The e-book has lost another round in it’s epic battle to overtake its archenemy, the printed book.
Computerworld has included the e-book on its list of “The 21 Biggest Technology Flops” of all time.
This is their take:
“The idea is attractive because, theoretically, e-book technology allows you to load many books and periodicals on a reasonably small handheld device, making it easier to travel with lots of reading matter. Also, e-books are easily searchable, another huge advantage over paper books.
However, e-books are much in need of standardization. Specifically, the number of potential formats for e-books remains huge.” Over 20 exist today.
Much like the music industry it is living in a DRM (Digital Rights Management) nightmare.
“The devices themselves just aren’t good enough yet. Some folks find them unwieldy; others say they’re difficult to use. And for many people, there’s just no replacing the old-fashioned, reassuring feel of paper.”
Basically, the e-book in it’s current state will fail.
But as Bill McCoy, the general manager of Adobe’s ePublishing Business, astutely points out “almost every listed flop has subsequently given rise to major technology successes.”
All the deficits mentioned are being addressed. It is only a matter of time before the e-book proponents have all their ducks in a row.
McCoy goes on to say:
“I love books, and don’t want or expect paper to go away entirely, but I won’t have any regrets if we achieve a world in which access to all the world’s content is instantly available on a global basis, without killing trees, burning diesel, or building warehouses.”
Amen. The only thing I might add here is that the content needs to be in the public domain, available free of charge, no strings attached.
Another problem facing the e-book is its name. E-book is an inherently flawed term. An oxymoron. You can offer the text of a book electronically but you can never offer a book this way. A book is more than text, it is a sum of its parts.
Call it an ECM – The Electronic Content Machine – or a PTM- a Portable Text Machine –
It is time to lose the e-book name.
Related Links:
International Digital Publishing Forum is the organization addressing the need to standardize the digital publishing industry.
Economist article “Not Bound by Anything”
Charlie’s 2c “Why the Commercial ebook Market is Broken”
The Future? This article in Publishing News on Plastic Logic a company that is developing a technology they call e-paper that will “offer a digital display technology that will seriously rival conventional paper.”