Print, press & publishing’s impending seismic shift August 3, 2006
Posted by James Webster in : gadgets , trackbackI have yet to see an e-paper/e-ink reader in the flesh. But I am so ready to buy one if its properly executed. And I believe many other people are as well, such that wide-take up of these devices will significantly change the way the print, press & publishing industries work.
The Sony Reader that was demonstrated at CES 2006 last January was originally slated for release in the northern hemisphere spring; before being subsequently delayed to summer and then autumn. Apparently now it will be ready for “the holidays”. Meanwhile the iRex iLiad has been released but is only being made available via specialized channels which are generally pre-loading the device with expensive vertical-specific content, such as aviation maps or medical journals. Sony have taken the bold step of asking Phil Torrone of MAKEzine to canvas his readers for their questions about the delayed product which is a welcome sign of openness after Sony’s DRM root-kit debacle. I can only hope Sony don’t attempt to encumber the device with too much loathsome DRM and is capable of rendering PDF and TXT files. There are tantalising rumours that Apple may also be working on an e-book reader. I have more faith in Apple’s ability to enter this market with a category-defining device than Sony. Maybe we’ll see one at the WWDC next week?
At the same time more technical publishers are embracing DRM-free PDF’s as a distribution format. And thank goodness, technical books are heavy man! At the moment it is mostly indie or smaller outfits like The Pragmatic Programmers and 37signals with Getting Real (from which the revenue of $215,000 is almost ‘pure profit’) that have fully embraced this idea but more ‘traditional’ tech publishers such as Manning and O’Reilly (read Tim O’Reilly’s piece on PDF distribution) are waking up as well. Not to mention many other non-technical publishers which distribute some of their catalogue, mostly in DRM-encumbered and frequently platform-specific formats, through a variety of online ebook vendors.
Savvy newspapers are also waking up. Witness the recent launch of UK newspaper The Guardian’s G24; several automatically generated DRM-free PDF’s of key articles straight from their newspaper, updated every 15 minutes. But why rely on traditional media outlets for a PDF newspaper? Check out Jonas Martinsson’s FeedJournal which generates a PDF ‘newspaper’ from the RSS or ATOM feeds you provide it. Who would like to read Techmeme in newspaper format on the bus/tube/subway to work?
As soon as we have a range of e-paper readers that are relatively affordable, support a wide-range of platforms and formats (albeit with the inevitable but hopefully not egregious DRM), the publishing business will change just as rapidly as the music business has been changed by the iPod.
Where’s the iPod of e-ink? Apple? Sony?
Comments»
I think there are a number of reasons we have yet to see a successful e-book or e-reader. I mainly point to the effective resolution of displays today, which are simply atrocious, at least in comparison to a piece of paper. Plus, paper can be dog-eared, is easily written on, and isn’t as cumbersome in tight spaces (I’m surely not going to whip out my PowerBook e-reader while on the bus).
E-ink is a whole other can of worms. I remember the Anoto pens were big a few years back, and writing tablets are quite popular among graphic design and illustration circles, but I do agree that the best innovations are still to come in this realm. I hope they happen soon, cause I’d love to turn my writing and scribbles into permanent, digital archives.