Own a blog? If not, you must definitely be having a basic e-mail id? What about the online banking or credit card account? … Just imagine what happens to the secrecy of log-in and transaction passwords for all these digital assets after you?
Yes, you can now make a ‘Digital will’, like you may have done for the most of your properties, financial assets and other valuables; for all your digital assets such as email accounts, online banking accounts, credit/debit cards, online contacts, digital music or photo collection.
The domain names of your site or blog, and other IDs of social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter or Orkut also can be bequeathed by your willed nominee. You can also make a provision for your PayPal and other online shopping accounts.
According to a this report, a Delhi-based businessman recently approached a lawyer for a digital will to bequeath his email accounts and other digital secrets to his sons. The businessman has bequeathed various different digital accounts where one account has its entire artistic works while others have collection of his audio recordings and autobiography collections.
A digital will allows the successor of the maker of the will to access private mails and other digital archives with the necessary user names and passwords to be provided to the willed nominee after the death of the person.
Under a digital will, the usernames and the password of various digital accounts could be legally inherited by the beneficiary as per the will including the sensitive information related to the contents stored in the accounts, actively and passively managed by you until now.
In the current era where increasing number of transaction are being digitalized, this case of digital will has brought to light a new area of due-diligence which people need to carry out for the sensitive and important documents which may have been stored digitally.
Like other financial assets, even the digital assets need to be appropriately tied up in order to ensure willful inheritance of passwords of online accounts and sites, in the name of desirable nominees.
So when are you going for your “digital will” ?
by Viral Dholakia
Thursday, April 15, 2010
New Internet Technology
For those who are excited about the prospect of mobile data and internet-based mobile networks, then IPv6 is something they should pay attention to. Future mobile networks are being designed around IP frameworks, by which we mean using Internet technology to run mobile services. We’re standing on the cusp of a huge update of one of the underlying technologies of the internet - from IPv4 to IPv6. To help understand what all this means, and the impact of IP on the future of mobile networks, GoMo News interviewed Mícheál Ó Foghlú, Executive Director of Research at the Telecommunications Software & Systems Group (TSSG), and Chair of the Irish IPv6 Task Force.
Before that, what’s difference between IPv4 and IPv6?
It’s a question of scale, really.
Any time you use the Internet, you’re accessing data through IPv4. We’re not going to get into the specifics of how it works here, but it’s at the core of the structure that allows data to be communicated across the Internet. Your computer has an IP address, and so does any other computer that you want it to communicate with. The big problem is that it was designed back in the 80’s. When IPv4 was released, there was no conception of what the Internet would one day look like. There are services today with vast numbers of users, that transmit colossal amounts of data (YouTube, Facebook… not even to mention pornography). IPv4 was never intended to handle that kind of service. It has been kept going by botch jobs and quick fixes as the demands put upon it have increased, but for many years now the demand for IPv4 to be improved has been growing. And the number of users has increased. And the number of IP addresses available is now scrolling towards zero with great swiftness. This problem was made even worse by the sudden proliferation of mobile devices in the last few years.
And IPv6 is what will come next. It’s the upgrade to IPv4. Its main feature will be to increase the number of possible IP addresses massively. It’s not new… not precisely. It was designed back in the 90s. It’s just that it has never been implemented - but current trends put “IPv4 exhaustion” at somewhere near the end of 2011. Time is very definitively running out, and IPv6 is generally acknowledged as being the only thing that will save the day (and even then it may be a bit late - see below!)
But I wanted to find out what effect, if any, IPv6 would have on the role of mobile devices on the internet. In the run up to the Irish IPv6 Task Force Summit, which will be fall on May 19th, GoMo News contacted the TSSG to find out more about this:
GoMo News: Firstly, what is the Irish IPv6 Task Force Summit, and what does the TSSG do there?
Mícheál Ó Foghlú: The Irish IPv6 Summit is the second in a series of events organised by the Irish IPv6 Task Force aimed at raising awareness of the impending IPv4 depletion, and of the need to deploy IPv6 as a solution to the problems that this raises. The TSSG chairs and co-founded the Irish IPv6 Task Force, with the support of HEAnet (Ireland’s national research network) and the Department of Communications.
GoMo: How has the sudden proliferation of mobile Internet devices and smartphones affected IPv4? Has it sped up the problems?
MoF: One of the many factors influencing IPv4 depletion has been the proliferation of Internet connected mobile phones. However, It is quite hard to say exactly how many addresses were consumed directly due to mobile phone usage. In fact the recent economic downturn has slowed the projected deadline for use of all IPv4 addresses (but only by a few months).
GoMo: If the issues with IPv4 aren’t tackled, what could the impact be on service providers - both in general, and for those who are primarily mobile based?
MoF: The main problem is for new service providers, at least initially. New end users can share addresses using NAT, but new service providers, especially of secure websites (including every eCommerce site) require new dedicated public addresses. So the most likely impact on service providers will be that there will be increased costs, as they will have to purchase IPv4 address space either sanctioned legally or via some unsanctioned black market - it is too early to say yet what these costs will actually be, other than to say it will be more than it currently costs to get an address.
GoMo: What kind of new or exciting possibilities could IPv6 open up for mobile Internet use?
MoF: If all Internet devices used public IPv6 it would open up a large potential for direct peer-to-peer communication between any end devices. V6 enables a much richer ecosystem for peer to peer services (P2P), by-passing many middle boxes, and potentially improving performance and reducing costs. So any user of a phone to offer a service to any other user, directly, with no intermediary.
GoMo: If your dreams were to come true, how would you like to see IPv6 being handled/rolled-out on a global scale?
MoF: Well, to be honest we’ve already missed the boat. There is no way we can deploy IPv6 fast enough to have a valid parallel network before IPv4 depletion kicks in. That means we are going to experience painful problems, with some service providers finding it impossible, difficult, or very expensive to deploy new services. I would be very happy indeed if the majority of websites and other IP-based services that I use every day ran in dual stack mode by the end of next year, just before the RIRs start to run out of addresses to allocate to end users, but I do not think is likely to happen. Instead I think the pain will bite before people actually migrate their systems.
What we think?
It’s the peer-to-peer potential of IPv6 that I find really exciting when it comes to mobile. That could potentially affect almost every part of the mobile industry. File transfers would become faster, mobile payments easier to process, and even communications would be improved. As the move towards “All IP” mobile networks increases, fast and direct P2P communications will tie in wonderfully with increasingly popular data-based mobile channels like VoIP and Instant Messaging
Before that, what’s difference between IPv4 and IPv6?
It’s a question of scale, really.
Any time you use the Internet, you’re accessing data through IPv4. We’re not going to get into the specifics of how it works here, but it’s at the core of the structure that allows data to be communicated across the Internet. Your computer has an IP address, and so does any other computer that you want it to communicate with. The big problem is that it was designed back in the 80’s. When IPv4 was released, there was no conception of what the Internet would one day look like. There are services today with vast numbers of users, that transmit colossal amounts of data (YouTube, Facebook… not even to mention pornography). IPv4 was never intended to handle that kind of service. It has been kept going by botch jobs and quick fixes as the demands put upon it have increased, but for many years now the demand for IPv4 to be improved has been growing. And the number of users has increased. And the number of IP addresses available is now scrolling towards zero with great swiftness. This problem was made even worse by the sudden proliferation of mobile devices in the last few years.
And IPv6 is what will come next. It’s the upgrade to IPv4. Its main feature will be to increase the number of possible IP addresses massively. It’s not new… not precisely. It was designed back in the 90s. It’s just that it has never been implemented - but current trends put “IPv4 exhaustion” at somewhere near the end of 2011. Time is very definitively running out, and IPv6 is generally acknowledged as being the only thing that will save the day (and even then it may be a bit late - see below!)
But I wanted to find out what effect, if any, IPv6 would have on the role of mobile devices on the internet. In the run up to the Irish IPv6 Task Force Summit, which will be fall on May 19th, GoMo News contacted the TSSG to find out more about this:
GoMo News: Firstly, what is the Irish IPv6 Task Force Summit, and what does the TSSG do there?
Mícheál Ó Foghlú: The Irish IPv6 Summit is the second in a series of events organised by the Irish IPv6 Task Force aimed at raising awareness of the impending IPv4 depletion, and of the need to deploy IPv6 as a solution to the problems that this raises. The TSSG chairs and co-founded the Irish IPv6 Task Force, with the support of HEAnet (Ireland’s national research network) and the Department of Communications.
GoMo: How has the sudden proliferation of mobile Internet devices and smartphones affected IPv4? Has it sped up the problems?
MoF: One of the many factors influencing IPv4 depletion has been the proliferation of Internet connected mobile phones. However, It is quite hard to say exactly how many addresses were consumed directly due to mobile phone usage. In fact the recent economic downturn has slowed the projected deadline for use of all IPv4 addresses (but only by a few months).
GoMo: If the issues with IPv4 aren’t tackled, what could the impact be on service providers - both in general, and for those who are primarily mobile based?
MoF: The main problem is for new service providers, at least initially. New end users can share addresses using NAT, but new service providers, especially of secure websites (including every eCommerce site) require new dedicated public addresses. So the most likely impact on service providers will be that there will be increased costs, as they will have to purchase IPv4 address space either sanctioned legally or via some unsanctioned black market - it is too early to say yet what these costs will actually be, other than to say it will be more than it currently costs to get an address.
GoMo: What kind of new or exciting possibilities could IPv6 open up for mobile Internet use?
MoF: If all Internet devices used public IPv6 it would open up a large potential for direct peer-to-peer communication between any end devices. V6 enables a much richer ecosystem for peer to peer services (P2P), by-passing many middle boxes, and potentially improving performance and reducing costs. So any user of a phone to offer a service to any other user, directly, with no intermediary.
GoMo: If your dreams were to come true, how would you like to see IPv6 being handled/rolled-out on a global scale?
MoF: Well, to be honest we’ve already missed the boat. There is no way we can deploy IPv6 fast enough to have a valid parallel network before IPv4 depletion kicks in. That means we are going to experience painful problems, with some service providers finding it impossible, difficult, or very expensive to deploy new services. I would be very happy indeed if the majority of websites and other IP-based services that I use every day ran in dual stack mode by the end of next year, just before the RIRs start to run out of addresses to allocate to end users, but I do not think is likely to happen. Instead I think the pain will bite before people actually migrate their systems.
What we think?
It’s the peer-to-peer potential of IPv6 that I find really exciting when it comes to mobile. That could potentially affect almost every part of the mobile industry. File transfers would become faster, mobile payments easier to process, and even communications would be improved. As the move towards “All IP” mobile networks increases, fast and direct P2P communications will tie in wonderfully with increasingly popular data-based mobile channels like VoIP and Instant Messaging
Sunday, April 4, 2010
From free books to e-books: how publishers are dealing with digital
The moment when Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, finally calls the general election is a long awaited one for many politicians, pundits and even some voters. However, one other person is eagerly awaiting that moment – Neil Boorman, the author of “It’s All Their Fault”.
As soon as the election is announced, Boorman, author of previous books including "Bonfire Of The Brands", will hit the publish button, and watch as his manifesto - which seeks to rid the Government of baby boomers - goes truly interactive, in a step just as bold for his publishers, HarperCollins, as it is for him.
Brent Hoberman searches for new dotcom darlingsThe 10,000 word book, which argues that Baby Boomers have ruined the world for their children, will then appear in full, free, on a dedicated website - http://itsalltheirfault.com/. There will be a downloadable, 1,000-word sample that people can share with friends, a print-on-demand physical book for £4.99 via retailers such as Waterstones or Amazon and an e-book edition for £3.99.
But the really exciting element of the project, part of HarperCollins’s ‘The Friday Project range’ (which sources the “brightest talent from the web and develops it into great books”) is that during the election a second version of the book will be assembled from the best comments by readers of Boorman’s website.
That edition will be published - in the same manner as the first - on the day the new PM is announced. Robin Harvie, editorial director at Harper Collins’ Friday Project, believes this increased level of interaction is the future of publishing.
“With devices like the iPad nearly at our shores and more routes for communication than ever before, I believe that especially in non-fiction, the distance between the author and reader should start to disappear. Authors will become more like curators and take influence from their readers’ suggestions during and after they have written their work.
“We hope that this book is the first stage of this journey and books move from being a passive media to a live product – capable of change through readers’ annotations.”
He looks forward to all e-books including hyperlinks, video, audio and games. “Once hyperlinks and video are all standard features – I envision a time when people will be able to buy an e-book and add their own hyperlinks and videos to their copy. It will be like the modern version of annotating your favourite book with pencil – only much, much better. Whether the rights of a book could then be altered enough to allow people to share these e-book annotations would be a far more complicated process.”
The iPad, released in the US today, has sparked hope in the publishing world that there could finally be a device which pushes e-readers into the mainstream.
Jeremy Ettinghausen, Penguin’s digital publisher, believes the iPad is the first screen he can imagine parents using to read to their children with or even let their children read from alone.
“People want to interact with all content now – books included. They want additional material and they want to be able to share material they like with friends. It’s our job as publishers to use the technology available and make this as easy and innovative as possible – while devising clever pricing models. We are committed to the being involved with the iPad UK launch and are working on un-traditional book apps for it which will stretch the meaning of the linear book.
“These types of treatments will not suit all books, but children’s literature is prime for this type of development as children now seem to learn how to swipe a touch-screen before reading.”
John Makinson, Penguin Books’ chief executive, believes that the future of publishing is all about touch screen interaction. He demonstrated some of the ways the iPad’s iBook functionality could create a different reading experience at a talk in the UK earlier this month.
He played a video (embedded above) showing children reading classics such as ‘Spot’ on the iPad and showed how the screen could be used to bring the characters to life and paint tools used to colour-in characters.
Ettinghausen emphasises the importance of collaborative projects – such as programmers, designers and authors working together to produce high spec books suitable for e-book readers.
“Four of Penguin’s authors also write video game plots,” he says. “There will more and more overlap – as people devise games as an add-on application, which can be downloaded in tandem with buying an e-book. As publishers we have to offer people the opportunity to create more than just linear texts. Some authors will jump at the chance to differentiate their product – others will run.”
One such author who has embraced the digital opportunities is Marcus du Sautoy, the renowned mathematician, who succeeded Richard Dawkins as professor for the understanding of science at Oxford University. Having published two ‘linear’ books, his forthcoming book -The Number Mysteries – which is edited by Harvie, contains puzzles and problems to solve.
According to Harvie: “There will be a gaming app developed out of the printed book, which will generate revenue by appealing to people who would never have bought the book. And because it is a tie-in game, which offers something that isn’t in the book, his readers will want it too.”
Du Sautoy is excited about his book becoming interactive. “The e-book will contain hyperlinks and videos. I am always looking to engage people and this book was ripe for this type of treatment – it was bursting to leave the constraints of the traditional book format. Whereas my other two books were better suited to the constraints of linear publishing. I think it really depends on the book as to how you can develop it digitally – which also takes into account your readers.
There is also a financial issue to consider. Sara Lloyd, the digital director of Pan Macmillan said: “The commercial issue is a major factor. We have to ensure that we can create add-ons without detracting from the value of the book and ensure we can generate alternative revenue streams from these new features.”
Buyers of e-books have typically been male and - Boorman will be disappointed to learn - baby boomers. However, Lloyd thinks Apple could change that. “We hope that new platforms like iBooks will bring new younger readers – especially students – who all seem to worship the Apple brand.”
While authors and publishers figure out new ways to promote and share the latest books it feels like there is still some way to go before e-books are the norm. However, Harvie doesn’t think this is the case: “I don’t think it will be too long before I see a prospective author submit a proposal that has a purely digital life. At the moment I am approaching authors with digital ideas, but the mindset is changing amongst authors, agents as well as publishers
As soon as the election is announced, Boorman, author of previous books including "Bonfire Of The Brands", will hit the publish button, and watch as his manifesto - which seeks to rid the Government of baby boomers - goes truly interactive, in a step just as bold for his publishers, HarperCollins, as it is for him.
Brent Hoberman searches for new dotcom darlingsThe 10,000 word book, which argues that Baby Boomers have ruined the world for their children, will then appear in full, free, on a dedicated website - http://itsalltheirfault.com/. There will be a downloadable, 1,000-word sample that people can share with friends, a print-on-demand physical book for £4.99 via retailers such as Waterstones or Amazon and an e-book edition for £3.99.
But the really exciting element of the project, part of HarperCollins’s ‘The Friday Project range’ (which sources the “brightest talent from the web and develops it into great books”) is that during the election a second version of the book will be assembled from the best comments by readers of Boorman’s website.
That edition will be published - in the same manner as the first - on the day the new PM is announced. Robin Harvie, editorial director at Harper Collins’ Friday Project, believes this increased level of interaction is the future of publishing.
“With devices like the iPad nearly at our shores and more routes for communication than ever before, I believe that especially in non-fiction, the distance between the author and reader should start to disappear. Authors will become more like curators and take influence from their readers’ suggestions during and after they have written their work.
“We hope that this book is the first stage of this journey and books move from being a passive media to a live product – capable of change through readers’ annotations.”
He looks forward to all e-books including hyperlinks, video, audio and games. “Once hyperlinks and video are all standard features – I envision a time when people will be able to buy an e-book and add their own hyperlinks and videos to their copy. It will be like the modern version of annotating your favourite book with pencil – only much, much better. Whether the rights of a book could then be altered enough to allow people to share these e-book annotations would be a far more complicated process.”
The iPad, released in the US today, has sparked hope in the publishing world that there could finally be a device which pushes e-readers into the mainstream.
Jeremy Ettinghausen, Penguin’s digital publisher, believes the iPad is the first screen he can imagine parents using to read to their children with or even let their children read from alone.
“People want to interact with all content now – books included. They want additional material and they want to be able to share material they like with friends. It’s our job as publishers to use the technology available and make this as easy and innovative as possible – while devising clever pricing models. We are committed to the being involved with the iPad UK launch and are working on un-traditional book apps for it which will stretch the meaning of the linear book.
“These types of treatments will not suit all books, but children’s literature is prime for this type of development as children now seem to learn how to swipe a touch-screen before reading.”
John Makinson, Penguin Books’ chief executive, believes that the future of publishing is all about touch screen interaction. He demonstrated some of the ways the iPad’s iBook functionality could create a different reading experience at a talk in the UK earlier this month.
He played a video (embedded above) showing children reading classics such as ‘Spot’ on the iPad and showed how the screen could be used to bring the characters to life and paint tools used to colour-in characters.
Ettinghausen emphasises the importance of collaborative projects – such as programmers, designers and authors working together to produce high spec books suitable for e-book readers.
“Four of Penguin’s authors also write video game plots,” he says. “There will more and more overlap – as people devise games as an add-on application, which can be downloaded in tandem with buying an e-book. As publishers we have to offer people the opportunity to create more than just linear texts. Some authors will jump at the chance to differentiate their product – others will run.”
One such author who has embraced the digital opportunities is Marcus du Sautoy, the renowned mathematician, who succeeded Richard Dawkins as professor for the understanding of science at Oxford University. Having published two ‘linear’ books, his forthcoming book -The Number Mysteries – which is edited by Harvie, contains puzzles and problems to solve.
According to Harvie: “There will be a gaming app developed out of the printed book, which will generate revenue by appealing to people who would never have bought the book. And because it is a tie-in game, which offers something that isn’t in the book, his readers will want it too.”
Du Sautoy is excited about his book becoming interactive. “The e-book will contain hyperlinks and videos. I am always looking to engage people and this book was ripe for this type of treatment – it was bursting to leave the constraints of the traditional book format. Whereas my other two books were better suited to the constraints of linear publishing. I think it really depends on the book as to how you can develop it digitally – which also takes into account your readers.
There is also a financial issue to consider. Sara Lloyd, the digital director of Pan Macmillan said: “The commercial issue is a major factor. We have to ensure that we can create add-ons without detracting from the value of the book and ensure we can generate alternative revenue streams from these new features.”
Buyers of e-books have typically been male and - Boorman will be disappointed to learn - baby boomers. However, Lloyd thinks Apple could change that. “We hope that new platforms like iBooks will bring new younger readers – especially students – who all seem to worship the Apple brand.”
While authors and publishers figure out new ways to promote and share the latest books it feels like there is still some way to go before e-books are the norm. However, Harvie doesn’t think this is the case: “I don’t think it will be too long before I see a prospective author submit a proposal that has a purely digital life. At the moment I am approaching authors with digital ideas, but the mindset is changing amongst authors, agents as well as publishers
The Indian government will soon unveil a policy that would make electronic products available for the differently abled.
It's hard to imagine living without cellphones, computers and electronic devices that we use in our day to day lives. However, as per a conservative estimate, there are more than 60 million disabled people in India who have very little or practically no access to these electronic devices.
e-reader technology will forever change how books are made, stored and lent
When the iPad hit stores, it joined the Kindle, Nooks and other technologies that will dramatically change how people read buy books.
Book industry experts say that e-reader technology will forever change how books are made, stored and lent.
The change is so profound that it could rival Gutenberg's invention of the printing press in the 1440s. The shift to viewing books on an e-reader could further erode market share of traditional book stores.
"I'm not sure if physical books will go away, but downloads will become the dominant form of distribution," said Sean Feeney, executive vice president at Bookmans, a Tucson-based string of used books, music and video stores.
The trend began long before the iPad. Amazon.com Inc., the world's largest retailer of digital and traditional books, sold more electronic books than paper ones last holiday season.
Analysts don't have a clear picture yet of what the new order will look like, but Amazon aims to have every book ever published, in any language, in print or out of print, available in less than 60 seconds to a Kindle user anywhere in the world.
The new era will bring out-of-print books back to life, making obscure titles, as well as current best-sellers, available on demand.
The pace of change, hastened by the iPad and numerous other devices, is likely to accelerate.
Not even counting the projected 2 million iPads to be bought this year, analysts estimate that 6 million electronic readers will be sold in 2010 and 19 million in 2013. In five years, more than 100 million could be in use, according to the Yankee Group, a Boston-based market-research firm.
As the e-readers multiply, they are likely to get cheaper, making them a must-have electronic device.
The shift is expected to have far-reaching effects, touching not only book shops and online stores but the entire publishing industry.
It likely will be an echo of the change brought about by iPod and MP3 players, which created the digital model for music sales that help spell the end for almost 1,000 traditional record stores and once-formidable chains such as Tower Records and Virgin Megastores.
Paper copies could become specialty book products similar to vinyl records and, increasingly, compact discs.
Reader impact
For students, change will mean carrying a lightweight Nook in your backpack instead of a half-dozen textbooks.
Instead of lugging a 2-pound copy of the "Inspector Morse Omnibus Volume One" on vacation, you could carry a sleek plastic tablet that would also hold Volume Two plus hundreds more of your favorite titles.
And if the person next to you on the plane recommends a "great read," you could buy it instantly at an e-book store and for less than you'd pay at a conventional bookstore.
An electronic version of Dan Brown's "Lost Symbols," which retails for $29.95 in hard cover, costs $9.60 at Amazon's e-book store.
New releases for Amazon's Kindle generally cost $9.99, while classics cost around $1.99.
Or you could download the book free from your local library, whether you're home or 1,000 miles away.
Carrie Wikle, the Phoenix Public Library's Internet Resources Librarian, said demand for downloadable books is extremely high and growing.
When readers check out a book, they obtain a temporary license to use the copyrighted material for the term of the loan. When the license expires, it is up to the user to delete the file. Emerging technology eventually will cause the file to vanish when the book is due.
The library now offers 53,000 of its 1.8 million titles in downloadable form and is adding more each month.
"It's a trend for the future," Wikle said.
A number of Web sites offer free downloads of many well-known books whose copyrights have expired. Gutenberg Project, Coolerbooks.com and other sites offer free downloads, including more than 1 million titles that have been scanned by Google.
Peer-to-peer file-sharing sites such as The Pirate Bay allow readers to share e-books the same way friends can share their digital music collections. Such sites already are facing legal challenges similar to those that plagued early music-sharing sites such as Napster.
Connor Hubach of Phoenix said his Kindle allows him to avoid the "awful selections" at airport bookstores.
"The Kindle has been a useful gadget," he said. "While it won't replace my library, it has made travel more manageable."
Technical shift
Digital books have been around for years. But initially they had to be read on a computer or laptop, devices with limited portability and offering a different experience than holding and reading a book.
But electronic readers, pioneered by Amazon's Kindle in 2007, are as portable as a book and offer a physical experience similar to traditional reading.
Since the Kindle, 36 electronic readers have appeared on the market, and more are coming. The Kindle, the top-selling e-reader, starts at $259. Others range from a Sony Pocket Reader with a 5-inch display for $200 to the Irex Digital Reader with a 10.2-inch screen for $859.
The Apple iPad, which has a 9.7-inch screen, starts at $499 and goes up to $829. As with the evolutionary transition from LPs to iTunes downloads, consumers will experience a learning curve and period of adjustment to books being hard and technical instead of soft and organic.
"I'm not into technical stuff," said Joan Heath, a Phoenix business woman who said she would rather read a book than watch television or a movie. "I like the ritual of holding a book and turning the pages."
With a Kindle, Heath would have to push a button to advance to the next page.
But she could read in the hotel Jacuzzi, without dripping water running all over pages.
Because of the cost and limited functionality, the devices now appeal primarily to avid readers. But the introduction of Apple's multifunctional iPad could create mass appeal. The iPad can be used for e mail, surfing the Web, gaming and watching videos, in addition to reading books, newspapers and magazines.
"Longer term, the iPad offers the potential to redefine the boundaries between print and video, turning formerly passive media into active ones," Craig Moffett, an analyst with Bernstein Research, wrote in a note to clients.
But there are drawbacks.
The devices are relatively expensive. The Yankee Group believes prices need to come down to below $150 to gain mass-market appeal.
Unlike traditional books, which are always on, electronic readers require a battery that can die just before Inspector Morse reveals the murderer.
And the systems are not compatible. Amazon's Kindle, for example, will accept downloads only from Amazon.com.
Petra Ooton of Phoenix likes holding and reading traditional books, but she said her arthritis is making it increasingly painful and difficult.
She looks on an electronic reader as a device that could help her keep reading, but she finds them too expensive.
"I would love to have one," she said.
Book industry experts say that e-reader technology will forever change how books are made, stored and lent.
The change is so profound that it could rival Gutenberg's invention of the printing press in the 1440s. The shift to viewing books on an e-reader could further erode market share of traditional book stores.
"I'm not sure if physical books will go away, but downloads will become the dominant form of distribution," said Sean Feeney, executive vice president at Bookmans, a Tucson-based string of used books, music and video stores.
The trend began long before the iPad. Amazon.com Inc., the world's largest retailer of digital and traditional books, sold more electronic books than paper ones last holiday season.
Analysts don't have a clear picture yet of what the new order will look like, but Amazon aims to have every book ever published, in any language, in print or out of print, available in less than 60 seconds to a Kindle user anywhere in the world.
The new era will bring out-of-print books back to life, making obscure titles, as well as current best-sellers, available on demand.
The pace of change, hastened by the iPad and numerous other devices, is likely to accelerate.
Not even counting the projected 2 million iPads to be bought this year, analysts estimate that 6 million electronic readers will be sold in 2010 and 19 million in 2013. In five years, more than 100 million could be in use, according to the Yankee Group, a Boston-based market-research firm.
As the e-readers multiply, they are likely to get cheaper, making them a must-have electronic device.
The shift is expected to have far-reaching effects, touching not only book shops and online stores but the entire publishing industry.
It likely will be an echo of the change brought about by iPod and MP3 players, which created the digital model for music sales that help spell the end for almost 1,000 traditional record stores and once-formidable chains such as Tower Records and Virgin Megastores.
Paper copies could become specialty book products similar to vinyl records and, increasingly, compact discs.
Reader impact
For students, change will mean carrying a lightweight Nook in your backpack instead of a half-dozen textbooks.
Instead of lugging a 2-pound copy of the "Inspector Morse Omnibus Volume One" on vacation, you could carry a sleek plastic tablet that would also hold Volume Two plus hundreds more of your favorite titles.
And if the person next to you on the plane recommends a "great read," you could buy it instantly at an e-book store and for less than you'd pay at a conventional bookstore.
An electronic version of Dan Brown's "Lost Symbols," which retails for $29.95 in hard cover, costs $9.60 at Amazon's e-book store.
New releases for Amazon's Kindle generally cost $9.99, while classics cost around $1.99.
Or you could download the book free from your local library, whether you're home or 1,000 miles away.
Carrie Wikle, the Phoenix Public Library's Internet Resources Librarian, said demand for downloadable books is extremely high and growing.
When readers check out a book, they obtain a temporary license to use the copyrighted material for the term of the loan. When the license expires, it is up to the user to delete the file. Emerging technology eventually will cause the file to vanish when the book is due.
The library now offers 53,000 of its 1.8 million titles in downloadable form and is adding more each month.
"It's a trend for the future," Wikle said.
A number of Web sites offer free downloads of many well-known books whose copyrights have expired. Gutenberg Project, Coolerbooks.com and other sites offer free downloads, including more than 1 million titles that have been scanned by Google.
Peer-to-peer file-sharing sites such as The Pirate Bay allow readers to share e-books the same way friends can share their digital music collections. Such sites already are facing legal challenges similar to those that plagued early music-sharing sites such as Napster.
Connor Hubach of Phoenix said his Kindle allows him to avoid the "awful selections" at airport bookstores.
"The Kindle has been a useful gadget," he said. "While it won't replace my library, it has made travel more manageable."
Technical shift
Digital books have been around for years. But initially they had to be read on a computer or laptop, devices with limited portability and offering a different experience than holding and reading a book.
But electronic readers, pioneered by Amazon's Kindle in 2007, are as portable as a book and offer a physical experience similar to traditional reading.
Since the Kindle, 36 electronic readers have appeared on the market, and more are coming. The Kindle, the top-selling e-reader, starts at $259. Others range from a Sony Pocket Reader with a 5-inch display for $200 to the Irex Digital Reader with a 10.2-inch screen for $859.
The Apple iPad, which has a 9.7-inch screen, starts at $499 and goes up to $829. As with the evolutionary transition from LPs to iTunes downloads, consumers will experience a learning curve and period of adjustment to books being hard and technical instead of soft and organic.
"I'm not into technical stuff," said Joan Heath, a Phoenix business woman who said she would rather read a book than watch television or a movie. "I like the ritual of holding a book and turning the pages."
With a Kindle, Heath would have to push a button to advance to the next page.
But she could read in the hotel Jacuzzi, without dripping water running all over pages.
Because of the cost and limited functionality, the devices now appeal primarily to avid readers. But the introduction of Apple's multifunctional iPad could create mass appeal. The iPad can be used for e mail, surfing the Web, gaming and watching videos, in addition to reading books, newspapers and magazines.
"Longer term, the iPad offers the potential to redefine the boundaries between print and video, turning formerly passive media into active ones," Craig Moffett, an analyst with Bernstein Research, wrote in a note to clients.
But there are drawbacks.
The devices are relatively expensive. The Yankee Group believes prices need to come down to below $150 to gain mass-market appeal.
Unlike traditional books, which are always on, electronic readers require a battery that can die just before Inspector Morse reveals the murderer.
And the systems are not compatible. Amazon's Kindle, for example, will accept downloads only from Amazon.com.
Petra Ooton of Phoenix likes holding and reading traditional books, but she said her arthritis is making it increasingly painful and difficult.
She looks on an electronic reader as a device that could help her keep reading, but she finds them too expensive.
"I would love to have one," she said.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)