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AnchorDesk

AnchorDesk Staff
You *Can* Judge a Book by Its Cover

AnchorDesk Staff
ZDNet AnchorDesk
Wednesday, November 29, 2000
TalkBack!Add your opinion
Horror writer Stephen King announced in June he would publish his epistolary novel, The Plant, online.

[Sound of trumpets and cheering crowd]

This month, King announced he would stop producing chapters before it was finished.

[Oops]

What happened is that fewer than 50,000 electronic reading devices have sold in the U.S., according to Jupiter Media Metrix. Sales will be anemic for the next four years.

People still don't like ebooks. Today I'll tell you what ebook makers must do to make their product viable.

WHY PAPER BOOKS RULE
I've warned you before about the ebook hype But now it's starting up again for the holiday season.

Consumers are conservative (as they should be). They won't switch unless something is (a) much better, (b) much cheaper or (c) preferably both. Yet when you compare ebooks to paper, they come come up short.

Let's face it, a paperback book is a near-perfect technology. Think of its "features," and you'll see what ebook makers have to overcome.

Cost. Paperbacks cost as little as $5. Ebook readers are running $130 and up.

Durability. Drop a paperback off the porch. Spill coffee on it. It still functions perfectly.

Title availability. Which book titles are available in book form? They all are. Compare that to the measly thousands available in ebook format.

BERST IMPRESSIONS
My comments are based on industry research and on hands-on testing.

Microsoft Reader software can be used on the Windows PCs or Windows CE-based handhelds. Barnes & Noble sells some titles in Reader format and the University of Virginia Library makes 1,200 classics available.

The Reader interface is spare and free of distracting elements. Great, but I still don't want to read a novel while sitting at a monitor. And a tiny PDA screen is not much better. Microsoft is wisely betting on the success of the computer tablet to solve the form-factor problem. That has promise. Someday.

eBookMan by Franklin Electronic Publishers looks like a Palm device with a larger screen. Franklin knows nobody will pay $500 to read a dime-store novel so they've introduced three versions ranging from $130 to $230. They all have MP3 capability, can be used with Microsoft Reader and have a MultiMediaCard slot. Bottom line for me: I didn't get to test it before the batteries died. I can't remember the last time that happened to a paperback.

THE EBOOK CHALLENGE
Stated simply, ebook makers must supply three things. Three things they are not supplying now:
  • Right form factor
  • Wide variety of content
  • Right price on both hardware and books
The one thing that will allow ebook hardware and software makers to do this is a standard format. So we wouldn't have Robert Ludlum and Patricia Cornwell releasing ebooks in one proprietary format, and Stephen King in another.

If the industry could rally around a standard, improve the readers' experience and get out of the way of a vendor with the courage to price it right, then ebooks could be wildly popular within two years. Otherwise, it'll be four years if we're lucky.

For now, ebooks are for early adopters and business users who can carry volumes of technical information and manuals in a very compact and searchable form.

Will ebooks be at the top of the best-seller list, or just another digital horror story? Hit the TalkBack button and let me know, or go to my Berst Alerts Forum where I've already launched the discussion.

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