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April 28, 2010
In his The once and future e-book: on reading in the digital age at ars technica John Siracusa states people don't get e-books --especially the bibliophiles who mount lots of arguments against e-books.
Siracusa adds that part of the problem is in the name: e-book:
In the print world, the word "book" is used to refer to both the content and the medium. In the digital realm, "e-book" refers to the content only—or rather, that's the intention. Unfortunately, the conflation of these two concepts in the nomenclature of print naturally carries over to the digital terminology, much to the confusion of all.
We often think of e-books in physical terms—books with batteries and a screen—rather than in terms of their content. We need to make the separation between medium and content explicit. The book is the content and the medium is just the vessel and the medium changes--from print to digital.
The next section on the enthusiastic opponents of technological progress is exquisite:
Take all of your arguments against the inevitability of e-books and substitute the word "horse" for "book" and the word "car" for "e-book." Here are a few examples to whet your appetite for the (really) inevitable debate in the discussion section at the end of this article.
"Books will never go away." True! Horses have not gone away either.
"Books have advantages over e-books that will never be overcome." True! Horses can travel over rough terrain that no car can navigate. Paved roads don't go everywhere, nor should they.
"Books provide sensory/sentimental/sensual experiences that e-books can't match." True! Cars just can't match the experience of caring for and riding a horse: the smells, the textures, the sensations, the companionship with another living being.
Lather, rinse, repeat. Did you ride a horse to work today? I didn't. I'm sure plenty of people swore they would never ride in or operate a "horseless carriage"—and they never did! And then they died.
The real blockage comes from the publishers/publishing houses as their well-established business model is faced with new digital technology that threatens to change the landscape of the book market. They are fearful and in panic mode, and their strategy is to ensure that e-book sales do not eat into hardcover sales and so the sabotaged the e-book market from day one. The techniques used are DRM, the pricing and the general treatment as second-class citizens.
The e-book is the text/image not the device. Currently, the device is the Kindle or the iPad.
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One feature of POD that I think should really be utilized more is "selective" printing. For products such as travel guides or cook books, allowing the user to go into the product and print only the sections they plan on using. I think it would work if the publishers sold advertising on the virtual flaps, that would print out (maybe even coupons?).
For instance, when I was in India, I took my Lonely Planet and tore out the sections that I would be using and left the rest of the book behind. By allowing a "reader" to print only what they want is a great benefit, ecologically sensible, and, with advertising, economically viable. in my opinion.