I had a great time talking about podcasting yesterday and enjoyed a couple of sessions on “The Future of…” topics. I talked a lot about them today.
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About libraries: I have a library card. It was cool when I could request books online and go pick them up. Then I found that a county nearby has an online library where I can get ebooks and audiobooks. That county is affiliated with my county; so I can use it for free with my library card. They have about 6,000 books in epub. Then I found out that another county has about 24,000 epub books. For $125 a year I can have a card with them. I did that and it is great! The second library has more copies of each book than the first one; so my waiting time for books is quite small.
I go to the library for a book when I can’t get it any other way. There are vastly more books available there in hard copy than in ebook. I much prefer to read on the ereader, especially when the hard copy is a paperback with small print.
I think I need to go back and re-listen to the previous ‘cast, as well as this one.
The idea of enhanced e-books is a nice one, but it’s early in the evolution of the e-formats to really understand how to use it well. We’ve had thousands of years to learn what works and doesn’t work for text, and the possibilities of the enhanced format are in fact huge – which means it’s going to take a lot of time to properly understand how to integrate them in. It’s at least as big a change as the integration of sound into movies (which took at least a generation of actors) and then the integration of color into movies. People seem surprised when the first 3D movies don’t use the 3D to good effect – but seriously, the technology is new, and the early experiments with it in black and white were almost useless. I expect it to take at least another 5-10 years for a movie that *really* uses 3D well to come out.
Somewhat apropos to this greater discussion:
http://entertainment.salon.com/2011/10/04/return_of_hypertext/
I remember the big hype around the Hypernovel – I think William Gibson did one that disappeared as you read it. The problem I had with them is that they seemed to come in two flavors – the ponderous “literary novel” with insane crosslinkage enhancing the opaque symbolism that so marks them – and the electronic version of the kid’s “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, which with the need to have so many branches, ended up barely short stories for any one particular passage through the story’s tree structure.
The majority of the first “enhanced e-books” are, quite honestly I think, going to end up being viewed much as we view the Geocities pages of the mid 90s – crude, over-done, and lacking understanding of what made a good web page.
David Dvorkin played the “age card” in the session. He noted that his MIL has muscle problems that make it difficult to physically hold books and even he has been known to adjust font sizes upwards for reading. The need for large-print books disappears when everybody can change fonts.
That’s interesting about the books and libraries. I should look into that myself.
I’ve offered to do a reading at the local library district. They haven’t responded to email yet.
My granny was a huge reader – and she was really miserable the last ten years of her life when she could no longer read or knit due to poor eyesight. A kindle would have transformed her last years. I know the idea that I will be able to read until I die is something I hold very close to my heart.
Speaking of Dvorkin, I read “Mrs. Stifle” and am greatly encouraged. I’m also enlightened about the workings of publishers.
I’ve been looking around for a way to find new books other than best seller lists. So far I’ve got “Nathan Lowell Presents”, Library Thing (http://www.librarything.com/), and Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/). At Library Thing I post my books and then I can see who else has read them and go see what else they have read or reviewed.
I just finished a Michael Parry book and posted. Well, wouldn’t you know it, Michael Parry had also read it and he posted that he read a Nathan Lowell book among others. Isn’t that handy!
You might look into goodreads.com, several of us are on there and getting recommendations form those with similar tastes is always good.
http://ebooks.denverlibrary.org/2B5EFBC6-246A-4E06-9163-B5D53C45827B/10/274/en/Default.htm Denver elibrary has about 4500 epubs.
MobileRead Wiki has a listing of ebook libraries: http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/EBook_Lending_Libraries
MontanaLibrary2Go is a statewide database for ebooks and they are just now available in Kindle format. Great, except, there was not one book available that I wanted ready for me to get. Many had 2-3 or more people on the waiting list and there was only one copy or so available. I don’t mind waiting lists, but is it that hard to get a copy? Have I missed something here? Anyway, seems easier to go to the library and pick something to read now, but I think that will change as more and more people get on the ebook bandwagon. They have already started in your world, but other worlds (libraries) may be starting to catch on. Exiting times—-in the meantime, I hope my library “books” notify me soon. It could save me a bit. I can’t buy everything I want to read.
PS I thought Ismael had lost his “fun” spark in the last book or two. I hope he gets it back.
Remember that libraries primarily buy from mainstream publishers, unless sufficient people put in a request for a book from a non-mainstream source. And with the mainstream publishers pricing the e-books more than the paper copies (and quite likely not giving the libraries as much of a discount on e-books as they do on hard copy), it’s quite likely that demand for e-books will outpace library supply for some time.
PPS in re-reading, my PS sounds like I did not like the last two books. WRONG! I really liked them, it is just that Ishmael needs that little spark —–especially after getting his bearings back after article 97. More going on, maybe, but richer? I don’t know, those first 3 books were fun.
I remember, not so long ago, when an average cell phone with a two year contract would still set you back several hundred dollars. Now you can get a very nice referb smartphone for free with that same two year contract. (I know this for a fact, I got one last month!)
It won’t be that long before ebook readers go the same way. As demand rises, the prices will drop and competition will heat up. If the real money is to be made in the “service” (distribution of content) then the hardware costs will drop away. Amazon has already broken the the $100 mark with their latest $79 and $99 Kindles. The other retailers will now race to compete. The end result will be a reader anyone can own.
That said, it’s also important to remember that ebooks need not be read on dedicated readers. All my Kindle, Nook, iBook, and ePub books read perfectly well on my brand new smartphone. Did I mention it was free? 🙂
Ummm… Well, there’s free, and then there’s free…
As you note – your free refurb cell phone comes only with a 2 year service contract. Those two Kindles you mentioned? Order them *without* the ads being pushed at you, and add $20.
Meanwhile, none of the smart-ish phones sold for use with Tracfone do e-reading.
On the up side, there’s an XO Eglide 2 tablet – 4GB, Android 2.2, 800×480 color 7″ screen, resistive touchscreen that can be found in the $100 range. So yeah, things are getting cheaper, and very very interesting!
Right now, I’m biting my tongue waiting for Black Friday/Online Monday. I’m expecting some $40-50 Android tablets.
True, but I was going to sign up for the service contract anyway. By signing the two year agreement I’m getting a lower rate than I would staying on month to month. So the phone really was free, to me anyway 🙂
While I don’t have an ad supported (or other) Kindle yet, it appears the ads are only present when you are not reading. so they really aren’t that invasive and I believe you can opt for amazon ads only not third party.
so for me with a budget its worth the difference.
I also am hoping for some really good sales BF/OM.