Hand-held electronic books are reportedly selling well this holiday season. The new e-books may have interesting implications for college instruction, since the rising cost of traditional texts has attracted considerable legislative attention. Plus, the public schools are already moving in this general direction. The new devices apparently seem to have all the advantages of traditional books, while potentially costing much less less per unit (not to mention all the trees to be saved and the lighter back packs).
Still, an important discussion concerns whether e-books are going to catch on like, say, iPods, or fade from view quickly, as with eight-track stereo systems or CB radios. Almost always, new devices are eventually replaced with something else that is faster, cheaper, or just more comfortable. It's hard to tell a fad from a trend.
The answer to this question will likely be complicated. For now, it may be better to examine the business model, rather than simply observe whether bibliophiles are happy with their new toys, or whether people generally just like the idea. Is there competition in the market? Are young people flocking to purchase the new devices? Is a laptop just as good, in terms of downloading texts? What hybrids may be available?
A recent piece in the Wall Street Journal by Geoffrey A. Fowler gets into all this. It's worth a read as discussions continue on campus, at the Coordinating Board, and in the Texas Legislature. If e-books are profitable with general readership, then college bookstores are likely to get into the business that much quicker. Many are already offering digital books, but it may still be in the experimental stage.
Here's a passage from the WSJ piece:
"If you have the disposable income and love technology—not books—you should get a dedicated e-reader," says Bob LiVolsi, the founder of BooksOnBoard, the largest independent e-book store. But other people might be better-off repurposing an old laptop or spending $300 on a cheap laptop known as a netbook to use for reading. "It will give you a lot more functionality, and better leverages the family income," he says.
And:
Still, it's unclear how—and on what sort of device—most people will be comfortable reading e-books. Many people seem perfectly happy reading books on their PCs: Reading Web site Scribd.com, which offers millions of amateur and professional works, is attracting 50 million readers each month. LibreDigital Inc., a distributor of e-books for publishers, says the overwhelming majority of e-book buyers are women who read e-books on an ordinary computer screen, mostly between 4 p.m. and 11 p.m. A growing number of readers are also perusing books on cellphones.
mmm i just bought www.e-reader.nl Hope the webshop will succeed : )
Posted by: Steve | January 06, 2010 at 07:47 PM