
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Have your library on one device, but read it on another?
I cannot agree more. Apple would need to add another product to their line, not replace the actual iPod with something bulkier. Some people enjoy the iPod as a music player/portable HD. Why lose their business by breaking their favorite toy (by making it bigger to accomodate functions they might not care about)?
A few random thoughts on form and function...
I don't have an iPod yet because I don't think I'd enjoy reading a lot of text on any of the actual models. Like any other university student, I have tons of academic books and articles on top of my novels, short stories and such. Since I move and travel a lot, I often have to leave many - or most - of my books behind. With e-books, I could simply bring along a small, light-weight reader and I'd have my whole library with me, easily accessible, 24/7, no matter where I am. That would be beyond cool!!! A gadget integrating music and video too would be awesome, but adding video means an LCD, which means much shorter battery life, so there is a trade-off there: the do-it-all gadget that I am longing for just doesn't seem to be here yet.
Of course, you can read e-books on a laptop, but as has already been mentioned in this thread, reading from your laptop on the bus isn't enjoyable. It can be done, but few bother. I've had a laptop for over four years and I can't say I carried it around all that much. I need something smaller... but that can grow bigger when need be!!! I'll try to explain myself... When listening to music, you don't need a big screen and you don't want to lump around a big device for no reason. When watching video, a bigger screen is a good thing. However, an LCD isn't good for battery life and an e-ink screen isn't good for video, so how about having one of each on the same device? Or have two devices that integrate together flawlessly while addressing different needs?
For example, think iPod video with an LCD taking the whole "face" of the iPod. The device has a hard drive so you can carry a lot of stuff with you at all times. Then fold it open and you'll find an e-ink screen. The e-ink screen could be roughly twice as big as the LCD if it takes all of the surface inside, so you wouldn't be reading on a tiny screen. Maybe the e-ink screen could have its own flash memory, so the device could load the documents that you want to read on there. You'd need to access the hard drive only when you want to read/listen to/watch something that isn't on the flash drive, so I assume it would help the battery life a lot. (Actually, I'm starting to think that the flash memory/hard drive combo could be cool whatever screen the iPod uses, but I'm getting off-topic.) Or maybe the screen could be something you unroll from a tube. Anyways, I think that you could have your library on one device (that has a hard drive), yet read your stuff on another one (which has a much better battery life), or on another part of the same device. It poses challenges, obviously, as you don't want to waste time transfering stuff all the time, but I think it might be the closest we can get to having our cake and eating it too.
SiliconAddict said:
I cannot agree more. Apple would need to add another product to their line, not replace the actual iPod with something bulkier. Some people enjoy the iPod as a music player/portable HD. Why lose their business by breaking their favorite toy (by making it bigger to accomodate functions they might not care about)?
A few random thoughts on form and function...
I don't have an iPod yet because I don't think I'd enjoy reading a lot of text on any of the actual models. Like any other university student, I have tons of academic books and articles on top of my novels, short stories and such. Since I move and travel a lot, I often have to leave many - or most - of my books behind. With e-books, I could simply bring along a small, light-weight reader and I'd have my whole library with me, easily accessible, 24/7, no matter where I am. That would be beyond cool!!! A gadget integrating music and video too would be awesome, but adding video means an LCD, which means much shorter battery life, so there is a trade-off there: the do-it-all gadget that I am longing for just doesn't seem to be here yet.
Of course, you can read e-books on a laptop, but as has already been mentioned in this thread, reading from your laptop on the bus isn't enjoyable. It can be done, but few bother. I've had a laptop for over four years and I can't say I carried it around all that much. I need something smaller... but that can grow bigger when need be!!! I'll try to explain myself... When listening to music, you don't need a big screen and you don't want to lump around a big device for no reason. When watching video, a bigger screen is a good thing. However, an LCD isn't good for battery life and an e-ink screen isn't good for video, so how about having one of each on the same device? Or have two devices that integrate together flawlessly while addressing different needs?
For example, think iPod video with an LCD taking the whole "face" of the iPod. The device has a hard drive so you can carry a lot of stuff with you at all times. Then fold it open and you'll find an e-ink screen. The e-ink screen could be roughly twice as big as the LCD if it takes all of the surface inside, so you wouldn't be reading on a tiny screen. Maybe the e-ink screen could have its own flash memory, so the device could load the documents that you want to read on there. You'd need to access the hard drive only when you want to read/listen to/watch something that isn't on the flash drive, so I assume it would help the battery life a lot. (Actually, I'm starting to think that the flash memory/hard drive combo could be cool whatever screen the iPod uses, but I'm getting off-topic.) Or maybe the screen could be something you unroll from a tube. Anyways, I think that you could have your library on one device (that has a hard drive), yet read your stuff on another one (which has a much better battery life), or on another part of the same device. It poses challenges, obviously, as you don't want to waste time transfering stuff all the time, but I think it might be the closest we can get to having our cake and eating it too.
[It should be prety clear to most people that an iPod with a screen large enough to read would be WAY to large to cary around on a belt clip and use as a music player.
It would be hard to make a good book reader. Even the screen on the Mac Book is not nearly as good as a printed page and I can't image a MB like screen on an iPod
What I'm waiting for are the "iGlasses". It is a display that look like a pair of eye glasses. Some kind of projector is built into the frame.
It would be hard to make a good book reader. Even the screen on the Mac Book is not nearly as good as a printed page and I can't image a MB like screen on an iPod
What I'm waiting for are the "iGlasses". It is a display that look like a pair of eye glasses. Some kind of projector is built into the frame.
atticus1178 said:
I've been reading books on a Palm Tungsten T5 for a couple of years now.
It's a lot easier to carry around 75+ books in it than on paper.
And at night, my wife isn't kept away with a light on in the room, as long as I don't keep the T5 in front of her face.
With a bigger screen, a "bookPod" should be just as good.
A Library In Your Pocket or On Your Belt
Yeah this would be a killer application and open up a whole new world of remote reading. Imagine having a whole ton of books including illustrations and graphics in that little iPod Video. Wow.paz117 said:
Dude...
BOOKS ON TAPE!
...unless you're one of "those" people who likes to "read." Though having a newspaper front on my iPod would be convenient.
BOOKS ON TAPE!
...unless you're one of "those" people who likes to "read." Though having a newspaper front on my iPod would be convenient.
Ummm you guys do realize my post with the Sony picture was to emphasize that no one has done it right...yet. Right? Sony's e-book reader sucks. They all do.
Hence the desire for Apple to pull an iPod on the market.
Hence the desire for Apple to pull an iPod on the market.
eji said:
The big difference is extreme simplicity and loads of content on a central and popular place, iTunes. Its amazing to see the iPod gradually grow into a multifunctional device and the road it took to get there.
If it hooked up to a wiki with the old wireless and allowed approved paid contributors/users to edit and add entries from the magippear keyless keyboard, it would truly become the essential traveller's instructional companion. Pop it in a sock, because you should always know where your sock is. Yes, it's a hitch-hiker's guide, no less...
Maybe comic books?
It would be cool if you could buy comics this way as well. Maybe when you buy a physical comic, it could give you a code to enter at the iTMS (iTunes Media Store) to download a CBR version of it.
Right now, you can download all sorts of comics on BitTorrent as CBR or PDF format, and Marvel (http://www.marvel.com) has a pretty cool online (Flash-based, I think) comic reader from their website.
I'd love to be able to pony up some amount of money and have, say, the entire run of X-Men at my disposal for reading. And controlling the DRM on a comic would be easier than that of music, or even text.
It would be cool if you could buy comics this way as well. Maybe when you buy a physical comic, it could give you a code to enter at the iTMS (iTunes Media Store) to download a CBR version of it.
Right now, you can download all sorts of comics on BitTorrent as CBR or PDF format, and Marvel (http://www.marvel.com) has a pretty cool online (Flash-based, I think) comic reader from their website.
I'd love to be able to pony up some amount of money and have, say, the entire run of X-Men at my disposal for reading. And controlling the DRM on a comic would be easier than that of music, or even text.
I like the dual screen idea, one for video, one for e-ink.
Imagine today's 60-gig 5G iPod. For our new model, there's a hinge on the top and a crease down the middle between the plastic and the chrome. The device is magnetically sealed, just like the macbooks.
Simply flip the full-screen oled over to the back, so it's now flush with (and protected by) the back of the iPod. Now, instead of seeing your full size video you're seeing a full size e-ink screen.
Sweetness.
Imagine today's 60-gig 5G iPod. For our new model, there's a hinge on the top and a crease down the middle between the plastic and the chrome. The device is magnetically sealed, just like the macbooks.
Simply flip the full-screen oled over to the back, so it's now flush with (and protected by) the back of the iPod. Now, instead of seeing your full size video you're seeing a full size e-ink screen.
Sweetness.
*WARNING* The following post was posted without me having read the previous 7 pages of posts.
I use to have an eReader. It was excellent for reading books in bed. Unfortunately, you couldn't read books in the bath, at the beach, in sunlight, or anywhere where you could drop it. Actually you could pretty much only read books in bed.
eBooks aren't the future, they are the past. There is a reason the craze didn't take off last time. You just can't beat a book.
I use to have an eReader. It was excellent for reading books in bed. Unfortunately, you couldn't read books in the bath, at the beach, in sunlight, or anywhere where you could drop it. Actually you could pretty much only read books in bed.
eBooks aren't the future, they are the past. There is a reason the craze didn't take off last time. You just can't beat a book.
mccoma said:
True. There is also the fact that the e-paper technology is B&W only. Certainly Apple does not and will not want to step backward from the color screeens we enjoy now. But... why not two screens?
Correct me if I am misremembering technologies, but aren't color LCD screens, when "off" essentially transparent as the crystals are aligned a certain way (or maybe it's "on")? Either way, if there is a state where the color LCD can be transparent, why not put the e-paper screen behind the color LCD. The e-paper will have the benefit of higher resolution, contrast and lower battery consuption, the color LCD benefits of color.
Hmmm. Did not consider lighting just now. Can e-paper be lit from behind? If so, then the technology is still viable as the backlighting can illuminate the LCD.
Okay, posted this before reading the last page of posts and see Dr. Frank posted a similar idea.
Porchland said:
...but then, I wouldn't want to listen to my music on a paperback size device...
sam10685 said:
And if we filled it all with people, they would all die. We need that space.
Specifically, however, I'm not sure how much of anything iPod ebooks would save. Sure, if everyone switched to electronic books, all the printing & transportation infrastructure surrounding printed books would stop consuming resources. And just one iPod could function in place of hundreds of books. Want to read a new book? Copy it to your existing iPod.
However, the duplication/transfer of all those ebooks would be carried out by computers, and many more iPods would have to be made to display them to people. The production of so many devices and the running of so many ebook servers would use resources, and electronics are chemically dirty to produce.
Someone would have to do a rigorous resource-use trade-off analysis. I don't think the sustainability benefit of one or the other is at all obvious.
I would say this is probably not for books. We already have audiobooks after all and reading a book from a screen is not ideal. Where this really would be useful is for articles and blogs, in fact this could be linked up with Safari so that you could download the RSS feed of your favourite sites to read on the go. This would be a great feature and could be a free part of the iTMS (in need of a new name perhaps) like podcasts. Movies will be problematic because of battery life, they're going to deplete any battery very quickly compared to music and even more if with text. Would be a great feature and to keep at least one step ahead of the competition.
2 Screens...on to something?
One of the most practical/feasible forms may be to just have 2 screens...an iPod as one screen AND a Tablet screen (i.e. eInk, LCD, etc.). In this way, regular iPod users can CHOOSE to just carry around JUST their iPod for music/video, or take along an ADDITIONAL tablet screen if they desire to watch a movie on the larger screen or read documents (e-books) or email or other apps (albeit with a shorter battery life).
Need to still have a "cool" form factor, such that the iPod nests into the tablet screen seamlessly and not some stupid corded device.
This idea would give the consumer both expandability and more incentive to buy an iPod. What most consumers DON'T want is to buy more and more devices that don't "leverage" each other. MOST consumers don't have an unlimited amount of disposable income to buy a shuffle, a nano, an iPodV, a Mac Tablet, an iPhone, etc.
Your thoughts?
One of the most practical/feasible forms may be to just have 2 screens...an iPod as one screen AND a Tablet screen (i.e. eInk, LCD, etc.). In this way, regular iPod users can CHOOSE to just carry around JUST their iPod for music/video, or take along an ADDITIONAL tablet screen if they desire to watch a movie on the larger screen or read documents (e-books) or email or other apps (albeit with a shorter battery life).
Need to still have a "cool" form factor, such that the iPod nests into the tablet screen seamlessly and not some stupid corded device.
This idea would give the consumer both expandability and more incentive to buy an iPod. What most consumers DON'T want is to buy more and more devices that don't "leverage" each other. MOST consumers don't have an unlimited amount of disposable income to buy a shuffle, a nano, an iPodV, a Mac Tablet, an iPhone, etc.
Your thoughts?
network23 said:
I am not sure about the physics of a double screen, but eInk has a color screen (not quite as nice as the B&W model
).now, why I want one......
My main reason for wanting one is the increasing number of PDF technical books from places like Apple (ADC library), Pragmatic Programmers, APress, and SpiderWorks. I want to have one device I can take with me (perhaps with some of my own notes and graphics outputed from various programs in PDF on the Mac) that can view all these works. The eInk screens are really, really nice and don't fatigue your eyes like an LCD. Audiobooks tend not to work for programming books and references.
msandersen said:
The One Laptop Per Child project is using a display that's full color but has a 1-bit mode that uses no or very little power when it's in its 'off mode'. I'm not sure what technology they're using but we do know that Steve Jobs and Nicholas Negroponte have talked last year when Jobs offered OSX for the olpc.
kev0476 said:
Good, we can burn those logs for electricity. Carbon net-neutral for a short period of time, unlike coal or oil.
Macrumors said:
Why would Apple go about doing all this work when Steve Jobs's friend Jeff Bezos has been spending the past several years scanning all of his inventory for the 'Look Inside' feature? And they cover just about every book on Earth. And they've been in the default Safari bookmarks for years. Etc.
ClimbingTheLog said:
Just because you have the content scanned doesn't mean its ready for e-book format. As I said before Apple would be better off working with e-reader who has something along the lines of 16,000+ books ready to go.
Interesting ebook idea from sony getting ebooks from connect service in theory? Could itunes be next?
http://reviews.cnet.com/4660-10619_7-6556035.html?tag=vid&autoplay=true#mgallery
http://reviews.cnet.com/4660-10619_7-6556035.html?tag=vid&autoplay=true#mgallery
Drewys said:
Yeah, I think the big-screen (e-ink?) add-on the way you describe it makes the most sense. I was clueless as to how the second screen could fit on the iPod, but I think your idea's pretty feasible with today's tech and would be pretty usable too. If you want to read for just a few minutes, then you don't need the add-on. But if you sit down to read for a few hours, then you plug the bigger screen and you're ready to go. Chances are you won't try to read War and Peace on your way to the supermarket, so you don't need to lug the second screen around all the time. If Apple came out with something like that, I'd buy one right away, although I must say I'd like a color screen, even if it only displays a few really basic colors.
Of course, if the reader does not require the iPod but merely uses it as a storage device to pull stuff from, I think it would indeed boost iPod sales because the iPod would effectively become an add-on for the reader, so it would become attractive to some people who just don't care about the iPod's music capabilities. If the reader is built with the iPod in mind, it could easily have some kind of built-in iPod "dock", as you suggested. Yeah... It seems so perfect that I wonder why Apple hasn't released it yet!!!