Comments on: Google grenades the ebook punchbowl http://futurismic.com/2009/06/03/google-grenades-the-ebook-punchbowl/ Presenting the fact and fiction of tomorrow since 2001 Sat, 19 May 2012 23:03:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: gary gibson http://futurismic.com/2009/06/03/google-grenades-the-ebook-punchbowl/comment-page-1/#comment-31997 gary gibson Thu, 04 Jun 2009 04:23:11 +0000 http://futurismic.com/?p=7677#comment-31997 Formats don't really matter (I think Doctorow pointed this out in an interview), DRM matters. You can have as many different flavours of file format floating around as you like, as long as they all play on all the different machines. DRM, I think, is what often prevents that being the case. Take away the DRM, and it's not so much of a problem. Formats don’t really matter (I think Doctorow pointed this out in an interview), DRM matters. You can have as many different flavours of file format floating around as you like, as long as they all play on all the different machines. DRM, I think, is what often prevents that being the case. Take away the DRM, and it’s not so much of a problem.

]]> By: Wollff http://futurismic.com/2009/06/03/google-grenades-the-ebook-punchbowl/comment-page-1/#comment-31904 Wollff Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:44:03 +0000 http://futurismic.com/?p=7677#comment-31904 "Hopefully by Christmas time this year I’ll be able to get a decent eInk device that doesn’t lock me in to one content provider" If the content-lockdown of the two big players is the only problem, and you want a comparable product to Sony and Kindle, then I have good news: Santa may visit early this year. First there are the iREX readers (http://www.irextechnologies.com/products), which can deal with pretty much every format I've come across so far. Then there's the Cybook by Bookeen (http://www.bookeen.com/ebook/ebook-reading-device.aspx), which is also about as free as it gets. Now if Google can make the publishers to "go digital" on all their releases, the arguments for classical paper are rapidly getting fewer. “Hopefully by Christmas time this year I’ll be able to get a decent eInk device that doesn’t lock me in to one content provider”

If the content-lockdown of the two big players is the only problem, and you want a comparable product to Sony and Kindle, then I have good news: Santa may visit early this year.

First there are the iREX readers (http://www.irextechnologies.com/products), which can deal with pretty much every format I’ve come across so far.

Then there’s the Cybook by Bookeen (http://www.bookeen.com/ebook/ebook-reading-device.aspx), which is also about as free as it gets.

Now if Google can make the publishers to “go digital” on all their releases, the arguments for classical paper are rapidly getting fewer.

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