[WEB4LIB] RE: why ebooks and when?

[rich at richardwiggins.com]

Here's my rule, which hasn't been revoked by the Palm Pilot or the e-book: computers are for searching, and paper is for reading.  Yes you can read a backlit LCD display in the dark without an Itty Bitty Book Light, but the resolution is still poor.

Todd Mundt on NPR interviewed the founder of Ideo, Bill Moggridge, whose design credits include the first laptop, the Palm V, and one of the first e-books.  He talked about the strengths of e-books in terms of storing vast quantities of titles versus qualities of paper books, making some of the same points as in this thread.  Very interesting interview; worth a listen.

http://toddshow.org/log/dailylistings/08242001.asp

and

http://www.ideo.com/studies/softbook.htm

/rich



On Tue, 28 August 2001, Larry Campbell wrote:

> 
>  
>  Right now ebooks can download tens of thousands of titles off the Web for
>  free -- out-of-print pulp fiction (not to everyone's taste, granted),
>  historical/scholarly texts (that can be hard to find at your local
>  library), technical documentation, classics. You can carry around dozens
>  of these texts on a 2-lb. device, look up highlighted words in a built-in
>  dictionary, enlarge the print with the push of a button, highlight
>  or annotate, and then hide or erase the markup with the push of another
>  button. And, yes, you can read them in the dark. It's, to say the least,
>  difficult to do any of those things with a paperback. 
>     
>    What's going to happen when they contain fair-sized reference libraries
>  and display moving, talking pictures? 
>  
>  Larry Campbell              email:      larrycam at interchange.ubc.ca
>  Information Services        telephone:  (604) 822-2076
>  Koerner Library
>  University of British Columbia
>  http://www.library.ubc.ca
>  
>  On Tue, 28 Aug 2001, Blake Carver wrote:
>  
>  > 
>  > Great point.
>  > BUT, what compelling reasons do we as consumers have to buy an eBook. So 
>  > maybe "we" as librarians can see some reasons... space savings, time, 
>  > money, probably more, but "we" as the average consumer needs a compelling 
>  > reason to "uprgade" to eBooks. Just look at the marketing of eBooks:
>  > Lightweight, portable, easy to read, simple, flexible, loads of titles... 
>  > big deal, so is a paperback, and it costs $285 less.
>  > They lose the control, longevity, tactile traits, ease of use, familiarity, 
>  > and collectability that come with paper books, and don't gain much of 
>  > anything except yet another gadget that gathers dust in the closet with the 
>  > abroller, stairmaster and norditrac.
>  > 
>  > I had a good reason to buy CD's over LP's, I just don't see one here.
>  > 
>  > -Blake
>  > 
>  > 
>  > ------------------------------------------
>  > Blake Carver
>  > Web Librarian
>  > The Ohio State University Libraries
>  > 
>  > 
>  
>  

_____________________________________________________

Richard Wiggins
Writing, Speaking, and Consulting on the Internet
rich at richardwiggins.com  http://richardwiggins.com