eBook Reader Design Proposal
&D.K. just sent me an email with a video he posted showing a design proposal for an eBook reader.
The idea is that the hardware (which would look/feel like a book) makes use of the iPod and iTunes store for getting content.
I personally like the idea and there isn’t really anything out there (that I’m aware of) that really offers a solution like this.
What are your thoughts? Would you use something like this? What are some things that could be improvied?
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I think that Apple would come out with a laptop that didn’t have a keyboard and replaced it with a multitouch screen. Most readers don’t want to read books off a screen, this is something that won’t be mainstream for another 10 years at least.
I’d rather see a eBook reader, or even just a barebones PDF support, implemented into the iPhone. Leopard’s upcoming interface for paging through multi-page PDF documents within the icon of a PDF document in Cover Flow view is a perfect interface for PDFs on the iPhone. Check out the Apple’s ‘Finder’ video to see the interface I’m talking about at http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/features/finder.html.
I guess it wouldn’t work. It’s not a bad idea, but it’s too dependent on the current iPod design (I mean, the full-size ipod), and the fact that the eBook Reader needs an hi-res display (this design has two) gives me doubts because you would need some kind of gpu + memory to manage the image data (think about zooming in and out). Another doubt comes from the fact that the ipod is facing down and the iPod connector is not strong enuff to sustain itself while reading, I guess it would drop down on the floor…
Maybe an iPod nano would work better as a storage + sync “cartridge” for this reader, it’s thinner, lighter. Anyway in any case the eReader would need an independent battery + gpu/cpu + memory buffer, so at the end of the story, I guess an indipendet eBook reader with a cheap SDcard slot would cost even less, don’t forget that Apple gets a premium from every accessory that has the “made for ipod” label…
i like the idea a lot. The iPod is great for carrying around lots of data and listening to music, but not good for reading or using the screen for anything other than normal operation. I think a thin, book-sized tablet that the iPod plugs into is a great accessory to make better use of visual data stored on the ipod.
@ToddBaur – i think you’re missing the point of this particular suggestion. Yes, apple could make a whole new laptop or tablet with multitouch or whatever, but as the video suggested, that would be expensive to develop and buy. Why not use what is already available – an iPod as the “heart” of the book, and electronic ink (note, NOT “a screen”) as a display. Electronic ink/paper is much easier on the eyes and feels much more natural than a regular screen. Imagine creating this book with a nice leather cover and 2 flexible epaper pages inside. You could hold it basiclly like a book, and it wouldn’t be much heavier than an iPod.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_paper
great idea – i would like to see this implemented
Love the (possibly unintentional) Aliens II reference:
“But these readers are tablets, mostly…”
Very interesting idea, though I doubt I’d ever use an ebook reader of any sort, personally – no matter how good it is. I just like printed books too much.
This reminds me of the first cars that were built to resemble carriages. Gotta snag ‘em with the familiar I guess.
I love reading on my Sony Reader. The type is crisp and I can carry an entire library with me. Is it the ultimate? Of course not, it’s only first gen (maybe second if you count the Librie), but it’s a great start, imo. And with the recent lower price, it’s definitely in affordable territory.
It always puzzles me when folks say how they can’t give up books. Except for a few art books I own, it’s the CONTENT that’s important to me – whether novels or non-fiction. I have no emotional connection to acidic tree pulp (or even the acid-free kind). I do have an emotional connection to the stories and ideas inside.
I do like the idea of using an iPod. More room, easier to customize, and more power under the hood, so to speak.
I listen to audiobooks on my iPod and read books on my Palm PDAs. This would be an improvement over the Palm screen, and I’d buy one. I like the looks of this gadget but it needs to be kept small enough to slide into my purse.
I reckon it’s a very smart implementation of the idea. And the use use of multi-touch on travel guides, so you can zoom in on maps, opens up a whole world of possibilities.
I’m also impressed with his use of Google Sketch Up to present his idea.
And Luke, that is quite a stretch with the Aliens II reference [it took me a moment to get it], but, you never know.
For books, I personally love the feel of pages with words, but I’m intrigued by the magazine subscription aspect of this, especially the possibility of carrying hundreds of magazines during long journeys. The travel guide element is also key. I would focus more on those than on books, since there’s so much resistance to pageless books (I think) (at least from me!). I’d also look into the possibility of writing on the tablet, so it can be a notebook too, one in which the user can circle text in magazines to create “clippings” for storage elsewhere (e.g., DevonThink).