One vote for the e-book reader

I had occasion, finally, to get my hands on one of the new Sony E-Readers, and it set me thinking about the path dependency of innovation in the face of legal obstacles. If you have not seen one of these electronic-pocket-book-platform things, you will have trouble imagining how such a small change could convince many users that the world of reading is about to change. E-Readers and the Future.

Amen.

Lots of comments at the link about theft and so forth. My comment:

The degree to which people will steal ebooks is not only a function of the ease of transfer but of
• the cost of legitimate purchase and
• the benefits of having a registered copy.

If publishers persist in their foolishness of trying to sell a digital copy of a book for $18, then yes people will blithely steal. But when the price is more where it should be -- say $3-4 -- then that problem will be very much diminished. (As I publish a book I think I have sufficient expertise to opine on where the price "should" be.)

As well, I think most are looking at the book in an old fashioned way as a static finished product. The e-book (at least the non-fiction one) is a product which can be "supported" e.g. with real-time updates and links by the author and/or access to the author for questions/comments etc. It is very much a different product than the paper book and buying it for the "support" can be very attractive.

Comments

[kieth Nissen]

I am supposing that an update to a published e-book would treat the updates
as footnotes or addendum (addendums?). Even if that is the normal protocol
it seems like there would be somewhat less trust in an e-book since prophetic
statements made originally by the author (the reader may suspect) were just added last
week.

The paper book has this time capsule solidness that shows the perceptions, prejudices
and mind set of a certain time. I think losing that would be a considerable loss.

[D. Archer]

But isn't the "capsule solidness" an unintended, and even regrettable, byproduct of the paper book? Sure, updatable e-books might afford authors in the prediction business the chance to adjust their "prophecies" in a deceptive manner. But what if they do it honestly? In the words of Keynes, "When the facts change, I change my mind--what do you do, sir?" If new and relevant information comes to light after the initial publication date, why should we handcuff the author to the less-perfect information of five years ago?
More importantly, though, most books do not deal in prophecy. Authors of nonfiction books, especially, strive for accuracy and authoritativeness on a given subject, and the paper book severely limits that aim in a way that an updatable e-book would not. In short, I think the benefits of e-books will be enormous, though that's not to say I want paper to disappear.

[kieth Nissen]

I see what you mean. I certainly would not argue that, as an obvious example, textbooks should not be updated. There is surely practical
benefit to ongoing updates for many non-fiction books; it could and probably will work like software updates.

When I read a book that was published 25-50 years ago I am intrigued by the reminders of that era and, in that way, the reading experience is not totally unlike enjoying old newsreels or movies.

It's probably near inevitable but I just think something will be lost.

[David Sucher]

And something will be gained.