The Future of Reading?
enTourage eDGe
This week I attended a Tools Of Change(TOC) Conference in NYC. The conference was about the future of publishing. At this conference I saw several tools that could change book and magazine reading significantly. Qualcomm will be introducing a new ereading device that displays vivid colors yet sips battery juice very slowly. Ray Kurzweil demoed an ereader software he’s been working on in partnership with Baker & Taylor. The software is called Blio and combines text, audio, embedded videos, and more in an interactive platform. And by now you’ve heard about Apple’s iPad.
The most exciting thing to me was a dual screen ereader/netbook type device called enTourage eDGe. So far I haven’t been too impressed by the Kindle and all the similar ereaders. The Edge is different from the other readers on the market. The left side is a touch screen ereader that you can highlight and make notes in. The right side is basically a netbook. You can check your email, surf the web, or tweet about the book you’re reading. If you click a link on the left side (the book), the link opens on the right side where you will see the video, definition, map, or any other helpful tool that was linked in the document. Meanwhile, the left side hasn’t changed so you still have your place.
I’ve ordered the enTourage eDGe. I’ll write a longer blog after I’ve had a chance to spend some time with my new gadget.
Tags: books, entourage edge, tools of change
February 27th, 2010 at 10:09 pm
It sounds so neat…looking forward to seeing it in person!
March 14th, 2010 at 3:04 pm
Have you heard about the rumored “Microsoft Courier”?
http://gizmodo.com/5369493/leaked-courier-video-shows-how-well-actually-use-it
Might be worth checking out. Supposedly (according to that article) it releases in Q3 or Q4 this year? I’ve not even seen confirmation of the product, let alone its ship date, but Gizmodo seems to have a line on details.
March 15th, 2010 at 2:35 am
Nate, I’m skeptical of ereaders in general. Here are my issues:
1. I think my eyelids get tired faster reading a computer screen than a page. Is this legitimate or just a misconception?
2. The sentimentality thing. I have shelves full of paper. And I love that it. What’s the prevailing public opinion of this? Is the sentimentality thing strong enough to keep ebooks at bay?
3. What if I lose all the books I have saved on my hard drive? Is this more likely than a fire that burns up all my paper books?
4. Suppose I can access these books from the internet. That’s great, but I can’t really afford global internet access on a handheld device yet (I’m still using Chris’s old Toshiba). Is this going to get cheaper?
So what do YOU think of the ereaders vs. old-school books? Will there be the end of a multi-millenia era soon?
March 15th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
Thanks Tob, I’ll be watching for that release!
March 15th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Seth, I share some of your skepticism and believe hard copy books will be around for many years. CD’s still account for as much as 65% of all music sales in 2009. I’ll tackle some of your questions about ebooks though…
1. As e-ink matures on these new readers, it is becoming much closer to the paper experience (at least for your eyes).
2. Some people have both an ebook and a pbook of the same content. They might collect first-run books or hardcovers yet do most of their reading on ereaders. The merging of other media with the written word (in a fun and seamless way) will be the card that trumps sentimentality. Also, the kids growing up right now are comfortable with technology as the go to source for education, entertainment, and communication.
3. BackUP! External hard drives are cheap and simple to use. You can also back up to sites online. Everyone should be doing this anyway so they don’t lose music, pictures, financials, etc.
4. If you use a public wireless site (I’m sitting in a library typing this now), you can download the book to your device for the price of the book. Then read it at your leisure even without a connection. Already you can pick up a netbook for a couple hundred bucks that will give you the functionality of a PC with better portability and battery life than a laptop.
Bottom line…this isn’t the end of old-school books, but–for the first time ever–I am seeing legitimate challengers.
March 15th, 2010 at 6:10 pm
I’m itching to use it… They’re not winning points for speedy delivery!