Kindle - oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!
Nov. 20th, 2007 07:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beckymonsterBy now, you would have all read about Kindle, Amazon.COM's proprietary e-book reader?
Where do I start?
Most of you guys know what I do for a living. I'm a librarian. I work with books and information. As such, I know a thing or two about how people access information and how much publishers expect to be paid for their product.
The short version is - people like paper and publishers like lots of money. Especially if you want it electronically.
I never thought I'd do this but... CILIP article on an UK Academic Library project on providing a 'library' of e-books to UK University Libraries. CILIP are the British Library Association, my professional body.
The most relevant paragraph is as follows:
Six bids made it through to the consultation, equating to a total of 136 e-books – seven in media studies, 29 in engineering, 42 in medicine, 58 in business and management.
Here was another major challenge. The value placed by the publishers on these 136 e-books, with free-at-the-point-of-use access, for all UK HE institutions (more than 2.4m students and their tutors) was £2.08m excluding VAT
Project budget? £600,000. (Current exchange rate £1=$2)
Okay - it's not quite the same as what Amazon want to do but if publishers want that kind of money out students and academic libraries... what are they going to charge to the public? It might be all hunkydory now but what's to stop another NBC versus iTunes a couple of months down the line?
Not to mention - what obscenely biological acts did Amazon have to perform to get all those publishers on board? Or shall I just reach for the mindbleach for you all now? *g*.
And just DO NOT get me started on copyright! Else we'll be here all night! These 'Kindle' books, can they be lent? Can they be backed up? What happens if you break the screen? And for people like me - what if you want more than the 200 books they allow you to have?
As for the design.... perhaps I am drunk on the beauty of the Illyamonster but hell's teeth, that is one ugly looking machine!
So - thoughts people? Would you buy one or would you prefer to go with book v1.0?
Where do I start?
Most of you guys know what I do for a living. I'm a librarian. I work with books and information. As such, I know a thing or two about how people access information and how much publishers expect to be paid for their product.
The short version is - people like paper and publishers like lots of money. Especially if you want it electronically.
I never thought I'd do this but... CILIP article on an UK Academic Library project on providing a 'library' of e-books to UK University Libraries. CILIP are the British Library Association, my professional body.
The most relevant paragraph is as follows:
Six bids made it through to the consultation, equating to a total of 136 e-books – seven in media studies, 29 in engineering, 42 in medicine, 58 in business and management.
Here was another major challenge. The value placed by the publishers on these 136 e-books, with free-at-the-point-of-use access, for all UK HE institutions (more than 2.4m students and their tutors) was £2.08m excluding VAT
Project budget? £600,000. (Current exchange rate £1=$2)
Okay - it's not quite the same as what Amazon want to do but if publishers want that kind of money out students and academic libraries... what are they going to charge to the public? It might be all hunkydory now but what's to stop another NBC versus iTunes a couple of months down the line?
Not to mention - what obscenely biological acts did Amazon have to perform to get all those publishers on board? Or shall I just reach for the mindbleach for you all now? *g*.
And just DO NOT get me started on copyright! Else we'll be here all night! These 'Kindle' books, can they be lent? Can they be backed up? What happens if you break the screen? And for people like me - what if you want more than the 200 books they allow you to have?
As for the design.... perhaps I am drunk on the beauty of the Illyamonster but hell's teeth, that is one ugly looking machine!
So - thoughts people? Would you buy one or would you prefer to go with book v1.0?
