A Reuters column and an AP story are both skeptical toward e-books. And not entirely without justification–given the Open eBook Forum’s format debacle and the related fixation on copy protection.
From Reuters:
E-books, hailed in hi-tech precincts as the electronic alternative to traditional publishing, have failed to live up to their early billing as a replacement for the printed page, despite their popularity with gadget-obsessed pioneers.
“The (e-book) vendors will tell you that mass adoption is just around the corner,” said Rich Levin, editor-in-chief of BookTech, a trade magazine for the publishing industry.
“When I talk to readers and publishers, they tell me the technology is just not ready for prime time,” he said.
Guess what, Mr. Levin. Isn’t it possible that the industry has punished itself through lack of a standardized format at the consumer level. In fact, Levin himself acknowledges that as a problem.
The piece goes on to say: “Meanwhile, the Open eBook Forum is working on standards to make electronic book publishing easier for publishers, said Nicholas Bogaty, executive director of the group.”
Notice the operative phrase? “For publishers.” How about readers?
All the talk about obnoxious copy protection schemes is also a threat to e-bookdom. Imagine an industry that boasts about ”temporary electronic ‘ink’ that disappears, or is unreadable, after a few weeks or months” (a description used neutrally in the Reuters column) .
Readers may grudgingly put up with this techology in library books, but just think how they’ll feel if it invades book “stores,” physical or electronic. TeleRead, of course, would provide ways for even electronic library books to remain on readers’ disks–with proper payments to writers and publishers.
Among other things, the Reuters piece also brings up the eye-wear issue. But guess what. Hardware has improved, I can read hour after hour on a Dell PDA with a decent color screen. Because I can adjust font sizes, I actually find this more pleasant than paper books. Yes, these matters are subjective, but I would suspect that the screen quality issue will matter less as hardware improves and young people grow up with e-books.
Meanwhile the AP story from BookExpo America notes: “Three years ago, at the height of the digital boom, e-books were the talk of the convention floor, with about 100 companies in the ‘technology’ section. But the number dropped to about 40 by 2002, and about half that total were expected this year.” The headline? “E-books Down, Graphic Novels Up at Expo.”
Imagine the scene next year if OeBF has announced a new universal consumer format. Meanwhile, alienated by the piracy paranoia of the industry, which also is complicating the development of the universal format, millions of readers will continue to shun e-books.
Question for the mass media: Won’t anyone talk to Jon Noring for his take on copy protection and reader formats? Looks as if the most important ideas within e-bookdom for the moment are publicity-proof.
Update, May 29: I wonder if AP and Reuters read statistics from the Open eBook Forum showing dramatic increases in e-book use last year. Sales are growing rapidly in percentage terms. The problem is that they’re pathetic compared to what they could be with more respect for the needs of readers.
