Here, from the New York Times. I know. Some book publishers are hoping that the Sony Reader will address the issue. But it’s hardly a panacea despite the E Ink. Point is, e-books suffer from Doberman-style DRM and the Tower of eBabel–making it impossible to own them for real. What’s more, they are not truly woven into the fabric of the Web. OpenReader and related efforts will address such issues and help add new interactivity to e-books–another area where they lose out at present, compared to the Web. Stay tuned.
Meanwhile some details from the Times:
Internet users are more likely to cut back on reading books than to curtail their magazine consumption, according to a recently released survey by Jupiter Research…
David Card, a senior analyst for Jupiter Research, said that books and magazines suffered differently from online competition.
Internet users, he said, may read magazine content online, but were less likely to give up buying hard copies entirely.
Not so for books: “The kind of information you can get online is a lot like magazines,” he said. “But the way people read books does not migrate easily to the Web. With books, there’s not channel shift; there’s substitution.”
The only way to avoid substitution is for e-books to offer more value, such as through interactivity and interbook linking. That’s much of what OpenReader capabilities will be all about–in the new era of e-book standards, which will facilitate such marvels.
Related: Shore Comm urges publishers to check out ThoutReader.
Here’s a better link: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/06/business/media/06drill.html
I don’t believe that E Ink readers, or your much hyped vapourware OpenReader will affect this trend. My interpretation of the report is that people are reading more short articles, either from magazines or the web, at the expense of reading books, which is something I’ve noticed in my personal experience, as well.
Thanks for the link, Bruce, which I’ve substituted for the existing one. Yes, an e-book format standard and improved DRM will make a difference. See Kelly’s e-book horrors. As for the OpenReader standard being vaporware, ugh, methinks the people at OSoft would heartily disagree. The first implentation of the standard, via a much-changed version of OSoft’s ThoutReader, will be out around June. Just how much proof do you need of the reality of OpenReader? Thanks. David
I have no doubt that many people are holding back on buying ebooks because they are justifiably concerned about the portability of their purchases to newer devices. However, the NYT article doesn’t mention ebooks, and, while I have not read the report that the NYT article is discussing, I think it’s clear that they are referring to people reading web page instead of reading printed books. It may be that a large corpus of ebooks, with an omnipresent interbook linking system will make a difference in the long run, but it’s going to take years (if ever) for this to occur. Quite frankly, publisher cooperating is lacking, physical readers haven’t captured the public’s acceptance, and I think features like interbook linking will require a dedicated cadre of annotators to provide a small core group of ebooks that show to the public how this can work.
David, to be fair, I have not looked at the OpenReader website lately, so when you called me out on my use of the term vapourware, I checked it out. I spent at least 10-15 minutes looking for the OpenReader technical specifications (i.e, a description of the XML elements and attributes used by OpenReader, including what is mandatory for a compliant reader), and couldn’t find one. Furthermore, by your own admission, Thout won’t have a OpenReader compatible reader generally available for at least another 4 months. So, I do believe that “much hyped vapourware” is at this time still accurate.
Actually, even if the NYT piece doesn’t mention e-books by name, it might as well have. Quote: “But the way people read books does not migrate easily to the Web.” Hey, isn’t this what e-books, downloadable via the Web, will help? Besides, civilians often confuse “e-book” and pure Web. Methinks you’re splitting hairs.
As for annotations, just wait. Somebody with one of the world’s largest publishers thinks OpenReader could be a natural for book clubs. Certainly it will be for K-12, academia, R&D, and many other areas. As with the Wikipedia, the masses will catch on.
Now–about the vaporware issue. You admitted you weren’t keeping up with the OpenReader site, and if you’re wondering about the current status of the specs, just email Jon Noring at jonNOSPAMnoring.name. Obviously, we’re talking very soon, in terms of the appearance of the info there. We’re essentially mean the modernization of existing OEPBS specs, in which Jon played a major role. He’s been active in the standads-setting biz for years.
As for whether our implementer is perping vaporware, why did OSoft prez Mark Carey fly across the company last week to confer with the programmers doing the work? Not very vaporish.
Thanks,
David
I’m curious whether Jupiter Research had any speculation on why people are switching from reading books to reading web pages. If it’s because people have shorter attention spans, or are unwilling to make the upfront decision to invest the time to read a book, they’re not going to choose to read a book, whether it’s printed or electronic.
David, I don’t doubt that you and Jon have good intentions, and that OSoft intends to release a new product that will use an XHTML+CSS internal format, but at this time, I don’t see a formal specification at the OpenReader website (or even a preliminary specification). Like your endorsers, I see the need for a strong, open standard for ereaders, and XHTML+CSS sounds like a good idea. Alas, all I saw today at the OpenReader website is marketing. Maybe you’re now at the brochureware stage, but that’s about it. Sorry.
Just off the phone with Jon. The core draft specs will be out in a month, if not earlier. If you think OEB, that’s 95 percent of the way there. Perhaps it would be constructive for you to give Jon some feedback at jonNOSPAMnoring.name and get a dialogue going. Thanks. David
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