Comments on: Open books http://jsomers.net/blog/open-books the jsomers.net blog Fri, 11 May 2012 05:02:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Wandering the web stacks « jsomers.net http://jsomers.net/blog/open-books/comment-page-1#comment-3321 Wandering the web stacks « jsomers.net Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:32:20 +0000 http://jsomers.net/blog/?p=169#comment-3321 <p>[...] I had my way the answer might well be “books,” but until those become openly available we’ll [...]</p> [...] I had my way the answer might well be “books,” but until those become openly available we’ll [...]

]]> By: James Somers http://jsomers.net/blog/open-books/comment-page-1#comment-3298 James Somers Sat, 19 Sep 2009 11:28:16 +0000 http://jsomers.net/blog/?p=169#comment-3298 <ol> <li><p>Kindle is <em>not</em> close at all -- it's DRMed up the wazoo and the selection is a small percentage of all the books I'd want (or, say, all the books that Google has scanned).</p></li> <li><p>They'd go after the publishers, to whom the electronic files are submitted, and not the individual authors.</p></li> <li><p>You <em>are</em> a writer (avinashv.net). And I bet that if there were no more printed books tomorrow (mind you, I never said I wanted that) the chances of you writing something book-ish wouldn't drop by much.</p></li> </ol> <p>In general I'm surprised you disagree. Your strongest line of attack is probably this third point but I still think you're wrong about it.</p> <p>I'd be happy to get into this if you have the energy or inclination.</p>

  • Kindle is not close at all — it’s DRMed up the wazoo and the selection is a small percentage of all the books I’d want (or, say, all the books that Google has scanned).

  • They’d go after the publishers, to whom the electronic files are submitted, and not the individual authors.

  • You are a writer (avinashv.net). And I bet that if there were no more printed books tomorrow (mind you, I never said I wanted that) the chances of you writing something book-ish wouldn’t drop by much.

    • In general I’m surprised you disagree. Your strongest line of attack is probably this third point but I still think you’re wrong about it.

    I’d be happy to get into this if you have the energy or inclination.

    ]]>         By: Avinash http://jsomers.net/blog/open-books/comment-page-1#comment-3297 Avinash Sat, 19 Sep 2009 11:19:03 +0000 http://jsomers.net/blog/?p=169#comment-3297 <blockquote> <p>I would happily trade the world’s libraries, all its cozy coffee shops, and the feel of a hardback in my hands for on-demand access to the complete plain text of every book.</p> </blockquote> <p>It sounds like you want a Kindle. It's not all the way there, but it's close.</p> <blockquote> <p>One wonders why there has to be so much scanning.</p> </blockquote> <p>It's quicker to scan a million books than wait around for a million authors to get back to you, assuming finding their contact information is easy to begin with.</p> <blockquote> <p>Would people stop writing if the text of their books were distributed this way?</p> </blockquote> <p>That question needs clarification. If tomorrow, the world's printers would stop, then yes, I would never become a writer. But in a world where everyone has some hand-held reading device with a screen that is marginally better than today's best e-ink screens available at a lower cost than buying books without DRM and the freedom to tinker with it, then no, it wouldn't matter.</p> <p>I'd be surprised if any more than a small proportion of the geekiest of authors wouldn't feel the same way.</p>

    I would happily trade the world’s libraries, all its cozy coffee shops, and the feel of a hardback in my hands for on-demand access to the complete plain text of every book.

    It sounds like you want a Kindle. It’s not all the way there, but it’s close.

    One wonders why there has to be so much scanning.

    It’s quicker to scan a million books than wait around for a million authors to get back to you, assuming finding their contact information is easy to begin with.

    Would people stop writing if the text of their books were distributed this way?

    That question needs clarification. If tomorrow, the world’s printers would stop, then yes, I would never become a writer. But in a world where everyone has some hand-held reading device with a screen that is marginally better than today’s best e-ink screens available at a lower cost than buying books without DRM and the freedom to tinker with it, then no, it wouldn’t matter.

    I’d be surprised if any more than a small proportion of the geekiest of authors wouldn’t feel the same way.

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