Next Apple iPod to do eBooks?

[fblack]

All my reference works in my pocket!

This rumor has popped up before--and I think it's almost a BETTER use of a large(r) screen than videos. If my music was already in my pocket, and then as an "extra" with no additional bulk I could also have a book to read, that would be very cool.

As with movies, though, I'd prefer a subscription model (and priced low accordingly). I seldom watch the same movie--or read the same book--twice. It's not like music.

Interesting...I love to read, the screen would have to be a good size and sharp, if I can adjust the size of the fonts it might save my eyes. This has possibilities...

They should offer both a subscripion model for you and a straight purchase for me. My books are my resources and I refer to them often. I think academics might like this, provided ITMS doesn't offer only pulp.

 

[know-it-all5]

Great News

As we all have seen over the past few months, there have been loads of rumors going around about these new TRUE video, Gaming, Ebooking, Bluetooth, Internet Capable, Large screened, touch screen, non-touch IPODS.

Honestly, only an idiot would believe each and every rumor. One reason for this is they can't all work together. The other is just reality. Apple prolly could make a productt like this. Some day this super POD may come. Not now. As someone who has followed apple closely for years, here is my opinion on what you will see in new Ipods...

Widescreen (good resolution<not super>)

One form of wireless capabilty (this could be bluetooth, or this could be wireless internet capability to get more music) Im betting bluetooth.

Some form of touchscreen ( there will have to be some special casing, as to prevent scratches)

No REAL games, just stuff that is cooler to play than the crap thats on ipods now (thats not too tough to come up with)

I dont think apple will go into the ebook buisness however i do believe ipods will be pdf capable (likely other formats). This won't be no ipodEBOOK. It will be more of an oppurtunity to have written document easily on an ipod. Personally, I use my ipod hard for important documents. Lets be able to view them.

 

[Saladin]

Good Idea Apple

Hasn't anyone played Brain Age on the Nintendo DS? The text does not hurt my eyes at all and I have perfect 20/10 vision. I can play that game for hours straight with no problem. Apple can conquer any resolution problems. The only thing they can't fix is how much people bitch.

 

[sisyphus]

oh my... will the nano do ebooks?

Dear God! i hope not! That would practically be an exercise in utter futility!

Good thing my upgrade cycle is coming along... Hmmmm... wait for the 4 core Conroe or not...

This large screen iPod (Newton 2? ;-) has potential to become many many things... Interesting times we live in.

 

[dongmin]

All gloves are off. Apple has been anticipating this moment for a long time, waiting for Microsoft got in the game to raise the stakes. There's a reason Apple hasn't updated the iPod in so long; they didn't want to tip their hand to Microsoft. As soon as Zune hits the market, Apple will counter with iPod 2.0:

-large screen covering the full face
-touch technology that's activated as you hover your fingers over it
-new Nvidea-powered multimedia chip capable of doing video and 3D
-classic Nintendo games
-eBook reader
-wireless capabilities (I'm not sold on the usefulness of this yet)

This is exciting times...

 

[bobborries]

HD-iPod resolution display?

I think I remember Jobs saying that no one wants to read a book with clunky low rez text, an e-book would have to have a sharp high resolution text.

You would have to make a screen that was 300 dpi, people with bad eye sight could enlarge the text.

Measure a paperback book without the margins, it comes to 6.4" X 3.6" at 300dpi that comes to 1920 by 1080 pixels, and that happens to be a HD Video ratio.

 

[wizz0bang]

now we have the iPDA or iPalm

 

[mozmac]

I would seriously be all over this product. I am still using a 2G iPod that I bought before they even ran on Windows. I've had no reason to switch because it still plays music just fine. However, if I could carry all my music AND all my books in my pocket, I would be sold.

There are many moments throughout the day where you find yourself with 5-10 minutes of downtime. Usually I pull out my BlackBerry and try to find something on the internet to read. I've always wished there was a way I could get some books on there in a format that would be easy to read. Please, Apple, make my dream come true.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

All these rumors seem to be leading up to a PDA that doesn't have any input ability. and I think that's exactily what we need.

 

[GregA2]

Imagine the trees saved, the gas and space saved in moving vans.

Yeah, but without trucks to move the books around, they would all have to come through the Internet. The Internet isn't something you just dump stuff on. It's NOT a BIG TRUCK. It's a SERIES OF TUBES!

 

[c-Row]

[...]or if you can go to the newsagency, download Wired or The Times via BlueTooth with an automatic transaction approved with a thumbprint.

The thumbprint thing might turn some people off, but just downloading the latest issue of whatever magazine you want to your iPod at the newsagency... mmh!

 

[odedia]

2 Things

1. Engadget are very reliable IMO.
2. This furthers the estimation that the next iPod will have an OLED display. You really can't read an eBook normally on an LCD display, cause your eyes will hurt and the battery will die afte 2 chapters.

Oded S.

 

[eXan]

Engadget claims that according to two separate "trustworthy" sources, Apple is working on incorporating electronic books into the next versions of the iPod.



They also claim that the upcoming iPod will have "a substantial amount of screen real estate" alongwith a book-reading mode for easy reading. This rumor is consistent with long-standing rumors of a full screen video iPod that would launch alongside iTunes Movie sales.

Engadget believes that Apple would also launch electronic book sales via iTunes as well to provide content for this new iPod functionality. The reliability of Engadget's sources are unknown.

I'd rather read normal book. Screens will make your eyes cry.

 

[ipacmm]

I'd rather read normal book. Screens will make your eyes cry.

I agree. I have already lost good eyesight thanks to laptops, computers, blackberries, ipods and the last thing I need is another small device to read off of.

 

[yoak]

I think it would be nice for short stories, I don´t think I could finish a novel on an iPod

 

[mstur]

eBooks are so 90s...

Have you ever used a Palm ? Palm ebooks have been around for years, and could not save the Palm platform...
I have bought several of these, stored them on a SD card, and: never got around to read them. It is simply not good to read on such a small screen ! When the first Voyager Hypercard ebooks came out, I used my Powerbook 100 to read "Jurassic Park" during a beach vacation (of course not on the beach, but in the evenings). I kept several of these Hypercard books in my Mac, and used to read them in my office when I had some spare time. I am also using my iPods for audible audiobooks. But even on my PAlm TX I never read more than necessary. It is annoying to have these short lines and to scroll all the time. This is definitely NOT a reading experience !!

And: Steve Jobs never will NEVER implement anything in an iPod which has such a long and miserable history as ebooks...

 

[RodThePlod]

I call them Pod SnapShots!!!

I'd rather read normal book. Screens will make your eyes cry.

This is why the content is crucial.

Since April, I have been offering downloadable text-based content for all iPods, (apart from the Shuffle and early models), from my web site.

These are mainly guides that people traveling from place to place would find useful - although I've also got sports guides such as a Wimbledon Tennis guide (which took me ages to create) also available for free download.

I call these Pod SnapShots rather than eBooks because that's what they are - a snapshot of a particular subject that you can flick through quickly to get the information that you need - be that airport guides, store guides, etc.

These are ideally suited to iPods screen size and resolution - any document bigger/longer than that needs a much better screen IMHO - so if these rumors are true it's possible that this new iPod device may be a completely new model focused on documents.

While everyone is focusing on Apple opening a Music Store - they may well be about to pull a fast one and open a Book Store instead! This would be *much* easier technically to implement!

RodC
--
www.expodition.com - for iPod users who love to travel

 

[RedTomato]

I read books off electronic devices all the time. The first machine I used was the Nokia 9500

That's actually a Nokia 9300 but it's similar.

Having the right software is crucial. It needs to be tweakable to show the text at exactly the right font size.

I found it easier to hold the phone vertically not horizionally, and read the text like a vertical newspaper column.

The way the page is turned is crucial too.

Some software can scroll it automatically for you (you pickthe scroll speed, but sometimes it's just a little too fast or a little too slow)- thats suitable for undemanding books or ones where you can read at the same rate for all the way, but for most books manual turn is preferable.

The button to click to turn pages has to fall under your thumb or the right finger to make it an automatic action. For technical books, you need to be able to scroll back and forwards without changing your hand grip.

An unobtrusive system of marking your place, making notes, or marking paragraphs that you want to return to later is also important, but not always available.

When I got fed up with the Nokia 9500 being too big, (and I broke mine) I brought the O2 XDA Mini S

It has a tiny screen, 1.5 inches x 2.25 inches (45mm x 65mm) which is getting to be about the same size as the iPod video but I can still read books on it, and have read about 20 so far. I'm very short sighted but I can read it without glasses - just hold it a bit closer.

That tiny screen is probably too small for most people, so I hope Apple's is a bit bigger.

I have a friend who uses his old Palm PDA solely for reading - never mind all the pda functions - he only uses it for reading ebooks.

 

[Platform]

This would be great, espessialy if the display would be of a more "reader pleasant" kind, like the new digital paper books from Sony & Co

 

[Piarco]

This would persuade more to get the new iPod more than the ability to play full screen movies.... all the rumours around the 6G are quite interesting, lets hope it plays out into something that lives up to them.

 

[mi5moav]

The Return of the ibook

I guess we'll see the second coming of the ibook shortly. This will probably be a small tablet size. Is it possible to use two different kind of screen technology on the same screen. OLED and TFT. The only thing is that when I was in Japan earlier this year I saw and used the Sony ereader with eInk it was really a very nice device and the screen feels like a paperback book, it isn't true white and doesn't strain the eyes. I guess, this new device is going to use text recognition and voice over, I don't know if this is going to work since Agnes is not really that great wih expressions, but we'll see. I really have no clue how this is going to pan out, I really would rather have Apple release a gread digital video camera with HD/HD but they have some sort of deal with sony or panasonic that they won't what gives!!!!

 

[Lepton]

i think i would rather read a paperback
wouldnt the screen strain the eyes?

Good point, one key to a good book reader is a high pixel density. Of course, that would be great for viewing video, as well..

 

[mi5moav]

Are foldable/flexible displays ready? Strange that Xerox shut down Gyricon. I wonder if this product could actually, be sold to Borders and Barnes and Nobles. When you walk into the store instead of seeing paperback and hardbound books, you see hunreds of thousands of these on shelves. This could totaly change the way the publishing/library system works. You have a few of these flexible OLED displays that you just bring or rent from your local library or the book store and then you just go back or download a new one. The only problem is that there would have to be a simple way to charge these since it would be crazy to just stick them in thousands of bases, need to be as easy as slipping them into the shelf. So, if they created som sort of mat like SplashPower they would charge through the plastics. So, you could have these wonderfully moddern bookshelves that actually were splashpowered...And since covers sell books when and individual picked up one of these new Apple ibooks the cover art would have an animation sequence not just a static image. I can just see it now all these ladies picking up and seeing Fabio flexing his muscles on Appple's newest Ibook Ereader with it's flexible OLED display.

 

[Chris Bangle]

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

Itunes already has FADER magazine

 

[Chris Bangle]

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?

I feel the same... My sisters 5g takes days to play a video... My mini on the other hand takes splitseconds.