I would love to see older out of print books as e-books. Im now finding ( series ) ebooks starting with book 2 and even 3. Besides the high pricing,secure and non-secure format madness, who ever is running the many dog and pony shows of e-bookland are sure not paying attention to those of us that make it all possible. THE CONSUMER. So how about a good ole 60s boycott? AH THE HECK WITH IT. I would just break weak the minute “George R R Martins” next book comes out. Who am I tryin to kid.

I feel you. It’s just not publishers who have forgotten who their bosses really are. I find that most product and service providers act as though they are doing us a favor.
Ellen

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I would love to see older out of print books as e-books. Im now finding ( series ) ebooks starting with book 2 and even 3. Besides the high pricing,secure and non-secure format madness, who ever is running the many dog and pony shows of e-bookland are sure not paying attention to those of us that make it all possible. THE CONSUMER. So how about a good ole 60s boycott? AH THE HECK WITH IT. I would just break weak the minute “George R R Martins” next book comes out. Who am I tryin to kid.

I feel you. It’s just not publishers who have forgotten who their bosses really are. I find that most product and service providers act as though they are doing us a favor.

Ellen

thanks,

Ellen

I was reading Business Week and came across this article about how Nokia researches a new product – heres a clip from the article and a clip to it:
“Our process starts with a team of anthropologists and psychologists working in our design group. They spend time with specific types of people around the world to understand how they behave and communicate. This helps us to understand better and to spot early signals of new patterns of behavior that could be harnessed into mobile communication. Our designers often go out into the field to understand the world they are designing for. All of these observations are brought into the design process to inspire and inform our ideas”
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/aug2007/id20070810_686743.htm?chan=search
Now, if Nokia were to design an ebook reader, what do you think their ‘team of anthropologists’ would discover? Probably that not enough people want such a thing to make it worth designing in the first place.

Why can’t they just ask consumers what they want? A simple appearance and request/survey on an e-book forum would give them more information than they would ever want. And sadly I think you are right, anthropologists would come back with the human need for tactile contact to absorb abstract and concrete data.

Ellen

While I agree that high prices are a barrier for eBook adoption (which is one reason I set aggressively low prices for http://www.BooksForABuck.com), I think the issue of book resale is a bit of a red herring. When I take a couple of hundred dollars worth of books to my local used bookstore, I think I’m fortunate if I get ten bucks back. I save more than that in not having to drive to the bookstore to buy the books in the first place.

Rob PreecePublisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com

The low sell back price is why I never sold my textbooks. Then the school turns around and charges almost full price. Then there are the yard sales and in order to get the book to sell, they are like pennies a piece. But these are the excuses I hear each and every time I tell students about e-books.

Ellen

Ellen, I wonder if someone (you may be in an ideal position to influence this) could set up a business to reformat existing ebooks for a fee. Conceptually this would be like someone buying a Ford and customizing it for resell. It would still provide income to the author & publisher but would be a value added service. Admittedly it would probably be a short term career since it wouldn’t be long before the publishers got on that band wagon but it might be a way to jump start the ebook industry. I’m sure there would be some legal ramifications but that could be worked out by enriching some lawyers.

Don, I believe that publishers already have the capabilities now to do so. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have their stuff already in the more popular formats and are holding out for the ideal time. That would be if there really could be an ipod of e-books. Still it is a good idea for a business. By the time it comes to its height, maybe there would be a buyout deal.

Ellen

I totally agree. It’s strange, the price is so high. 6 inch device is not a good book to read in many cases. I’m eager to get a device for me, since i travel a lot. I’m waiting for new generation to come. The Supply is not as wide as i expected to see. that’s why every vendor wants to have it’s own proprietary format.

They want their cake and eat it too. Inspite of diminishing sales, they can’t get their mind around charging less for getting less (no physical copy). As if e-book fans should be extra for the priviledge. They think that proprietary will endear us to them, but it doesn’t. They keep thinking new device not fix formats.

Ellen