{"id":266,"date":"2007-03-11T14:23:44","date_gmt":"2007-03-11T19:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/2007\/03\/11\/e-book-readers\/"},"modified":"2007-03-11T14:46:03","modified_gmt":"2007-03-11T19:46:03","slug":"e-book-readers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/2007\/03\/11\/e-book-readers\/","title":{"rendered":"E-book Readers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Well, it seems like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.positron.org\/projects\/bluechute\/\">someone<\/a> has finally squeezed a dedicated e-book reader into (what strikes me as) an <a href=\"http:\/\/gizmodo.com\/gadgets\/gadgets\/bluechute-e-ink-concept-243272.php\">ideal form-factor<\/a>.  Unfortunately, that&#8217;s probably the easiest challenge that e-book reader manufacturers face.  While I&#8217;ve got piles of electronics in the basement proving that I&#8217;m one of those early adopter suckers that <a href=\"http:\/\/gizmodo.com\/gadgets\/feature\/horseshoes-and-hand-grenades-joel-johnson-returnsto-spank-us-all-for-supporting-crap-236310.php\">Joel Johnson was talking about<\/a>, I wouldn&#8217;t even consider buying an e-book reader until I knew that I could:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>buy (most) every new title in a compatible format from multiple online vendors (I imagine old titles would be made available by demand and genre);<\/li>\n<li>freely transfer\/back up the title (i.e., no DRM); and<\/li>\n<li>\ndownload any available title at most major bookstore physical locations (e.g., I could buy a copy of Robert Kaplan&#8217;s latest just before I got on a flight at DCA).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I suspect that e-books and paper books will have less of an overlap market than publishers think.  Personally, I&#8217;ve occasionally read works entirely as an e-book (e.g., Cory Doctorow&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.craphound.com\/someone\/\">Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town<\/a>, David Weber&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-Book\/dp\/067157793X\">On Basilisk Station<\/a>, and an assortment of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.strangehorizons.com\/\">Strange Horizon<\/a>&#8216;s stories), but I&#8217;d much rather use it as a supplement.  A significant portion of my reading is done while on the move, and I can&#8217;t tell you how many times I&#8217;ve regretted leaving what I really wanted to read at home in favor of something a little more portable (this is why it took me forever to finish <a href=\"http:\/\/members.aol.com\/russillosm\/ijndx.html\">Infinite Jest<\/a>, and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.43things.com\/things\/view\/169\">Baroque Cycle<\/a> has become an exercise in reading the first ten chapters, over and over . . . ).  So, if my conditions above were met, I&#8217;d most definitely be willing to invest in an e-reader, and either buy e-books on their own, or pay a premium for a paper copy that gave me rights to an electronic copy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well, it seems like someone has finally squeezed a dedicated e-book reader into (what strikes me as) an ideal form-factor. Unfortunately, that&#8217;s probably the easiest challenge that e-book reader manufacturers face. While I&#8217;ve got piles of electronics in the basement proving that I&#8217;m one of those early adopter suckers that Joel Johnson was talking about, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-content-distribution","category-tech"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 5.0.1 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Well, it seems like someone has finally squeezed a dedicated e-book reader into (what strikes me as) an ideal form-factor. 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