Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

Bezos makes this statement: ""Books are the last bastion of analog,". But ARE books analog? Or are they are base 26 (or more counting special characters and spaces) digital system? Analog systems are continuous signals; books are not that.

Thanks for the link to Steven Levy's really very good article. I hope Amazon will be able to give the (yet non-existent) E-Book market the push it needs to develop. End user awareness and a device with sex appeal will help. Amazon certainly has the ability and reach to create awareness. I am not so sure about the "sex appeal", though... Would have loved to see Apple release a reader...

I agree with the Kindle pricing and other issues raised elsewhere but I think another another important issue is often ignored in this debate: There's little, if any, value in simply porting the paper product to an e-device. Where e-content can shine is when it truly takes advantage of being digital. A printed book is a static, albeit effective, product. An e-device opens things up to a much more dynamic experience. Let's tap into that and create some really exciting products!

Btw, many have referred to the iPhone as the killer e-book device. Sure, you *can* read on an iPhone, but would you really *want* to, especially for hours and hours at a time?! If so you can bet optometrists everywhere will cheer all the extra business, new glasses, contacts, etc., they'll sell as we straining our eyes like never before!

Joe Wikert
Publishing 2020 Blog
www.joewikert.com

Books are digital in that their language content can be exactly reproduced as a string of keyboard produced chars with occasional input from a rather large # of special symbols.

Books are not digital when processed through their intended replay device which, in spite of a highly standardized input format, produces a stunning variation of affect. Not digital ≠ analog.