e-Books: opinions.

[Denarius]

Okay, I was just watching The One Show (which will only mean anything to any Brits out there) and they were discussing whether e-Books would catch on or not.

This is what I think: in principle it's a good idea, but I think they've missed the point of a book a bit. All the designs I've seen so far have tonnes of buttons on them more akin to a PDA. A book has an excellent user interface already, so your best bet is to mimic it as closely as possible. My ideal e-book would be like this:

1)Two screens that fold over together (like a book!) to encapsulate the text right to the edges with a hard border that brings it up to standard paperback size rather than just one screen, which I think is too alien to hook avid bookworms.

2)At the bottom, just to the left and right of the fold, 2 buttons, 1 to go forwards and 1 to go backwards a page (operated with your thumb that naturally sits on the fold when holding a paperback. A double click on the forwards or back with your thumb put you forward 10 pages and a triple click 100 pages.

3)Two extra buttons to bring up the library selection and select (scroll with the forwards and back that is already there).

Other than that, what do people feel about ebooks in general?

 

[ucfgrad93]

I love ebooks. I have purchased about 30 or so from eReader to read on the various PDAs I've owned. The iPhone is great to read on, and I love being able to carry a few on my iPhone. The only downside, is that they are still too expensive in my opinion. While I don't think they should be free, there is no way I'm going to pay over $10 for one. The ones I buy are usually in the $4-5 range.

 

[northy124]

The One Show???? (I live in UK BTW) anyway for illegal download yes they have caught on but to pay for them hell no I'd rather have it in hard/paperback.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I think that they are two quite different products and that people read ebooks, or online material generally, quite differently from the way in which they read a standard book. Online material encourages rapid skimming, speed-reading and brevity. Books encourage immersion, deep, slow, intense reading. Different sources of information tend to be approached differently by the reader, leading to different patterns, or types, of reading.

Certainly, I see enough of screens on a daily basis, and screens can become quite a strain on the eyes after a good many hours. Thus, my online reading tends to play to the strengths of the internet - rapid updating of news, varied sources, a stunning range of opinion and information. But you read this (at least I do) very differently to the way you read a book, or a print broadsheet newspaper, or a lengthy magazine piece.

However, I certainly would not want to read fiction, or read for pleasure, online. The sort of reading where one loses oneself, immerses oneself deeply into a book (or a very long article) is not so easy to do online, I find. Therefore, I'd suggest that ebooks will complement rather than replace traditional books. For my part, where books are concerned, I prefer the one bound between covers.
Cheers

 

[wordmunger]

The sort of reading where one loses oneself, immerses oneself deeply into a book (or a very long article) is not so easy to do online, I find. Therefore, I'd suggest that ebooks will complement rather than replace traditional books. For my part, where books are concerned, I prefer the one bound between covers.
Cheers

My wife has a Kindle and does this all the time. It's very different from reading a computer screen or an iphone. But I suppose it's also a matter of personal preference.

 

[Gray-Wolf]

I love e-books, BUT, due to the ones I have, they can only be read on Microsoft reader, and there is no converter or other program to read them on the Mac. I have about 15 books.

 

[northy124]

Crossover?

 

[GSMiller]

eBooks are a great idea but, of course, come with DRM (the ones for school do anyway). I bought one for my Business English class last semester and the DRM was horrible! I had to download Adobe Reader and this program called Sealed Media that let me open the files. Even then I couldn't copy and paste or anything, so when I was answering the questions I would have to flip back and forth between Word and Reader, it was a pain. At least they supported Mac OS X though!

 

[Gray-Wolf]

It list on the crossover page, that Microsoft reader won't work.

Did find a .lit converter though. Tomorrow, I'll give it a try. I miss my books. Most were Star Trek ones that are out of print, the reason I payed $2.95 for each from Amazon.com