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Epicenter The Business of Tech Google Targets E-Readers With Web-Based ‘Editions'

The biggest question I've had regarding the Kindle has been, "Why do we need one?" After all, we can get that obscure content format, known as the "book", on the internet. Google, it appears, agrees with me. "The Web search giant said Thursday it would launch Google Editions in the first half of next year, initially offering about half a million e-books in partnership with publishers with whom it already cooperates, where they have digital rights." Georgina Prodhan, Wired, October 16, 2009. [Link] [Tags: Digital Rights Management (DRM), Books, Google] [Previous][Next]

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Re: Epicenter The Business of Tech Google Targets E-Readers With Web-Based 'Editions'

Frank Lowney, October 17, 2009

The eBook and the eText must be much, much more than "old wine in new, shiny bottles." A digital text can be and must be more that paper cast in 0s and 1s. Take a look at the new iTunes LP and Extras formats (from Apple) to see what the future will look like. Finally, one can interact with a book and the illustrations move!

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Re: Epicenter The Business of Tech Google Targets E-Readers With Web-Based 'Editions'

Emma Duke-Williams, October 19, 2009

Fully agree with Frank that eBooks need to have more than the paper version - (moving illustrations - of course, the library at Hogwarts is already full of them!)

I think that the more you can interact with an eBook (regardless of supplier!) - can read on the greatest range of devices; and it has a reasonable model for passing on. Clearly, just copying isn't going to be fair to publishers - after all, once I've handed on my paper book to a friend it's theirs, not mine & I'd have to borrow it back to re-read.

I think once they've got that sorted, to a model that's fair to both author & readers, and the devices sorted, then eBooks can give a useful alternative to paper based books - some of us will have a distinct preference for one, some for the other; I suspect most people will use both - varying depending on what/where/why they're reading at the time. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

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