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Next Apple iPod to do eBooks?

MikeTheC said:
Oh, I could sooooo say something here, but it would probably be considered a racist flame-bait, so I'll just steer clear of it.

But I would say that it won't be me needing that particular feature...

*mumbles something to self about this being an English-speaking country and runs out of the thread*
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The internet has no country lines; you arn't racist, but you may possibly be unsensitive to the enviorment in which you are speaking as there are a lot of people who would like to learn the spanish language outside the United States.

Additionally, please remember that although America's most commonly spoken language is English (or several varients of true English), there is no official national language in the United States. The easiest way to make sure that the U.S. stays mainly english (if you want it to) is by simply refusing to do otherwise. Complaining about people who want to learn another language in an atempt to get your point across only makes you look uneducated and rude (and thus is why people would jump to use the term "racist").
 
Newspaper

With newspaper profits tanking, this may be the way to resurrect the American newspaper. Grab your iPod off the dock in the morning and read the Times on your iPod while you're sitting on the train.
 
MikeTheC said:
Oh, I could sooooo say something here, but it would probably be considered a racist flame-bait, so I'll just steer clear of it.

But I would say that it won't be me needing that particular feature...

*mumbles something to self about this being an English-speaking country and runs out of the thread*
Click to expand...
You probably would. I think Spanish is the world's 2nd-most spoken language. Well, don't know about Chinese... Besides, you are being America-centric here, there are markets outside the US, you know, like Spain. Reference works like Dictionaries and Thesauruses will probably be bestsellers for such a device. If I go somewhere, I could load it with a dictionary for the national language for the country, say English-Spanish. My Spanish is not good, so if it could pronounce it for me, all the better. And I know of English speakers who can't read or spell very well either. My brother's dyslexic, and yet also a programmer. The Spanish were the first to discover and explore America, you know (though 500 years after the Vikings). In Canada they're split between English and French. They're like Americans without the attitude or penchant for invading other countries.
 
I would really rather have a paperback or hard cover book to read than look at a bright light to read. I can see maybe lyrics for songs, but books-no.
 
just thinking... add built in text to speech and you have listen to the paper on the way to work :)

what i Love about the iPod is that it is undefined, sure originally released as a music player but it truly has unlimited possibilities. I just wish Apple would speed things up.
 
i think that this is great news. i use my ipod to go over my notes before tests at school and shopping list etc. also in the process of making my notes i thought it would be handy to be able to either use the text to speech command in tiger on the ipod, or to be able to have a free converted to rip text files to an audio format similar to the program that features at&t voices only minus the $29 to get it ( i forget what the app. is called). ebooks are great i know my apt. space is 90% books and i've always thought that paperless books were the way to go. less space and ultra portable. hope to see this in the wide screen ipod. also... if they go touch screen it would be great to be able to edit text and use the dictonary command too. oh man this is going to be soooo cool :D
 
I think that this is a really good idea, if they can get a large enough screen. Add in a few tools like highlighting and a dictionary, and I might consider replacing my nano.
 
i hope the eventually come out with the macpod concept featured in icreate and also on one of these pages. this would be great and i think that is is a better solution to the screen realestate issue because i know that the finger prints on my psp are anoying and if you are to be constantly scrolling in a circle on this new ipod it would only take a little dirt on the screen to create a permanent "scratch" wheel on your screen and thats about a anoying as watching drawn together through a scratched agent 18 case on a ipod with video.


(edit) oh this is what i'm talki'n about
 

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ZoomZoomZoom said:
I think that this is a really good idea, if they can get a large enough screen. Add in a few tools like highlighting and a dictionary, and I might consider replacing my nano.
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I'll quote you on that ;)
 
Or.. which no one has mentioned

I think it would be neat to not only add ebooks... but MAGAZINES!

i mean, the ipod is a teen/young person trend for the most part anyway.... why not make Seventeen/Vogue/Vibe/XXL/Cosmopolitan for the iPod. Make it categorized like a podcast... so you scroll to what chapter you want.... then read the articles and see the images that correspond with them. You could subscribe to them like you do podcasts but the magazine companies could make you pay to subscribe. Something along the lines of what you'd pay to buy the paperback... or heck... even more since people would pay it.

You would have to regulate the content though for what is sold in the iTMS. Sure a playboy/hustler magazine would sell a gazillion subscriptions but i dont think you could get away with selling it in the itunes store.... Just make it an open .pdf type of file (or even a proprietary kind, that incorporates .pdfs with .jpg's .aac's and .mov's) where joe schmoe can make his own for his friends... or for his business... and Hugh Hefner can make his own and sell it on his own website. This way any blame of inappropriateness would fall on an external site (ie playboy.com) not Apple.

Think of the possibilites.

THough i HATE DRM you could restrict the ".imagazine" file it to the 5 or 7 people who have your account enabled like they do with music. You could have a parental setting in iTunes for what grade of content was allowed....

you could do a whole bunch.... NY times in your palm, Recipe magazines for mom.... porn for timmy.... Businessweek/ PC Mag for dad....

ANd you would have have have to make it where one could view the paper/magazine from the computer. Maybe this could be via Bluetooth or USB.

My mind is going cuh-razy
 
does anyone else feellike the ipod needs to be quicker? some times it takes like five to ten seconds for it to start playing songs of movies, maybe the interface is so simple that i tell it what to do too fast and get ahead of it? also if you listen to music and browse your pics some times the music skipps. maybe the nvidia chips will cure this?
 
YoGramMamma said:
I think it would be neat to not only add ebooks... but MAGAZINES!

if they did this like on the icreate web page, where the sample mag is, it would be cool. you click and drag the page to turn it. would be cool to use the core technologies to bring the magazines to life on the ipod
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I hope the new iPod's ebook mode can handle PDF files. That would rock.

There're some portable ebook reader out there, say Sony's, but they
are too closed source and you can only put documents you bought, not the documents you made yourself. I hope Apple won't take that stupid approach...
 
i think that since you can create your own pics, movies, podcasts, and text for the i pod know, that they will let you expand your ilife tools to create pdf too without having to buy them.
 
this document reading feature just coincides with the wireless rumors. If the Ipod can load web pages. why wouldn't it be able to translate Word, PDF and other popular formats. I would by one, but this sounds as if it would be more delicate than the 5g that I own, the 5g is definitely on the breakable side. could you imagine how much more screen you have to crack, and more pixels to go dead?
 
treysmay said:
this document reading feature just coincides with the wireless rumors. If the Ipod can load web pages. why wouldn't it be able to translate Word, PDF and other popular formats. I would by one, but this sounds as if it would be more delicate than the 5g that I own, the 5g is definitely on the breakable side. could you imagine how much more screen you have to crack, and more pixels to go dead?
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true, there is more to break. apple should make it's own brand of cases. the agent 18 that i have is great but it have defects in the viewing area and ( at certain angles ) an multi color look that looks like gas on water. in the sun this is annoying. apple should make cases that fit perfectly and are economical enough that they can be replaced or repaire. though this might make the ipod look fragile if they have to create a seperate case to protect it. but anything is better that the lame leather case that comes with the nano
 
david_r_p said:
If it's going to have a huge screen why not make it have a satellite based navigation system too. That would be handy...

As for the reader, sounds cool to me! :)
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OK for the navi I would do it in a heartbeat! I'd buy another I mean. Right now, full touch screen makes me giggle, but doesn't make me want to write a check for it.
 
atticus1178 said:
i think i would rather read a paperback

wouldnt the screen strain the eyes?
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I used to think that, but then I started using my old (now deceased) Kyocera 7135 smartphone to read books. Smaller screen than the iPod, not as high resolution. At one point I read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in a single weekend on it, with absolutely no feelings of eye strain. It's not an issue any more.

I found when reading on a smart phone I actually preferred it over a paperback -- easier to hold open (so I could sip my coffee), no worries about losing the page, backlight meant that I could read on the bus in the morning on the way to work, or other places where lighting wasn't always convenient.

Additionally I found I read more, because I always had several books with me, and they were always handy -- standing in a supermarket lineup, I could pull it out and read 2 or 3 pages while waiting.

These days I've even experimented with using j2me to read books on my T610. Not as comfy as the Kyocera, but again no issues with eye strain.

If the T610 is readable, the iPod will be no problem...
 
will it compare with sony ereader

http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/06/sony-reader-details-and-pics/

I have been waiting for the release of Sony's product. As a network engineer, I would love to download all of Cisco's PDF release notes and command references and have them at hand. I would also be able to upload pdfs of network maps. Plus it will be able to deal with RSS feeds, so I could subscribe to NYT feeds and have a personal newspaper.

If the ipod can top the ereader, it will drive sony crazy.
 
sPAULj said:
It's the fourth most behind Mandarin, English, and Hindi.

http://www.krysstal.com/spoken.html


(just in case you were wondering)
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Well there you go, was wondering about Chinese (mainly Mandarin), didn't think of Hindi. So English is only the 2nd most spoken language, huh. Add Spanish and Portuguese, and it would be 2nd! Well OK, not how it works...
So Mandarin, English, Spanish and possibly Hindi dictionaries should be hot sellers on an eBookPod then.
 
This makes perfect sense - it fits in well with Apple's iPod/iTMS business model.
I have a ton of eBooks, but i never end up reading a lot of them as I dont like sitting infront of a computer to read them. I was just thinking the other day how i wanted someone to make a stylish, lighweight eBook reader that i could take with me and view in public without looking like an uber dork reading my laptop on the bus etc.
I think Apple may be able to pull this one off. Hopefully the support current formats like .pdf and .chm (also .cbr for comic books) so that i can use my own stuff, as well as some DRM'd apple format for the iTMS content. Much like how we have mp3 and aac support for the audio.

Please apple, something lighweight, long battery life, thin and portable, scratch-resistant, and super high res/high contrast screen (OLED/eInk?).
:)

edit: also magazine support for those macworlds I have in the Zinio reader format would be awesome
 
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