[12608] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Re: ALA MidWinter - RMG's Ninth Annual Presidents' Seminar
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Thom Gillespie)
Mon Dec 7 20:28:14 1998
Date: Mon, 07 Dec 1998 17:13:07 -0500
From: Thom Gillespie <thom@copper.ucs.indiana.edu>
In-Reply-To: <025901be1f9d$b9e87b60$70543ec6@zendog.palni.edu>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
On Fri, 4 Dec 1998, zendog wrote:
> But where is the market? At $500 it is much too expensive. $500 makes it
> an expensive toy rather than a practical device. Either the price of Ebooks
> or reading devices has to come down to make it a serious replacement for
> paper. The first wide-scale use I see is for college students. This would
> be a HUGE improvement over paper. Put all your course texts into a
> RocketBook in 20 minutes and you are set for the term. To be most useful,
> however, there has to be a way to cut and paste text for assignments and
> study.
This is an interesting point because once you are doing cutting and
pasting you have a portable computer not an 'ebook' The problem with the
eBook type devices is price and believe it or not portability. The ebook
is even more expensive when you consider: your computer, your pda, your
cell phone and your ebook. That is a lot of money for things which may
become the 8 track of post Y2K. Portability is also a factor for
the same reason. How many 'devices' do you want to carry in your backpack?
Since you are downloading the novel it is in bits already so why not
download directly to your portable if you are inclined to be mobile? I
don't see colleges and universities requiring an ebook along with a
computer unless the ebook becomes a computer with all the capabilities of
both 'reading and writing.'
> A second use might be for libraries to serve best sellers. Instead
> of leasing dozens of copies of the current (GULP, GASP, CHOKE) Sidney
> Sheldon, the library could loan loaded RocketBooks.
I'd say download the bits again to the computer. Heck, you already have
the model for this with Michael Hart's Guttenberg Project.
I think the one thing the eBook might do is resurrect for the 'for pay'
lending library which was essentially killed off by the paperback. I can
also see 'captive' audiences being a market such as airplane riders on
long flights but the problem here will be the declining price of small dvd
players which will go after the same market.
Of course this all changes if Nintendo decides to refocus the gameBoy 8-)
--Thom
