Wednesday, June 03, 2009

OnDemandBooks

OnDemandBooks

This is pretty cool. But I can't help think they're perfecting yesterday's technology. I guess that's typical - by the time we perfect some technology, we've moved on to something "better", albeit less perfected.

Just like a big fancy machine in the music store to burn cd's on demand has pretty much been made obsolete by mp3 players and buying music over the internet.

Now if only someone can open up digital book distribution the way Apple has opened up digital music distribution.

Amazon has digital music and books, but US only. Even Indigo's new digital book service is US only, despite being a Canadian company! I realize the US is a much bigger market, but I still can't help being annoyed by it!

Currently, most digital books are "proprietary", i.e. if you have a Sony ebook reader you have to buy your books from Sony, and if you have an Amazon Kindle you have to buy your books from Amazon. Even Apple, who are famous for their proprietary approach, let you play their music on devices made by other companies.

I'd really like to go digital with my books the way I have with my music, but we're not quite there yet.

2 comments:

Jen said...

I think the IPod as an app for that!

Andrew McKinlay said...

Yeah, you can read Amazon Kindle books on an iPod Touch or iPhone, but the screen is too small and the battery life too short. And I'm not sure if it's available in Canada? The ebook readers with E-ink displays are a lot better for reading.