Full disclosure: I don’t own an e-reader. I’ve played with a few different models, primarily evaluating them for use in the classroom, but have never been able to convince myself it was something I actually needed. So, that said, know that while I am not altogether ignorant of these devices, my first hand experience is a bit limited.
That’s not, however, because I dislike the platform. Rather, the platform in it’s current (or past) implementations, just hasn’t given me what I needed and/or wanted. Specifically, the combination of DRM or proprietary limitations and minimal, dedicated functionality resulted in frustration at simply wanting to be able to do more than the device or content allowed. The good news is that there are well over 15 different e-readers and tablets either already on the market or lurking on the horizon, a few of which have more than piqued my interest.
Dedicated e-Readers, I think, are going to have tough go of it in the immediate future, especially with the number of tablets poised to invade the marketplace. The push by Sony for a standard format (EPub) is, I think, a huge step in the right direction, one that Sony learned long ago when their proprietary Betamax video format lost the consumer wars to VHS. With Kindle being the dominant device on the market, it will be difficult for EPub, I think, to gain traction, but as more and more devices come to market that will eventually and inevitably change.
Because, in the end, content is king. It’s what rules the world of e-readers. Amazon is the single largest retailer of print media, both digital and traditional, in the world. They have worked tirelessly at positioning themselves as the go-to source for books and, essentially, e-readers. It is impossible for publishers to ignore the impact they have had on their business, and it would be foolish for them to try. In their exclusivity, however, Amazon has, perhaps, unwittingly alienated themselves from the publishers whose content they sell.
And that’s where the future of e-readers resides… in the hands of the publishers. A new gadget can have all the greatest bells and whistles, but it all adds up to nothing without the publishers pushing content. Not just the traditional book publishers, either. I think that subscription-based publishers, who have, over the past decade, seen their numbers slowly dwindle, stand to gain the most, and I am surprised at how many of them don’t offer full electronic versions of their publications. I currently subscribe to about 10 magazines, and if just 4 of them published electronic versions I would go out and get an e-reader tomorrow. And if my local paper had an e-version I’d pay for that, too. I’d even pay a buck or so for a preview chapter of a novel I was considering, although I’d buy the hardcover if I enjoyed it, because… well just because that’s the format I like reading novels in. But short story collections and journals? I’ll take them all digital, thank you very much.
But not just yet. With the invasion of the tablet, the entire landscape of the dedicated e-reader is about to change, as evidenced by the Entourage eDGe (their spelling, not mine), a dual-screen folding device with a WXGA screen (running the Android OS) on one side and an e-ink screen on the other. The potential for this particular device within the education marketplace is tremendous, especially considering the outrageous pricetag retailers put on physical, print editions of college textbooks. It’s what, theoretically, at least, I have been waiting for… a functionally robust e-reader. But the question remains… where will the content come from?
Even with the marriage of the tablet and the e-reader, which is what I think must happen for either platform to succeed beyond anything other than techno-niche status, publishers simply must embrace the fact that e-versions of their publications, be they subscription based or single purchase, are essential to their long-term profitability. Traditional print media will not go away any time soon, but the impact the digital marketplace is poised to make on the publishing industry is, quite simply, staggering. Everything is going to, has to, change, from distribution methods to payment and financial models publishers have with their online retailers. It’s already begun, and that little Amazon dust-up earlier this year certainly won’t be the last. And while Amazon may well be the toughest kid on the e-reader block at the moment, with so many new arrivals to the neighborhood, especially Apple, whose online bookstore will go head to head with Amazon from day one, things are about to get a little dicey.
Unfortunately, until everything shakes itself out, and by everything I mean the content and the technology and the distribution and the DRM, I don’t see myself purchasing an e-reader anytime soon, regardless of how convenient one may be on my long summer road-trips. As long as there are dueling formats, disputed distribution models and hesitant publishers, I just don’t see the sense in investing in a technology that may well change in twelve, six, or even three months time. Make no mistake, digitized print media is the future. But that future isn’t here yet, regardless of what Apple and Amazon are shouting from the rooftops.
