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iPod touch, iPhone, and the future of printed books
Qingu
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Apple just announced the iPod Touch, which is basically a phoneless version of their iPhone. To me, the most notable thing about both of these devices is how easy it is to use them to read and navigate the internet.
Assuming both devices (and their imitators) take off reasonably well, lots of people are going to be sitting in coffee shops and college quads reading websites on their iPhones/Pods. And if more cities start to have universal wireless, lots of people are going to be reading their iPhones/Pods on the buses and trains.
So, books. A lot of people I've talked to say that books (and sometimes, newspapers) will never go away, because people just intrinsically like to have a printed page in front of them. There is a certain "feel" to a printed, physical page that can't be emulated on a computer screen.
But what exactly is this special feeling you get from reading books, as opposed to a computer monitor? Readibility may be part of it, but not a huge part—bright modern monitors are probably easier to see than print books in some circumstances (like dark rooms, obviously). I think portability is a huge part of why people like books—they are easy to pick up, carry around, maneuver into a new position when your arm gets tired, stuff in a backpack, etc. Also, I think people simply like the tactile experience of turning pages. Turning pages is, for example, a lot more fun than rolling and unrolling a scroll—they separate the text into discreet parts and stopping points, and they also serve to conceal from the reader what happens a few paragraphs after the one you're reading (unless, of course, you skip ahead to see what happens).
In its first iteration, the iPhone and iPod touch seem to match books in all these things. It's obviously just as portable as a book. And unlike other PDAs and handheld internet devices, websites are very readible and easy to navigate on the iPhone.
As for the tactile experience of turning pages, the touchscreen could, in theory, give a similar sort of experience. The problem now is that online writing is not really structured like print writing. E-books simply look like shit. They are either blurry, scanned-in pdfs of print book pages, or else they are long columns of html text that simply becomes boring to scroll through, even if they're broken up into chapters. A further problem with online writing is that shit simply looks different—paragraphs and dialogue are spaced differently with much more white space in online than in print. This has a subtle but noticeable effect on the reader.
On the other hand, I think certain websites are just as easy to read as books, because they have evolved to structure themselves around the internet format (as opposed to the printed page format). Clicking on links, for example, has a similar sort of effect as turning a book's page—it's a form of physical interaction that serves to advance the narrative of whatever you're reading. I think this is why it's so easy and often pleasurable to click through dozens of interlinked Wikipedia articles.
The problem with online books is that their authors have not yet learned to structure the text with the online format in mind. But once they do, I think the days of the printed book are numbered.
Assuming both devices (and their imitators) take off reasonably well, lots of people are going to be sitting in coffee shops and college quads reading websites on their iPhones/Pods. And if more cities start to have universal wireless, lots of people are going to be reading their iPhones/Pods on the buses and trains.
So, books. A lot of people I've talked to say that books (and sometimes, newspapers) will never go away, because people just intrinsically like to have a printed page in front of them. There is a certain "feel" to a printed, physical page that can't be emulated on a computer screen.
But what exactly is this special feeling you get from reading books, as opposed to a computer monitor? Readibility may be part of it, but not a huge part—bright modern monitors are probably easier to see than print books in some circumstances (like dark rooms, obviously). I think portability is a huge part of why people like books—they are easy to pick up, carry around, maneuver into a new position when your arm gets tired, stuff in a backpack, etc. Also, I think people simply like the tactile experience of turning pages. Turning pages is, for example, a lot more fun than rolling and unrolling a scroll—they separate the text into discreet parts and stopping points, and they also serve to conceal from the reader what happens a few paragraphs after the one you're reading (unless, of course, you skip ahead to see what happens).
In its first iteration, the iPhone and iPod touch seem to match books in all these things. It's obviously just as portable as a book. And unlike other PDAs and handheld internet devices, websites are very readible and easy to navigate on the iPhone.
As for the tactile experience of turning pages, the touchscreen could, in theory, give a similar sort of experience. The problem now is that online writing is not really structured like print writing. E-books simply look like shit. They are either blurry, scanned-in pdfs of print book pages, or else they are long columns of html text that simply becomes boring to scroll through, even if they're broken up into chapters. A further problem with online writing is that shit simply looks different—paragraphs and dialogue are spaced differently with much more white space in online than in print. This has a subtle but noticeable effect on the reader.
On the other hand, I think certain websites are just as easy to read as books, because they have evolved to structure themselves around the internet format (as opposed to the printed page format). Clicking on links, for example, has a similar sort of effect as turning a book's page—it's a form of physical interaction that serves to advance the narrative of whatever you're reading. I think this is why it's so easy and often pleasurable to click through dozens of interlinked Wikipedia articles.
The problem with online books is that their authors have not yet learned to structure the text with the online format in mind. But once they do, I think the days of the printed book are numbered.
Qingu on
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Also books are neat and you can have a bookshelf/shelves.
Alternatively, you can have an ipod sitting on a coffee table somewhere.
Another thing is the current method of viewing digital print media: eye-strain. Many people find it more stressful to read a back-lit LCD screen than a printed page. Though, at the most recent SIGGRAPH, I saw an exhibition of hand-held displays that are being developed to address that problem right now, which will probably enter the consumer market in the near-future.
Uh, I'm not really sure what an 'online book' is; care to expand on that a bit?
Are you talking about online enhancements, like citation links that would talk you straight to whatever it is that's being cited?
Basically, I wouldn't count out the printed word just yet. There is a lot to be said for the tactile sensations of reading a book. There is a certain visceral pleasure involved with curling up on a cold autumn morning with a cup of coffee and a good book. There is a similar pleasure involved with being in a room full of books. On shelves, stacked haphazardly on the floor and on tables, and what have you.
Not that there aren't certainly leaps to be made on the electronic reading front, but for a lot of people (myself included), it will take more than a portable screen that fits in my pocket for me to switch to electronic reading full time.
Just not leisure.
The other thing about a good set of bookshelves is that it allows people to scan at glance what you read, and thus give opportunities to strike up conversations. Oh pratchett? I like pratchett. You remember that....etc
I would think that textbooks would be a prime target for electronic books, especially if they involve some sort of search capability.
(And I really want Apple to come out with a touch screen tablet laptop)
I really just meant any book that is available to read online.
Honestly, I don't think any true "online books" have been written yet, as far as books actually written with the medium in mind. (Soon to change, if I ever get off my ass and finish my online book!)
Man thats super cliche. I hear this all the time when people talk about the advantages of books, but I'm convinced no one ever really does this. You'd either spill coffee after five minutes or your back would start hurting or you would sit down in a much better position suited for reading.
But as Morninglord mentioned above, for pleasure reading, nothing beats a traditional book (at least for me).
You flash 1 word on the screen at a time. Very big. The time it stays on the screen has some relation to the length of the world. So basically, reading through a book would consist of a steady stream of words quickly appearing and getting replaced on the screen. This will be great for technical books. You can read quickly because there is no time to pronounce and the better you get at reading like this the faster you can have the words go. So eventually some day you may be able to read at blazing fast speeds.
COOL?
Audio books are fundamentally different because you're not actually reading the book. Ebooks are much closer to real books.
So ebooks will supplant regular books because they will be pretty much the same with a slightly different format?
Most of the stuff I have seen that might make ebooks popular are about emulating print books as much as possible. For example, electronic paper.
You would. Through adjustable sliders and settings. It's just variables you see. You change them until you read at speeds you like.
iPod! Specifically it's Notes feature.
Fortunately, someone else had the same idea and created this handy site for converting txt files to iPod Notes files (http://www.ambience.sk/ipod-ebook-creator/ipod-book-notes-text-conversion.php)
The output is a zip package of a few dozen binary files. Copy the unzipped directory to the NOTES folder on the iPod. Then navigate to Notes. Behold!
The font is very readable, although keeping the backlight on is a must, even in direct light. Each note "page" is probably 2-3 pages in a real book (600 page novel = 275 notes), but can be read surprisingly fast. I found that scrolling through each note breaks up the monotony of seeing a huge chunk of text on the printed page.
There are a few primary drawbacks over real books. It's great to listen to music while reading an ebook, but the navigation isn't as nice as it could be. While playing a song, the screen will default to the song meter. You'll have to touch the clickwheel to bring back the note. Also, changing songs requires navigating up a level, out of the notes.
Saving places is also a pain. The notes will remember you opened up Note number 5, for example, but it won't remember you clicked over to note 10 while reading. Next time you open the Notes "application" you'll be back on Note 5. The equivalent of a bookmark would be incredibly helpful.
For simply rendering pure text, the notes are also pretty slow. First time you drop a full book onto the iPod hard drive, the software has to "cache" each note into memory, which can take a minute or two. Switching between pages also has a bit of lag. And finally, playing music and reading ebooks drains the battery rapidly. Doesn't help that the backlight is basically required for reading.
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Someone already made that: http://www.spreeder.com/
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I mean if an ebook or two can be spread over the surface of a table, what need do we have for paper?
um...reading on the couch, the beach, the train...
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Hence the lightweight mobile device.
I think his point is you can toss your ebooks onto MS Surface to have them lying around, and then pick them up with your hand-held reader when you decide you want to read one. It does sound like a pretty fun idea. I think interactive displays will go a long way towards closing the gap between e-shopping and brick-and-mortar stores. If, for example, you had an interactive wall display (like 5'x5'), then you can just make virtual bookstores that you can browse from the comfort of your own home.
P.S. Anyone else here go to SIGGRAPH? Did you guys catch that demo video of the interactive display? How awesome is that?!
Why do I like printed books over electronic books? Mostly it's the experience. Feature-wise, electronic books (can be) superior in every way, except perhaps in the not-needing-power department. If I have a document on my computer, I can easily and quickly search that document, copy from it, resize the pages or the text, and many other things that I simply cannot do with standard printed books.
But I still really like reading books.
And, then, in the back of my head I see an image of Picard (or someone) sitting down in a comfortable chair, sipping a cup of tea, and reading off of a small portable electronic device.
I think that there are a few reasons that audio books will not replace real (or electronic) books. First, the experience is fundamentally different. Reading a book is participating, while listening to a book is spectating. Secondly, I can't as easily search, scan, reread, or study the book. I don't even know how a technical book about, say, programming algorithms would work as an audio book. How would you represent the complex mathematical equations or program code? I just don't see that happening.
And, you'll never have an audio coffee table book. :P
user interface
battery life
robustness
readability
resale value
eBooks:
storage capacity
search
text transferability
So yeah, for reference works eBooks are great.
Anything that's read sequentially in its entirety? Dead tree please!
Plus the whole tactile and my book never needs to be plugged in things
That's not really a fair comparison. Paperback books are usually cheap, but one wouldn't be buying a PDA per book, so the cost of the viewing device is a one-time thing. But you are correct. iPods and PDAs are quite expensive, and are not a good way to read books. I would rather have a dedicated viewer or larger tablet device. Many books are much more expensive than paperbacks as well.
I just did some searching for ebook readers, and there are a whole lot more out there than I expected. Why is this? Why have I not heard of them? I'd probably be receptive to the idea of using a book reader, but nobody has advertised them to me.
I've tried to read an e-book on my Palm, and it was amazingly annoying -- you only get like a half a paragraph at a time before you have to scroll down, and then it's in this tiny font that's hard on the eyes. If you make the font bigger, you get maybe a sentence at a time, if you're lucky.
And that's in addition to the light source & power problems that have been already mentioned.
Just imagine how easy it would be to pirate literature, they were just big text documents anyway.