eBook Of The Future: 'Books Are Websites Written On Paper'

Forbes:

While the false battle between e-books and print books will continue--you can read one on the beach, with no batteries; you can read another at night with no bedside lamp--these battles only scratch the surface of what the move to digital books really means. They continue to ignore the real, though as-yet unknown, value that comes with books being truly digital; not the phony, unconnected digital of our current understanding of "e-books."

Read the whole story: Forbes

Comments

[markdf]

12:55 AM on 09/17/2010

First, this article is about nothing but a catchy phrase--"books are websites on paper"--that sounds like it means something, then on second read, means nothing at all. How about "photographs are printed digital images"?

Secondly, the idea of "deep linking" is a fantasy of techies and marketers looking to make money. We were supposed to get that already---the internet is vast landscape of information where a news article can be "deep linked" to primary sources, video, audio and multi-view opinion pieces. Instead, we have dopey AP reprints with words like "dog" linked to a dictionary definition written by a high school student.

I don't know what an ebook will look like in the future, but it won't be a book and it won't be deep linked to anything more interesting than another website to buy something .

[evangelicalchimp]

11:06 PM on 09/15/2010

READ.......AND LEARN............PERIOD>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

the most rewarding thing you can do as a citizen!!!!!!!!!!!!

[chichel]

10:06 PM on 09/15/2010

Um, I still need a light to read on my Kindle. That's why I like it. No backlighting. Being farsighted, my eyes get super worn out reading on a LCD or LED screen.

[John Matthews Alexander]

07:10 PM on 09/15/2010

I agree with J Accuse that the title is a bit backward looking. A little reverse psychology to make us look to the future perhaps? I have Kindle on my PC and I appreciate being able to read the first few chapters before buying a book. I spent a few teenage years in a Third World country, and although the bookstores were well-stocked, booksellers had a nasty habit of wrapping the books in plastic. To keep out the dust or deter kids with a limited budget from spending too much time "just looking" ?

[evangelicalchimp]

07:00 PM on 09/15/2010

the thing about this that makes me nuts is this.......intellectual property rights........deep linking into "Books" certainly offers the opportunity to get redirected to associated content or to refer to specific bits of content but the true beauty of a book, to me, is that some dedicated soul actually took the time to conceptualize an idea and commit that thought to paper.......or data....and shared it with the rest of us........and for this effort, the creator should be rewarded (within our capitalist system) with money........as long as you live in a capitalist system......control of the transaction is the only thing that protects the creator.......just ask the music business.........

[RegLib2]

05:36 PM on 09/15/2010

Written language was an innovative information technology, in its time. Paper was an innovative technology, in its time. The printing press was an innovative information technology, in its time.

There's nothing sacred about paper books. What matters is the communication of ideas. New technologies for doing that are exciting.

[J Accuse]

05:21 PM on 09/15/2010

"Books are websites written on paper." And torches are flashlights without batteries. And cannons are just really big handguns. LOL.

[Lowell Thompson]

05:53 PM on 09/15/2010

Tell it J!

http://buythecover.com

[evangelicalchimp]

07:02 PM on 09/15/2010

nice!!!.........F&F

[nancynancy]

05:09 PM on 09/15/2010

Books are simply websites written on paper, and that's why it's ridiculous for Muslims to get bent out of shape when the Koran is burned. Today, used books sell for as little as a penny and are routinely destroyed.

[evangelicalchimp]

07:02 PM on 09/15/2010

i'm gonna go burn my PC........wonder who's gonna care!

[Lowell Thompson]

04:50 PM on 09/15/2010

Well, it's about time. I've been saying essentially the same thing for years. That's why I created my Buy The Cover blog.

In terms of evolution, books are cro magnon man, ebooks are homo sapien. But I think the author is wrong about the 5 years extinction timetable. Books in their present form will continue to exist for at least another 50 years.

Why?

Because their unique properties of unpowered portability and functional beauty haven't been fully replaced by ebooks and the internet. Yet.

Of course they'll always exist as artifacts and articles of art. In fact, ebooks will make tbooks (for terrestial) better because they can become more pure unique of individual artists and writers. Of course they'll be a lot more expensive.

http://buythecover.com

BTW: Yes, you can quote me.

[boomer7391]

03:58 PM on 09/15/2010

Until a machine can duplicate the feel and experience of reading a book it will always just be words made out of light. For those who grow up without that experience today, it's a shame. Books will never be obsolete and neither will newspapers.

[Ayla87]

04:40 PM on 09/15/2010

"Until a machine can duplicate the feel and experience of reading a book it will always just be words made out of light."

Does that include the frustration that many dyslexics 'feel and experience' when they try to follow the lines on a traditional paper book? Because e-books don't have that problem. If you have a problem following the line with an e-book you can adjust the font, switch to audio mode or adjust the resolution settings. I might be wrong, but I don't think there are any paper books out there that can do that.

[Lowell Thompson]

04:59 PM on 09/15/2010

Tell it Ayla!

http://buythecover.com

[evangelicalchimp]

07:06 PM on 09/15/2010

interesting........bought a reader a couple of months ago (after swearing I would never do so......but the price point got me)........and ran it through the test......the test being "find an environment where it doesn't work"........end result........still love the look and feel......the smell of a book .....and continue to read plenty of them but also have adapted really quickly to the technology......it surprised me..........i'd still rather sit on the beach with a paperback

[ValdaDeDieu]

03:13 PM on 09/15/2010

They also thought DVD was going to spell the end of movies at the theatre, instead, it has breathed new life in the industry. Now fortunes have been made with straight-to-DVD movies! Readers like me will pay more for the hardcover copy of a novel from a favorite author, while reading the digital imprints of lesser, or less well-known writers. I don't regret spending $4.99 on an unknown author, even if the book turns out to be less that satisfactory; but hardcover prices for my favorite authors is, to me, always money well spent.

[Lowell Thompson]

04:52 PM on 09/15/2010

Tell it Valda!

It doesn't have to be an either/or proposition.

http://buythecover.com