Is the Electronic Book Approaching the Tipping Point?
June 2, 2008 – 22:25 by Mikko Hämäläinen
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The New York Times writes about reaction on electronic books at BookExpo America. I’ve been using my Sony PRS-505 for a few months now and I can see why some publishers, and especially booksellers are getting worried. The value chain of book publishing is hopefully starting to change, thanks to companies like Sony and Amazon with their Kindle.
The only problem I see, at least for now, is the availability of books for electronic reading devices. The situation is pretty much the same as it was when first MP3 players started to emerge in the mid-nineties: the technology was getting (barely) usable, but the content owners were not prepared or were unwilling to change their existing business model. Then the record companies started to offer digital content, but each with a different DRM or format and/or proprietary, usually substandard software. This lead to mass piracy of content as the consumers already had identified the significance of the technology and made up their mind on the preferred standard.
So, back to my original reason for noting the NYT article. I was one of the early adopters of MP3 technology since I have an eclectic taste in music and tended to carry around at least 10-20 CDs plus a portable player all the time. Since technological progress gave a possibility to carry around more music without having to carry around extra weight, it was pretty simple decision to start ripping my music collection into compressed format as the source was already digital.
I’ve seen a similar trend with the Sony Reader: I carry around about 40 different books in the Reader all the time, since I normally read 3-5 books at the same time. The only annoying thing is the (non)availability of digital downloads, apart from vast amount of pirated (sounds familiar?) ebooks that are floating around. The difference with music, of course, is that ripping books into digital format is not as easy so piracy is left as the only option for getting more content in digital format.
This is really annoying, since I normally spend around 100 euros a month for digital music. I could easily imagine spending as much money on books, if there was availability. So my plea for the book publishers is: do not make the same mistake as the record industry did. Embrace the technology, get your act together on formats and DRM and most importantly: offer more and more content. The printing process is already fully digital, there is no excuse for not allowing digital distribution. If you don’t do it, the pirates and some clever business people will do it for you. Which way would you like it?
PS. The irony for me in this headline is that the first digital book I read was The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.
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3 Responses to “Is the Electronic Book Approaching the Tipping Point?”
Electronic books have a long way to go. If I remember the first truly portable mp3-hd-player was Creative Nomad and it was huge, battery life was poor and the user interface so and so. Mankind needed Steve Jobs to change all that and mp3 went from geeks to masses. :D Saying that iPod replaced cd’s is a major understatement. iPod created a whole new way to consume music.
Somebody nees to re-invent books now that the devices are ready. Steve, we are ready :)
By Pekka P on Jun 3, 2008
Well, it took only 5 years for Apple to become the largest music retailer in the US of A, after opening iTunes Store. Once the distribution model and technology is in place, things tend to progress rapidly. My questimate is that electronic books will roll out to mainstream in 5-10 years timeframe, since the display tech is really OK already, but there are the distribution/format issues and UI issues to resolve. Until then, I can enjoy my early adopter gone-almost-fully-digital status :-)
By Mikko Hämäläinen on Jun 3, 2008
After trying my friend’s iTouch, I believe Mikko’s 5-10 year estimate. Usability and display quality has developed very fast past years. Not saying that ebook will beat book’s usability in the final moment of consumption - reading at home couch. But the improvements to distribution and value chain in general will make a difference that may finally make ebook mainstream product.
Just now, as sitting in lounge waiting for jumping in to full packed East European airliner I still have my printed Kari Enqvist book in my hand. But as Mikko is my tech role model, I start to be interested to give one of those devices chance to prove that they make my life easier.
By Eero Korhonen on Jun 4, 2008