Reading e-books two or three lines at a time on a 3.2-inche screen would turn anyone off of reading. If you're trying to interest people in reading more, it's going to have to be a pleasant experience.
I used to read books on a Palm Pilot and I still read them on my phone. Handy for a train other idle moments although nowhere close to ideal.
Anyway, I see a $20 e-reader as something which is viable and useful particularly if governments started issuing them to kids instead of a heap of text books. It's not even clear to me why governments pay (or expect parents to pay) for text books from publishers when they could use the same money to commission the text books and then distribute them electronically and DRM-free for nothing.
My daughters school required Ipads this year, which parents had to either purchase or rent. They indicated they would offset books by using resources on the Ipad, since the rental fee was about the same as book fees usually are. Oddly enough, when book fees came out, hers were twice the normal amount.
A large number of installed systems work by fiat. That is, they work
by being declared to work.
-- Anatol Holt
Seriously? (Score:5, Insightful)
Reading e-books two or three lines at a time on a 3.2-inche screen would turn anyone off of reading. If you're trying to interest people in reading more, it's going to have to be a pleasant experience.
Re:Seriously? (Score:2)
Anyway, I see a $20 e-reader as something which is viable and useful particularly if governments started issuing them to kids instead of a heap of text books. It's not even clear to me why governments pay (or expect parents to pay) for text books from publishers when they could use the same money to commission the text books and then distribute them electronically and DRM-free for nothing.
Re: (Score:3)
Oddly enough, when book fees came out, hers were twice the normal amount.