![[F]](/Images/i7/site.gif) TidBITS  TidBITS TidBITS Talk
Open Letter to Steve Jobs: In Support of an iPod reader![[andybaird]](/webx/?30@@1) andybaird (apparently) - 05:52am Mar 6, 2008 PSTvia email"Book publishers have been waiting for a mass-market ebook reader for
years, the newspaper companies are dying for a new online business
model, and normal people just want to read on the train to work."
But they aren't waiting any more, because the Kindle ebook reader
gives them all those things, with the massive marketing power of
Amazon behind it. Ugly? Sure, but it works, and the last time I
checked, Kindle units were selling faster than Amazon could build
them. Yet TidBITS books aren't being read on Kindles. Since you're so
enthusiastic about ebooks, the obvious question is "Why not?"
"And of course, I'll be happy to upload to the iTunes Store an entire
library of Take Control ebooks that are already popular with tens of
thousands of Mac users."
Once you convert them all from the present unsuitable-for-ebook-
readers PDF format, that is. Authors and editors love PDF, because it
gives them totalitarian control over the way pages look.
Unfortunately, that same control locks in line and page breaks,
making PDFs like TidBITS books unreadable on screens smaller than the
page size they were designed for. I know, because I've tried to read
the PDF version of Sharon's and my "Take Control: Mac OS X Lexicon"
on an ebook reader. Even on a 170 DPI screen, it's impossible.
PDF is looking more and more like a dead end. I think it's time to
seriously consider abandoning it, before you find yourself completely
locked into a format that can't be repurposed. Well, actually, that's
exactly where you are now, isn't it? OK, let's say instead "Before
you find the market passing you by." Given the runaway success of
Kindle, that event looks to be imminent.
I'm delighted to hear that you're at least considering putting
TidBITS books on ebook readers. But while you're waiting for Apple to
answer your prayers, why don't you upload that same Take Control
library to Amazon in Kindle format? It's a safe bet that Amazon is
already a much larger marketplace for ebooks than the iTunes Store
will be in the foreseeable future. You could cash in on that *right
now*... and then hit the ground running *if and when* Apple moves
into ebook readers.
Put 'em in the Sony Connect ebook store too, while you're at it. The
Sony PRS-505 Reader has all the "hardware design and user interface
chops" that are missing from Kindle; in fact, it's a very Apple-like
device: slim, elegant, easy to use. That's another existing ebook
reader market you could be selling into right now, rather than
waiting for Apple to get off the dime.
Adam, I get the strong impression that what you're saying in this
open letter boils down to "We love the ebook reader idea... but we
won't enter this market unless it's based on an Apple platform." Can
TidBITS really afford to be that parochial?
Andy Baird
co-author, "Take Control: The Mac OS X Lexicon"
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Re: Open Letter to Steve Jobs: In Support of an iPod reader
Henry Clay Ruark wrote:
[snip]
> One working component not yet found in digital is opportunity to
> underline, add notations, and mark up generally, for guidance on
> return-to-reference. Any way to do this easily and rapidly via new
> digital format ?? For me, this represents solid value added to each
> book so notated, as learned on the go, for future reference. I admit
> this is NON-neat working habit but it has proved extremely helpful and
> valuable over many years.
Yes. I'm working on configuring some HP switches. There are about 800 to 1000 pages of PDF spread across 4 or 5 documents. I wish I could better deal with them online. As it is I selectively print off sections 2 pages to 1 so I can have the ones I need spread out in front of me.
David
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Re: Open Letter to Steve Jobs: In Support of an iPod reader
Adam C. Engst wrote:
> At 7:49 AM -0700 3/14/08, Andrew Laurence wrote:
>>> Book publishers have been waiting for a mass-market ebook reader for
>>> years, the newspaper companies are dying for a new online business
>>> model, and normal people just want to read on the train to work.
>>
>> *Publishers* want a mass-market ebook reader. I've yet to see
>> evidence that normal people have that same desire.
>
> The popularity of reading - of many different genres - on the
> Internet via computers, iPhones, and PDAs isn't sufficient evidence?
> People are reading vast amounts online already, but very few of the
> mobile devices are at all designed around that fact.
Yes we are. But I wonder how many of us (like me) depend on hitting the "bigger font" key combo for most things. Or I could take my glasses off. With real paper I could move it in or out but I also have a large area to hold onto. With an iTouch or whatever device my options are more limited both in terms of size (for grabbing and positioning) and in terms of how much I can see if I grow the fonts.
Paper still has a lot of reasons to be used for many of us.
David
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Re: Open Letter to Steve Jobs: In Support of an iPod reader
On 03/14/2008 15:55 PM, "Adam C. Engst" <ace  tidbits.com> wrote:
>>> Book publishers have been waiting for a mass-market ebook reader for
>>> years, the newspaper companies are dying for a new online business
>>> model, and normal people just want to read on the train to work.
>>
>> *Publishers* want a mass-market ebook reader. I've yet to see
>> evidence that normal people have that same desire.
>
> The popularity of reading - of many different genres - on the
> Internet via computers, iPhones, and PDAs isn't sufficient evidence?
> People are reading vast amounts online already, but very few of the
> mobile devices are at all designed around that fact.
That's because the screens are too small, but then, who's going to build an
ebook reader with a 17" screen
--
John C. Welch
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Re: Open Letter to Steve Jobs: In Support of an iPod reader
At 7:49 AM -0700 3/14/08, Andrew Laurence wrote:
>At 4:27 AM -0700 3/13/08, Adam C. Engst wrote:
>Personally, I can't get past the disconnect presented in this sentence:
>
>>Book publishers have been waiting for a mass-market ebook reader for
>>years, the newspaper companies are dying for a new online business
>>model, and normal people just want to read on the train to work.
>
>*Publishers* want a mass-market ebook reader. I've yet to see
>evidence that normal people have that same desire.
*Normal people* don't ride the train to work ;-)
--
-- Marshall
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Re: Open Letter to Steve Jobs: In Support of an iPod reader
The iPhone will generate one of the industries that dig us out of the
sub prime credit fraud.
There is enough market place to pay for a really good voice
recognition package; best keyboard you ever met. The built in touch
pad will fix incorrigable typos; except that nobody can spell
anymore and you need good spelling for anybody to be able to search
for your wisdom.
I may have to move to Washington State to take advantage: Canadian
mobile cartels are just too powerful.
George
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Re: Open Letter to Steve Jobs: In Support of an iPod reader
On 14-Mar-2008, at 08:45, John C. Welch wrote:
> On 03/13/2008 06:27 AM, "Adam C. Engst" <ace tidbits.com> wrote:
>>> I have, literally, thousands of books. (I can no more get rid of a
>>> book than
>>> I could my kid...well, now wait, the kid's expensive...make me an
>>> offer...)
>>
>> Sure, me too. But you know what, 99.9% of the time, they sit quietly
>> on my bookshelves, bothering no one, not being read again. I'm
>> willing to bet that most books are read once, and the fact that
>> libraries still lend out vast numbers of books says to me that lots
>> of people are perfectly happy not owning a book.
>
> I'd not make a ton of bets on that "read once" thing. My experience
> is that
> if a book lover has a book, it's going to be read more than once.
But for the vast majority of books it is true. I mean, sure I read
Pride & Prejudice every year or so, LotR ever couple of years, and A
Room with A View anytime the urge strikes, which is often. Beyond
that, there's probably less than 100 books I've read more than twice.
Well, not counting the kid's books you read over and over as a kid and
then read over and over TO your kids. On that score, Where the Wild
Things are is easily my most read book at well more than 100 times,
and I wouldn't be at all shocked if it was 10 times that :)
And since I'm reading 3 or 4 books all the time, I've read a LOT of
books.
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Re: Open Letter to Steve Jobs: In Support of an iPod reader
i'm with adam. i think of rereading books, but there's no time.
there's always something new, and i'm usually playing catch up with
the old. i think an e-reader would be great for some times, but i
can't imagine abandoning paper book.
nicky
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Re: Open Letter to Steve Jobs: In Support of an iPod reader
--On March 14, 2008 1:55:40 PM -0700 Henry Clay Ruark <hankatlma ipns.com>
wrote:
> One working component not yet found in digital is opportunity to
> underline, add notations, and mark up generally, for guidance on
> return-to-reference. Any way to do this easily and rapidly via new
> digital format ?? For me, this represents solid value added to each
> book so notated, as learned on the go, for future reference. I admit
> this is NON-neat working habit but it has proved extremely helpful and
> valuable over many years.
PDF supports this, at least on windows, not sure about on the Mac I don't
even have Reader installed on my Mac. On the Windows side it requires
Acrobat Pro, but a PDF file can be "reader enabled" allowing markup in
Reader.
If text is in the PDF as text (rather than as a raster image) you can
underline, strikeout, or insert next text. Basic redlining tools such as
clouds and pointers are available too. All markups are summarized and you
can quickly move from markup to markup.
Of course there isn't currently a handheld that can do all this.
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Re: Open Letter to Steve Jobs: In Support of an iPod reader
On 3/14/2008 6:51 PM, "Marshall Clow" wrote:
>> Personally, I can't get past the disconnect presented in this sentence:
>>
>>> Book publishers have been waiting for a mass-market ebook reader for
>>> years, the newspaper companies are dying for a new online business
>>> model, and normal people just want to read on the train to work.
>>
>> *Publishers* want a mass-market ebook reader. I've yet to see
>> evidence that normal people have that same desire.
>
> *Normal people* don't ride the train to work ;-)
I guess that depends on where you live. In the largest metropolitan areas of
the country -- areas that also happen to have high concentrations of the
tech-savvy -- many normal people do indeed ride a train of some sort to work
;-)
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Re: Open Letter to Steve Jobs: In Support of an iPod reader
On 15-Mar-08, at 5:50 AM, Nicky Schleider wrote:
> i'm with adam. i think of rereading books, but there's no time.
> there's always something new, and i'm usually playing catch up with
> the old. i think an e-reader would be great for some times, but i
> can't imagine abandoning paper book.
There is speed reading, or rocket reading even... *(^<>^)*
There often is a practical workaround.
George
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Re: Open Letter to Steve Jobs: In Support of an iPod reader
Acrobat Pro for the Mac has text editing and markup tools. If you try
to use a tool requiring text on an scanned image, Acrobat will offer
an OCR scan, and I've found these to be very accurate, even on
mediocre quality faxes from eFax. It will also straighten the image,
remove black edged, and take out stray dirt.
John
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Re: Open Letter to Steve Jobs: In Support of an iPod reader
Dan Frakes wrote:
> On 3/14/2008 6:51 PM, "Marshall Clow" wrote:
>>> Personally, I can't get past the disconnect presented in this sentence:
>>>
>>>> Book publishers have been waiting for a mass-market ebook reader for
>>>> years, the newspaper companies are dying for a new online business
>>>> model, and normal people just want to read on the train to work.
>>> *Publishers* want a mass-market ebook reader. I've yet to see
>>> evidence that normal people have that same desire.
>> *Normal people* don't ride the train to work ;-)
>
> I guess that depends on where you live. In the largest metropolitan areas of
> the country -- areas that also happen to have high concentrations of the
> tech-savvy -- many normal people do indeed ride a train of some sort to work
But deciding to live there disqualifies you from the "normal" group. ;)
David
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Re: Open Letter to Steve Jobs: In Support of an iPod reader
On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 03:20:20 -0700 "Dan Frakes" wrote:
>On 3/14/2008 6:51 PM, "Marshall Clow" wrote:
> >> Personally, I can't get past the disconnect presented in this sentence:
> >>
> >>> Book publishers have been waiting for a mass-market ebook reader for
> >>> years, the newspaper companies are dying for a new online business
> >>> model, and normal people just want to read on the train to work.
> >>
> >> *Publishers* want a mass-market ebook reader. I've yet to see
> >> evidence that normal people have that same desire.
> >
> > *Normal people* don't ride the train to work ;-)
>
>I guess that depends on where you live. In the largest metropolitan areas of
>the country -- areas that also happen to have high concentrations of the
>tech-savvy -- many normal people do indeed ride a train of some sort to work
>;-)
You mean like in Los Angeles? (_the_ largest metropolitan area in the US)
Or San Jose/Sunnyvale/Mountain View? (arguably the highest
concentration of "tech savvy" people in the world)
I suggest (without researching) that the number of people in
those two metropolitan areas that ride the train to work are an
insignificant fraction of those who work.
--
-- Marshall
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Re: Open Letter to Steve Jobs: In Support of an iPod reader
On 03/17/2008 06:14 AM, "Marshall Clow" <marshall idio.com> wrote:
>>>> Personally, I can't get past the disconnect presented in this sentence:
>>>>
>>>>> Book publishers have been waiting for a mass-market ebook reader for
>>>>> years, the newspaper companies are dying for a new online business
>>>>> model, and normal people just want to read on the train to work.
>>>>
>>>> *Publishers* want a mass-market ebook reader. I've yet to see
>>>> evidence that normal people have that same desire.
>>>
>>> *Normal people* don't ride the train to work ;-)
>>
>> I guess that depends on where you live. In the largest metropolitan areas of
>> the country -- areas that also happen to have high concentrations of the
>> tech-savvy -- many normal people do indeed ride a train of some sort to work
>> ;-)
>
> You mean like in Los Angeles? (_the_ largest metropolitan area in the US)
> Or San Jose/Sunnyvale/Mountain View? (arguably the highest
> concentration of "tech savvy" people in the world)
>
> I suggest (without researching) that the number of people in
> those two metropolitan areas that ride the train to work are an
> insignificant fraction of those who work.
Mass transit usage has nothing to do with the size of the metro area, and
everything to do with the setup. Por ejempelo, Miami. Areawise, it ain't
small. But the mass transit usage is insignificant compared to say, S.F.,
which is physically a smaller city. Or Boston.
What you find is mass transit usage is based on how the area has promoted
it. If the city has a solid, supported system, and as a bonus, is impossible
to drive in, mass transit usage is high. If the system is kind of meh, and
it's easy to just drive, then mass transit usage is low.
[And with that, I think we can wrap up the meta-discussion of mass transit. -Joe]
--
John C. Welch
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Re: Open Letter to Steve Jobs: In Support of an iPod reader
On 14 Mar 2008, at 8.55 pm, Henry Clay Ruark wrote:
> One working component not yet found in digital is opportunity to
> underline, add notations, and mark up generally, for guidance on
> return-to-reference. Any way to do this easily and rapidly via new
> digital format ?? For me, this represents solid value added to each
> book so notated, as learned on the go, for future reference. I admit
> this is NON-neat working habit but it has proved extremely helpful and
> valuable over many years.
The iLiad < http://www.irextechnologies.com/products> can do this. You
can write, scribble, make notes or whatever you like on most (if not
all) of the formats it supports (including PDF).
(From a technical perspective, the scribbles/annotations are stored in
a separate file on the device but always presented as part of the
document to the user. If you want to synch them back to your computer
you can run a bit of software that will merge them in with the
original PDF.)
The iLiad also has a larger screen than the other popular current
eBook readers around (768 x 1024 pixels at roughly the size of a piece
of A5 paper, with 16 levels of grey) and also supports WiFi; using SD
or CompactFlash memory cards (or even a USB 'key'/'thumbdrive'); full
access to the device's filesystem on a computer; and the installation
of third-party software to add to or enhance the existing
applications. Not only that, but -- unlike the Kindle and Sony PRS
devices -- it's available outside the USA. (The maker, iRex, is a
Dutch firm.)
The main downside of the iLiad, apart from its high price, is that it
takes more than 30 seconds to start up when you turn it on, and
there's no quick 'sleep' feature. This doesn't sound like much, but
it's really annoying if you want to, say, just quickly check some
notes, or show someone a document.
I bought an iLiad late last year, and was quite happy with it, but I
unexpectedly got a new MacBook shortly thereafter when my PowerBook
died, and I found subsequently that I didn't use the iLiad at all,
since using the MacBook instead was easier and quicker for the vast
majority of my use cases.
But if you're being somewhat tempted by the idea of using an eBook
reader, I would recommend it -- provided you can cope with that
startup time. There's an active community of users and third-party
developers and interest in and support for the device seems to be
growing.
David
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Re: Open Letter to Steve Jobs: In Support of an iPod reader
David et al:
Thanks much for your detailed reference re the iLiad.
Point here is that we are seeking such a unit for solid hard-use by
tv-news reporters now equipped only with cellphone and voice recorder.
We want whole staff to be able to do real professional annotation for
interviews and ongoing detailed-report studies, supplementing the much
more routine stuff you now see all too much of every day. Not only
camera-toters (eight to twelve) but also anchors and staff reporters,
varying in each of three companion stations covering large part of
Oregon.
What we seek is badly-needed impact and real community service now
offered by print-side dailies in their sometimes-half/page or more
jump-sections of major special-report stories.
Tv-news, for many reasons, is falling into same trap as did print-side
dailies, and with some of same economic pressures hitting management
hard while desperately seeking to do much better and more worthwhile
job for communities, dependent more than ever on solid local-emphasis
journalism and getting only far too much talking-head and deficient
visuals.
forced to work with fewer professionals, we are determined to gain
more from efforts of each one by rational, reasonable use of
any-and-all technologies we can build into the process.
"One-man-band" approach is also underway, but limited since not all tv
journalists have "that eye" demanded for best of camera-unit usage, and
not all with eye can manage words as well, either.
Information thus gathered will substantiate and strengthen
shorter-demanded on-air reporting, and then also permit detailed
further report on websites, now being put to work on many progressive
tv-stations for same reasons and purposes as for use in dailies.
Comments and suggestions from this strongly-critical audience highly
appreciated, reflecting personal experience and with examples-to-avoid.
Just use email address and fire away, depth and detail most helpful:
hankatlma ipns.com.
Thanks to all, and David, will be seeking out further information
and probably trial-run on your unit-described.
Yrfriendhankatlma
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Practicing random acts of punditry. |
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I think that the device-based reading we've seen to date cannot be correctly correlated to the kinds of content that publishers want to see available on e-readers. So far we've discussed markets and technologies, but we have not discussed readers' attitudes and expectations toward the *kinds* of content they consume.
I think we agree while reading (as a verb) happens a great deal on devices (and I include computers here), for the most part the activity is limited to certain *kinds* of content: email, web pages, discussion forums, news, blog blather, etc. I observe that these kinds of content are largely volatile across time, digested in short-term memory, and easily replaced by other (online) sources. In short, from the viewpoint of the reader, this content is both fungible and disposable.
Myself, I've found that if I need to study a document, or absorb a topic, or I need to scan and flip through a long manual, or I want to relax with reading, or generally "get away" from the volatile existence, I turn away from pixels and toward paper. This is a shift in behavior and expectations, but more importantly the shift is rooted in what I *need* from the content in question. I need to absorb, and in doing so to shut out the normal hullaballoo of the modern world -- to escape from, and lock out, the world which is too much with us.
(He types ironically, after posting about a problem with a Bluetooth headset.)
I think this distinction, between content I intend to dispose of, and that which I wish to retain, is paramount. I approach each kind with different behavior, and different expectations. (I read TidBITS in Eudora, and then delete it. I keep Take Control books on my hard drive, but when I want to *read* them, I print them out.)
Further, it seems to me that the behavioral shift (motivated by expectations) is rooted in the task of sensory processing: illuminated pixels are more assaulting than paper. If I'm spending brain power on filtering which illuminated pixels I'm paying attention to, that brain power isn't available for absorbing the content in front of me. Thus, when I want more brain power attacking the content, I turn to a medium where the pixels aren't a problem: paper. (Plus, paper has all those lovely tactile advantages.)
Summing up, I think publishers' desires to have a "mass market e-book reader" are orthogonal to readers' distinction in when they read certain kinds of content, and more importantly *why*. Certain content's failure to take hold in device-based reading is rooted not in the devices, but in the reader's different expectations toward that content.
-Andrew
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Re: Open Letter to Steve Jobs: In Support of an iPod reader
On TuesdayMar 18, 2008, at 11:51 AM, atlauren wrote:
> I've found that if I need to study a document, or absorb a topic,
> or I need to scan and flip through a long manual, or I want to
> relax with reading, or generally "get away" from the volatile
> existence, I turn away from pixels and toward paper.
This is absolutely true in both the business community and across a
broad spectrum of age groups, genders, etc when it comes to personal
use. Just for example, my office is currently reviewing thousands of
pages of transaction documents in a major piece of litigation for a
client. All of the documents have been neatly scanned to PDF, bates
marked, and organized by party which produced each set. We are using
a Mac-based database program to further organize them. I asked the 32-
year old college graduate doing the analysis of one set to put them
first and compare them to another set. Now, she tells me she will
print out the first set of about 1200 pages, "because it's easier to
do the work" in hard paper than on a computer screen. Candidly, I
think she's right. In many instances, it's just plain easier and more
convenient to go through bundles of documents by hand, read them in
hard-paper form, and even to take notes by hand. Despite my many
years of computer experience, I still do just that.
Doing the big project my assistant is now working on, and then trying
to load it all onto an iPhone type device would be just impossible,
IMO. I've read text-only books on my old Treo, and it wasn't bad, but
like atlauren still like and prefer paper for some things. That
could always be just my age showing, but considering that I have a
fair quantum of computer experience and literacy (25 years now as an
owner, let alone user), somehow suspect not.
This has been an informative and interesting topic. One wonders how
much Apple pays attention to these long discussions, however. Some,
one hopes.
Dave Clark
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Re: Open Letter to Steve Jobs: In Support of an iPod reader
On 3/11/08 at 8:15 AM, skbyrnes yahoo.com (Sharona Byrnes) wrote:
>One of the key things that has prevented me from switching from
>the Blackberry to the iPhone is the lack of the ability to read
>the Baen books. The Baen books come in all kinds of formats,
>but my favorite is the Mobipocket (I used to read it on Palm,
>now on Blackberry). It has all the features one needs of an
>ebook program, library, easy scrolling, control of font sizes,
>etc. It is an amazingly easy read on a PDA.
If you jailbreak the iPhone/iPod Touch, there is an ebook
reading program - Books.app - that, while not quite as nice as
the Mobipocket reader, is still pretty good. The text looks
significantly better than the standard Palm fonts in Mobipocket,
although line widths are fairly narrow. The main limits are in
the format; it only supports text or HTML files, and long files
of either type will really bog the reader down. However, for
once I'm praising and not cursing the way Baen formats its HTML
versions; while splitting up into HTML files by chapter is
annoying when I want to read in a normal web browser, it fits
the way Books.app prefers to store files.
Travis Butler
tbutler mac.com
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Re: Open Letter to Steve Jobs: In Support of an iPod reader
On 3/14/08 at 9:45 AM, jwelch bynkii.com (John C. Welch) wrote:
>On 03/13/2008 06:27 AM, "Adam C. Engst" <ace tidbits.com> wrote:
>
>>> I have, literally, thousands of books. (I can no more get rid of a book than
>>> I could my kid...well, now wait, the kid's expensive...make me an offer...)
>>
>>Sure, me too. But you know what, 99.9% of the time, they sit quietly
>>on my bookshelves, bothering no one, not being read again. I'm
>>willing to bet that most books are read once, and the fact that
>>libraries still lend out vast numbers of books says to me that lots
>>of people are perfectly happy not owning a book.
>
>I'd not make a ton of bets on that "read once" thing. My experience is that
>if a book lover has a book, it's going to be read more than once. As well,
>Libraries are of late, doing lots more than just lending out books.
I have to go with John here... Especially when I'm under a lot
of stress, I often prefer going back and re-reading an old
comfort book instead of something new, no matter how wonderful
and/or interesting a new book might sound; when I'm tired and
wanting to rest my mind instead of pushing it, it's even better
than a "cotton-candy puff" book.
Travis Butler
tbutler mac.com
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