E-Books on the rise
by Esther Schindler
According to a report published today, consumer interest in electronic books is growing:
Electronic books, a new addition to the Association of American Publishers (AAP) monthly sales report, began 2003 with impressive numbers, up 1,447.4 percent, according to figures just released by the AAP. The electronic book segment grew from $211,000 in net sales in January 2002 to slightly more than $3.3 million in January 2003.
I've found some good e-books sites, such as Fictionwise, but I haven't found enough of a reason to buy one, yet. If I commuted (particularly on a plane or train) it might be a different story, but for reading at home I stick with paper.
How 'bout you?
Comments
I've read some PDF-based fan fiction on my laptop, but the reading experience doesn't come even close to real paper books.
E-Book reader displays need to get really close to paper quality before I'd even thnk about getting one.
Until my Handspring gave up, I regularly bought books from peanutpress.com and read them with the Palm Raeder. After the initial irritation with the format ("pages" are short ;-)I quickly preferred it to classical paper. The Palm reader is nice as you can turn the display 90, 180, 270 degrees whichever way is convenient. And off course it remembers on which page aou stopped reading. The unlocking with the creditcard details to open a book the first time is a bit tedious.
You can easily read books with one hand (good for the bed, the underground/tube, bus train. The Palm is also good for dim light conditions as one can use the screen light. This was also great in bed as I could switch off the light and if I felt asleep, the Handspring would switch off after 2 minutes.
As I am waiting for my mobil-phone provider to sell the Sony-Ericsson P800, I hope I can buy books for the P800 as well.
I forgot to mention that peanutpress books are cheaper, especially when compared to English/American books in continental Europe. The titles are mostly in English, which is fine for me.
