BETWEEN THE LINES

Book Talk by Joe


E-Books: Fad or the Future?

Everyone thought Steve Jobs, head of Apple Computers, was crazy when he first introduced the iPod. “Who would spend over $300 for the device and then down-load songs for $1 each?” asked the cynics.

Well, you know the rest of the story - the iPod has revolutionized the way in which music is purchased today. The only thing more common than someone walking down the street attached by the ears to an iPod is someone walking down the street talking on a cell phone.

And, movies, videos and television shows are now available to download and view on both your iPod and your cell phone!

So, will electronic books - e-books - be the next big technologic phenomenon?

E-books are electronically-downloaded books. They can be downloaded to a computer, but the preferred viewing device is a special, portable reader.
Although several models of e-book readers have been on the market for many years, they haven't yet gained the acceptance of the book reader for at least three reasons: (1) they are expensive; (2) they are heavy to carry; and, (3) their screens flicker (just like a computer screen), which causes eye strain over any long period of time.

Once you buy the reader, you then have to buy and download the books you'd like to read. Although e-books are less expensive than regular books, selections of e-books vary significantly by vendor. In addition, some readers, such as Sony's, will only allow you to download from their own internet store.
And, some vendors are beginning to place time limits on how long you will be able to access the e-book file after you download it to your reader.

E-books also present some currently unresolved issues for publishers and writers. Is file-sharing between two individuals the same kind of copyright infringe-ment as we saw with Napster and music files? And, can publishing rights ever revert back to an author, since an e-book technically never goes out-of-print?
I suspect that e-books attract a different kind of book reader, one more interested in the technology than the book itself, or perhaps a student, scientist, physician or attorney who needs to keep a large amount of reference material at hand.

As for me, I thank Johann Gutenberg everyday for his wonderful contribution to civilization - the printed page. One of life's simple pleasures still is to curl up with a good book - a real book - and escape, at least for a short while, from our ever-more-complicated, technology-driven world.

Happy reading!