Stonecold wrote:
Orwell wrote:
I think the fatal flaw in e-readers is the inability to transfer one's existing collection to a newly purchased e-reader. When I bought an iPod, I was able to upload all my CDs to it. If I buy a Kindle, will Amazon provide me with an e-book copy of everything I have in print? This would be an extremely important feature to me, as I have probably several thousand dollars worth of print books in my collection. Starting over with things purchased on Amazon's proprietary e-book market would be far too much hassle.
That would be impossible. It would be too hard for Amazon to find which books you have legally bought in print and give you the e-book versions. I'm sure you could find pirated e-books, but that would be unethical. You could also scan your e-books and turn them into PDF files, but that would be impractical.
Right, I am aware of those issues. The point is, I already have a very substantial investment in a print library. An e-reader is a nice idea, but unless I can get my existing books on it it's hard to justify it. That's why e-readers will have a much harder time replacing books than the iPod and other mp3 players had replacing CDs. You have to ditch your old collection for the fancy new gadget.
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17 Oct 2010, 10:09 pm
