Sony E-book

[Ant]

I don't think ebooks are really for fiction. I think they're for reference and perhaps textbooks. (Although can you highlight stuff on them? Can you annotate stuff?)

[Keef]

I'm no longer worried about it being attractive to thieves, because we have CCTV! ;-)

[Ant]

Ah, but then what about DRM?

[Moos]

DRM?

I'm going to go and live in missd's future house. It sounds brilliant.

[Ant]

Digital Rights Management. Little bits of software embedded within digital product (music, DVDs, probably eBooks too) that defines what you are allowed to do with it: how many times you can install it and on how many different computers, whether or not you can copy it, print it, stuff like that.

[missd]

more than welcome moos. bring your books and we can fill the library up even more quickly

i can see how it might (prob will) catch on with kids and people who are studying maybe. but how would it work for exams etc? we were allwoed to take our books in for some english lit exams. how would 'they' be able to monitor what has been added to the book in the form on annotations (if you are able to annotate, i'm not even sure).

[SeanMacGabhann]

Definitely!

[Moos]

Lovely, thank you, missd. I recently rewatched My Fair Lady, and I think the library should be very much in the mould of Professor Higgins' beautiful multi-level library with spiral staircase, leather club chairs and gramophone. Plus I have a soft spot for Wilfred Hyde White, so he can be in the corner eating tea cakes if he likes.

I don't think you could be allowed to bring an electronic book into an exam, as it would be impossible to check what you'd put on it. That said, exams do seem to be more and more open these days. In theory definitely a good thing as it should be about what you can apply rather than what you can remember but in practice would people bring in half-written essay answers?

I'm not a great one for gadgets but if it really feels like a book and reads like a book it could be a tempting supplement to one's home collection. Anything that encourages people to read on the train instead of picking up London Lite or similar pointless nonsense!

edited for missing apostrophe, and to register amusement at own aged complaining tone.

[missd]

you're very welcome moss - i think that using Professor Higgins' library is a template is a grand idea. Perfect. WHW can of course be in the corner eating tea cakes as long as we can also eat them when we want to.

yes that would be my concern that you could bring in chunks of essays etc. it would all have to be monitored, i guess in the same way that calculators are - in some of my maths exams, they'd re-set everyone's calculator before you sat down. i guess they could do that, as long as it didnt delete all the books! but then it would also delete some valuable notes which should be allowed in the exam. hmm think would be very difficult to monitor.

[Marmora Man]

SeanMacGabhann Wrote:

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> >

> Definitely!

Of course - it's the book addicts equivalent of dogs sniffing other dogs.

[Marmora Man]

Another drawback to the e-book is the impossibility of joining a book swap club and / or selling on second hand books. So for me - an e-book may be a useful way to store loved books but not the best way to buy / acquire airport thrillers or cheap & cheerful timewasters that don't tease the brain too much.

[Moos]

Re: books and sniffing dogs

*laughter*

Very true!

It's also socially acceptable to read other people's spines, as it were, while your host is off pouring a drink. Gives you something to do which doesn't seem too obviously nosy or intrusive.

[SteveT]

Ever since I had to wear glasses I have stopped reading, so I bought tapes, they went the way of all thing and then I bought CD books, still expensive though.

Now I have invested in an ipod and docking station and download my books, the dock is also a clock-radio and most of my listening/reading is in bed before sleep, so said he smugly........"sorted".

The ipod book would be crap for swatting purposes as you need one or more books open on your desk as reference.

[will dex]

well, all the above may be thought, but waterstones just upped their order by 10x so someones lovin' it..

[Marmora Man]

One major drawback - the Sony e-reader only works with Microsoft software not Apple Macs

[Shu.Kurimu.Sensei]

New one out soon:

http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/news-16806-PRS-700%3A+Sony%27s+eBook+Reader+with+a+Touch+Screen+Panel.html

But you can bet your arse the alternatives being developed by Matsushita and Phillips amongst others will be way better.

[Huguenot]

Do you know, you can't get any of these t'ings in Singapore?

[Shu.Kurimu.Sensei]

How bizzare, Singapore is right up there with South Korea as being one of the most tech saturated places on Earth!

[????]

To return to an earlier point - books look great and so does vinyl...but CDs? Give me a break...all mine are in the loft replaced by my 8GB Ipod plugged into my Stereo

[Shu.Kurimu.Sensei]

Rather than stress out the hard drive on the ipod, why not populate a NAS with say 4 terrabytes and rip everything to FLAC or OGG (or mount via APE) and do the music justice? Even at 320k, mp3's sound pretty awful through speakers...Just a thought :)) .

Oh, and Amazon's Kindle has got a much needed revision, nothing to set the world alight though..

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10058352-1.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20