Jon

All good points, but I wonder if more and more books will become digitised. If books are reprinted today then an electronic master must exist somewhere, even if it is eventually type set from scratch. And with older out of print books, I'm sure somebody will convert them, otherwise when the last copy is gone, then it's gone - rather like fly-fishing by JR Hartley.

I didn't know about the capability of PDAs, probably because I have no need for one. However, there will be people out there that will find a need or desire for the book reader - Colin for example. If that take up is good then it might succeed.

Personally I would not want to sit on the bus watching a film on a mobile phone, but that's going to happen soon.

But for me, the possibilities that such a format could offer in giving more people the opportunity to publish is the most exciting aspect.

So book reader... the new MP3 or the new 8-track?

VHS or Betamax?

Obviously Sony aren't stupid people. They must believe there is enough market out there to make their R&D worthwhile. But I do think it's false reasoning to compare this type of media to music (or movies). As I said, AV media has no portable format other than the funky devices around to do it, written media already has a successful portable format and it doesn't require hardware to operate.

As for providing an opportunity for getting your work out there I'd argue that already exists as well. The web has been around in a useful format for 15 years or so and I've read many pieces of fiction on there. Gosh darn it if WW isn't an example of that. The web can reach God alone knows how many millions of people yet the book reader version of your work can only be read by people with the readers. I don't see that these electronic readers will provide any marvellous spur to greater distribution - the web is surely the biggest distribution system on the planet and if your work isn't being hit there, why will a portable version be any different?

Jon

People find reading on screen a pain. Printing it all out is also a pain, so wouldn't a portable device that looks and feels like paper be a good alternative?

Video 2000?

Again, I do see you point Jon.

Perhaps a little wager?

In ten year's time digital books will be as big as MP3s are now - if not, I'll pay your WW subs for a whole year... that's if David Bruce hasn't closed the site and bought a desert island with the profits from the WriteWords download site!

Perhaps the real issue is that people should learn to be content with what they already have, and not be brainwashed by faceless corporations into thinking they need a new planet-polluting gizmo just so they can look cool to their equally superficial mates?

I just can't see this catching on anyway. It has the word 'fad' written all over it. Yuppies will love it,the market will embrace it, realise what a load of shite it is, and bin it in favour of the trusty paperback.

JB

Perhaps the real issue is that people should learn to be content with what they already have

For someone who got a publishing deal thanks to email, that's a pretty stupid statement. I'd like to see how far you get writing your next novel with a pencil.

As for keeping up with the Jones's: I've got probably the crappiest, cheapest MP3 player about. It only holds a fistfull of songs and isn't something to show off. My mobile phone doesn't have a camera, doesn't accept or send photos/movies. Both devices are functional, which is why I bought them. If a text reader comes on the market that has a clear display, is lightweight and can do things like remember my place in a fat novel, keep a long battery life, store stuff that I can't be arsed to read on my PC (like the WW classics library) and comes at a decent price, then I'll buy it for what it does, not as a fashion statement.

Colin M

the web is surely the biggest distribution system on the planet and if your work isn't being hit there, why will a portable version be any different?

I think that's a good point.

The thing I've learnt is never to believe the originators of any technology about how it's going to be used, or who's going to want it... if anyone. Look at texting - it was an afterthought tossed into phones because they could. And look how all the geeks went bust trying to sell fashion purely on the internet. It doesn't work, as anyone who likes buying clothes could have told them.

And in the end, some people like interacting with machines, and regard it as a bonus if anything in their lives can be made tiny, black, and with plenty of buttons. (And I don't mean a cocktail frock). Some people think the telephone was ruined when they introduced mechanical dialling. In between is everyone else, who will buy something if it does what they want, might buy it if they can be convinced that the new thing it does is worth the money, and otherwise won't.

Emma

Beadle - I'd take your wager if we could determine some useful indicators to determine 'as big as' I'd take it quite happily in fact as I strongly believe there isn't the demand that there is for music players. MP3 players are useful for everyone - pop music, classics, podcasting Radio 4 programs and so on. And, as mentioned already, carrying around music was not possible before the invention of walkman style cassette devices.

Reading, unfortunately, isn't as common as listening. I have many current friends and have known many people over the years who simply don't read books. They weren't thick or ill-educated (well, not ALL of them ) they simply didn't enjoy reading and I know a lot more people who read comparitively little - perhaps one or two bestsellers a year. MP3 players and their ilk are hugely popular because listening to music/radio/anything is hugely popular, especially amongst the younger generation AND amongst those who, without wishing to be a snob, perhaps have little literary interest.

Sorry Colin, can't resist...

Printing it all out is also a pain, so wouldn't a portable device that looks and feels like paper be a good alternative?

... what, like a book?

Anyone who really wants to get into this could glance over

http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_6/lynch/

This guy has gone into the subject in great depth - far deeper than I have the time to read, ironically.

Jon

Hi Jon

I was looking for some figures for sales of MP3 players and music downloads to use as a measure, when I found this http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/27/netherlands_ipod_tax/

An iPod tax. What next? A breathing tax.

I think you're right that book/reader sales will not approach the size of MP3 and downloads, but I don't think they will become the next Sinclair C3 either.

Any way, I'm off to see if www.bookdownload.com is registered - lets check back in 5 years!

Beadle

Ok, so I'm being a stupid Luddite then. I still don't see how you can equate e-mail - which has a really obvious use in terms of communication and efficiency - with an Sony reader, which, um, doesn't have a necessary purpose.

I'm no technophobe, and perhaps I'm too heavy handed over the environmental issue. I agree with the statement about MP3 players having a practical use, and apologise for inferring you're some trend-head Colin, I'm not being serious. Surely you must be able to see, however, that this reader thing is really not needed?

We live in a computerised world. I accept that. But there should be limits. Just because humankind can do something, doesn't always mean it should.

JB

No offence taken. I just think it would be cool to have a gadget that did something I liked. PSPs, PDAs, Portable DVD players and MP3 playing Camera-Phones are all nifty and nice, but they don't mean a lot to me. I do like games, but right now, if I was given the choice between an XBOX 360 and this Reader, I think I'd choose the Reader, simply because it's the only nerdy gadget that fits in best with my lifestyle. But I definitely agree that I'm in a minority, so the chances of something of this price surviving is slim. All I can do is look about at the free MP3 players you get when you spend a few quid at Currys or DVD players that are now cheaper than the DVDs themselves and think maybe, one day, it'll be our turn.

Colin M

Of course, it isn't my right to damn you for having what you want. I left my sandles at the door here.

For me, I guess I can't see how the Reader would compare with the feel, smell and pliability of a book, so I'm really a romantic. I like book covers too, and turning them over to read the blurb on the back. I like to see how far I've got by placing my bookmark between the gradually greying pages and stuff. I love books. Not just stories, but the books themselves. It's a love I'd like to share with the future, and I worry that technology would rip that hope away from me in the name of pointless advance.

I hope that makes my stance clearer. It took me a while to determine what it really was.

JB

<Added>

In my novel Dracula on Mars, there are no traditional paper books on Mons City and everyone has an electronic pad or a screen. When one of my character's encounters a =n old Earth-side paper book, she doesn't even know what it is.

I am including my feelings about this subject in my art too.