Bookstores [Was: Re: Going OT [Was: Re: Replacing PBXes with Open Source]]

Mark Komarinski mkomarinski at wayga.org
Tue Aug 31 09:32:01 EDT 2004


On Tue, Aug 31, 2004 at 08:51:34AM -0400, Michael Costolo wrote:
> > Imagine one
> > with almost no CPU, a relatively small hard disk (the 20 GB Ipod disk
> > would work fine), minimal RAM, no legacy PCMCIA/serial/parallel/VGA, and
> > yet the ability to hold hundreds if not thousands of books?  
> 
> You're almost describing the handheld platform.  For which there
> exists ebook reader software.  Which, to the best of my understanding,
> hasn't been all that  impressive sales-wise (ebooks on handhelds, that
> is).

You don't need 20G of hard drive for that - a 512M MMC/SD/CF card will
be just fine.  Text compresses a lot better than audio.

I've got a Palm Tungsten T3 which I now use as my PDA.  It's also got
an e-book reader that I can load in a few of the 'freebies' and also
books from Project Gutenberg.  It's got a nice screen and I'm currently
reading "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" while eating lunch.  Converted
to PalmOS, the book is 119KB in size.  At that rate, you can get
about 4400 books in 512M of space.

It's not the same as turning a page, but it's a lot more convenient
to carry around than the 1000+pg Quicksilver.

The other thing I do (with a 1-hr commute time in the car) is get audiobooks.
If you think e-books are expensive, try getting an audiobook from Audible.
Some of them get to $50+.  Then again, I got a freebie book (Snow Crash -
the unabridged version) that's 18 hours of audio.

E-books will not take over regular books for a long time.  Print has a history.
You can feel the paper, smell it, see it.  It doesn't require batteries
but doesn't come with its own light source.  You can easily jump around pages
and re-read a section that you knew was somewhere near the beginning, right
around...here!  Print will be around for centuries.  E-books last as long
as the hard drive spins and electrons flow.

Don't mind me.  At home, I'm (re)reading the original James Bond books
by Ian Fleming.  Most are far different from the movies and a great read.

-Mark
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