3 ms·

It doesn't have to be an either/or proposition. I would like to have a bookshelf of paper books and electronic copies on a reader. The one for reading in tradi

It doesn't have to be an either/or proposition. I would like to have a bookshelf of paper books and electronic copies on a reader. The one for reading in traditional fashion and the other for reading on a plane/ train etc. Owning two types of cars (or a car and a motorcycle) maybe a more helpful metaphor than horse and buggy vs car. The Pragmatic Programmers release all their books as non drm-ed pdfs and you can buy both the electronic copy and the pdf if you choose. They seem to do well. But yes, the kindle is very underwhelming, I'll for a better reader without DRM (or at least hackable DRM).

JulianMorrison 19y ago
Personally I really don't see much value in paper at all. Beyond romanticizing the medium, what do you gain? Every objection I've heard of (readability, battery life, etc) is just a transient technological phase. DRM is horrid, but it's no more a natural feature of e-books than NDAs are a natural feature of paper. The whole romance of paper thing reminds me of the romance of film. Didn't slow the digital camera one iota.
- iamwil 19y ago
  For some, it's a status symbol. A full brain usually has a full bookshelf, but the converse isn't necessarily true. People will pretend to have a full brain by showing off a full bookshelf. In fact, The Great Gatsby has a library full of books with uncut pages. It use to be that the printer printed books by folding them like an accordion and just binding one side. Therefore, every pair of pages in the book would be bound together, and you had to cut them apart as you read it for the first time. You can see some books nowadays emulating this sort of thing with the ragged edges, sometimes. Gatsby didn't read books--he never cut them. He just had them to show off to Daisy.
- mechanical_fish 19y ago
  Yes, but pro photographers didn't abandon film in the mid-1990s when the 640-by-480 Apple Quicktake Camera came out. They waited for a digital product that didn't suck. Paper book readers are still waiting. It's been a long wait, and the end is not yet in sight. From what I've read so far, the Quicktake was better at being a camera than the Kindle is at being a book: You had the option to photograph whatever you wanted, you weren't charged by the frame, you didn't need to read an FAQ in order to figure out how to press the shutter release, your pictures weren't invisibly sent to a corporate database to be mined for data, and the cameras presumably continue to work even though the bureaucracy that spawned them has long since lost interest in them.
  - marvin 19y ago
    Again, these are all transistent issues. All it takes is for one team to get its act together and make something that actually doesn't suck. There are no technical barriers for the electronic book to overcome. It's all politics. And ass-hats.
- pchristensen 19y ago
  This is kind of like the difference between walking and driving. Yes, the car/e-book is better in basically every way, but in order for it to be a good general solution, you have to design the entire environment around it. Cars don't work so well in London or NYC, walking doesn't work so well in Atlanta. There are centuries of infrastructure around paper books, and it will take a long time to get e-book infrastructure to the level of convenience and accommodation that cars have now, or the level of mental acceptance that paper books have. An expensive DRM'ed device is a step in the right direction, but it certainly isn't the end of the road. See Seth Godin for a better view of the future: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/11/you-wont-find-m.html http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/11/you-wont-fin...

JulianMorrison 19y ago

Personally I really don't see much value in paper at all. Beyond romanticizing the medium, what do you gain? Every objection I've heard of (readability, battery life, etc) is just a transient technological phase. DRM is horrid, but it's no more a natural feature of e-books than NDAs are a natural feature of paper. The whole romance of paper thing reminds me of the romance of film. Didn't slow the digital camera one iota.

iamwil 19y ago
For some, it's a status symbol. A full brain usually has a full bookshelf, but the converse isn't necessarily true. People will pretend to have a full brain by showing off a full bookshelf. In fact, The Great Gatsby has a library full of books with uncut pages. It use to be that the printer printed books by folding them like an accordion and just binding one side. Therefore, every pair of pages in the book would be bound together, and you had to cut them apart as you read it for the first time. You can see some books nowadays emulating this sort of thing with the ragged edges, sometimes. Gatsby didn't read books--he never cut them. He just had them to show off to Daisy.
mechanical_fish 19y ago
Yes, but pro photographers didn't abandon film in the mid-1990s when the 640-by-480 Apple Quicktake Camera came out. They waited for a digital product that didn't suck. Paper book readers are still waiting. It's been a long wait, and the end is not yet in sight. From what I've read so far, the Quicktake was better at being a camera than the Kindle is at being a book: You had the option to photograph whatever you wanted, you weren't charged by the frame, you didn't need to read an FAQ in order to figure out how to press the shutter release, your pictures weren't invisibly sent to a corporate database to be mined for data, and the cameras presumably continue to work even though the bureaucracy that spawned them has long since lost interest in them.
- marvin 19y ago
  Again, these are all transistent issues. All it takes is for one team to get its act together and make something that actually doesn't suck. There are no technical barriers for the electronic book to overcome. It's all politics. And ass-hats.
pchristensen 19y ago
This is kind of like the difference between walking and driving. Yes, the car/e-book is better in basically every way, but in order for it to be a good general solution, you have to design the entire environment around it. Cars don't work so well in London or NYC, walking doesn't work so well in Atlanta. There are centuries of infrastructure around paper books, and it will take a long time to get e-book infrastructure to the level of convenience and accommodation that cars have now, or the level of mental acceptance that paper books have. An expensive DRM'ed device is a step in the right direction, but it certainly isn't the end of the road. See Seth Godin for a better view of the future: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/11/you-wont-find-m.html http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/11/you-wont-fin...