I don't know if anyone else here is following the developments of the personal readers but it looks like a part of the industry has settled into one tech camp and circled its wagons. Sony recently announced that it will eschew its previous proprietary eformat and go with something open, allowing it instant access to Google's vast library of free books. This effectively bumps Sony to the head of the numerical list for number of books that it can potentially read into a million. Further Sony recently announced that their new eReader (basic version) will come at a price point of $199, putting it well below that of the latest Kindle. The Kindle still remains proprietary and requires service connections to Amazon in order to install or change any reading material. Amazon also committed a huge public relations blunder when it removed ALL copies of Orwell's classic, "1984" from its readers' devices without warning. This in effect, demonstrated that they can literally remove any book from your personal library at will. Further, if Apple agrees to an open eReader format and decides to issue a tablet sized iPhone device (there is wide industry speculation that they're going to do this), then the Kindle would effectively be toast. There is no way that you can compare a basic grey tone reader only device, or have it compete against what would essentially be a full computer that is in color. I'm sure that Amazon has its eye on the multi-billion dollar text book industry; just not so fast, not if Apple or Sony has anything to say about it. Another device that bears watching in this regard is the Asus Eee series laptops. It may be a very interesting holiday season for eReaders. Comments welcomed. http://www.sonyinsider.com/2009/08/02/full-sony-reader-prs-300-and-prs-600-specifications-emerge/ http://io9.com/5317703/amazon-secretly-removes-1984-from-the-kindle http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/NussbaumOnDesign/archives/2009/07/amazon_blows_it.html http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html
You know it. There is a huge potential for digitization of overweight tree killers and post secondary education is where the savings is going to be. I would venture to say that in ten years of less, the traditional college textbook is going to disappear altogether, replaced by its electronic version. The question is, in what format would it be, proprietary or open. And even if the industry settles for proprietary, there will inevitably be a crack or workaround.
The world revolves around money so...proprietary but i guess it will be easier to get hold of illegal copies of books if your into illegal stuff
Sweeet... Illegal University Textbook... Better happen soon before I spent like $1000 more on textbook
