why ebooks and when?

[Masters, Gary E]

Most things take longer than expected.  

But I never expected to see the computer world move from kilo (bytes hertz,
whatever) to giga.

We need a killer application in e books that will do something that real
books can not do.  I thought it was weight, but it may be something that one
can read at night and not disturb others.  Hyper text may do it, if used
properly.  But I don't have a clue unless it is to have links and extensive
text for every reference, foot note or allusion.  How about video clips if a
film is mentioned.  Or a review of films with several clips to make a point.
Tons of clips.

Ideas?

E books remain the best way for a library to get books to its clients on the
web - if the copyright issue can be solved.

Gary


Gary E. Masters
Librarian (Systems)
CDRH - FDA
(301) 827-6893 

	-----Original Message-----
	From:	treed at clearwater-fl.com [SMTP:treed at clearwater-fl.com]
	Sent:	Tuesday, August 28, 2001 2:53 PM
	To:	Multiple recipients of list
	Subject:	[WEB4LIB] Article: Forecasts of an E-Book Era Were,
It Seems, Premature (NY

	Interesting Article from the New York Times....First couple of
paragraphs
	below.  Full story:
	http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/28/technology/ebusiness/28EBOO.html

	Forecasts of an E-Book Era Were, It Seems, Premature
	By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
	Last August, top executives from Microsoft, Barnesandnoble.com and
several
	book publishers assembled at a Midtown Manhattan hotel for a news
conference
	to usher in the coming age of the electronic book.
	"We believe the e-book revolution will have an impact on the book
industry
	as great as the paperback revolution of the 60's," Jack Romanos,
president
	of the Simon & Schuster division of Viacom (news/quote
	
</redirect/marketwatch/redirect.ctx?MW=http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/
	nyt-com/html-companyprofile.asp&symb=VIA>), told a crowd of
reporters.
	Laurence Kirshbaum, chairman of the books division of AOL Time
Warner
	(news/quote
	
</redirect/marketwatch/redirect.ctx?MW=http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/
	nyt-com/html-companyprofile.asp&symb=AOL>), pledged to lead the
charge: "We
	want to see electronic publishing blow the covers off of books."
Andersen
	Consulting had recently estimated that by 2005 digital books could
account
	for 10 percent of all book sales.
	A year later, however, the main advantage of electronic books
appears to be
	that they gather no dust. Almost no one is buying. Publishers and
online
	bookstores say only the very few best-selling electronic editions
have sold
	more than a thousand copies, and most sell far fewer. Only a handful
have
	generated enough revenue to cover the few hundred dollars it costs
to
	convert their texts to digital formats.