And in dissent

The publishing world continues to collapse. Ads down, reviews folding, imprints getting swallowed, and editors being spit out. I talked to an agent friend about all this yesterday, and mentioned that I thought a subscription book-buying model, much like emusic offers music consumers, or some kind of digital shopping option will be the savior of the industry.

But he thinks e-readers suck, and no one will ever ever want to use one to read a book.

I disagree. I think it's coming. I think people in publishing - like record executives before them - may perhaps be the last ones to see the light. But that issue - is the technology ready to really convert the masses, and will it ever be - remains a tremendous sticking point.

Here's a dissenting view about the quality of e-readers from a technophile source. As one comment notes, and I paraphrase: "I just want a book with real paper to carry around. The same book all the time, but different content depending on what I'm reading."

In other words, the book experience needs to be virtually replicated if e-readers are ever going to replace books.

I buy that.

Kindle Kindle

Lots more on the Kindle out there, with the launch of Kindle 2. Some reports marvel about how sleek and neat the new version is. Others mention how Kindle / Amazon is getting the kind of ga ga reviews for its launch formerly reserved only for Apple. (I wonder if car companies look at these launches and think... I remember when....)

But there are also some naysayers doing a little backlashing.

There always are... those open code types are never happy.

Interestingly, even with its launch, Amazon is releasing its e-books to other platforms, compatible with its own competitors. It's as though Apple launched the iPod and immediately opened iTunes to other MP3 players - which definitely didn't happen. I think Amazon's strategy is smart business, however. Unlike music, the market for e-readers remains small. If this new way of reading is to become successful, the habits have to be adopted in a mass-market way. With only 500,000 Kindles out there, that leaves a couple hundred million Americans alone yet to be converted. In other words, there's room enough for options, and Amazon is wise to compete on the quality of its own product. This isn't just benevolent marketing, however. Amazon also gets a cut from those e-books whether they're downloaded to Kindles, iPhones, or that chip implanted in your fancy sunglasses.

Finally, Thomas Friedman, writing from India, his home away from home, mentions the possibility that Silicon Valley could one day go the way of Detroit. Does that mean their football team will suck, too? I forgot... maybe the Raiders and the Niners are leading indicators.

Google and Amazon meet iPhone and G2

I think it's starting to happen. Google is making public domain books available for the iPhone and G2. And Amazon is making its Kindle-ready collection for other readers, too.

Pretty soon we'll be aiming our phones at airport bookstores as we're conveyer-belting to the gate, and pulling in the latest titles directly to our hand-held devices.

In Japan, they already use their mobile phones to pay bills, as transit passes, and to swap name cards.

And you thought you couldn't live without your cell phone now....

And furthermore

More evidence of the transition. The Washington Post's Book World is dead. The culprit? Publishers who didn't pony up for ads. Somehow, seems to me that book buyers buy other things, too...

An industry in transition

Schumpeter calls it creative destruction. And reading such articles, you have to think publishing is a business model that can use a better mouse trap.

e-ink

I missed this when Esquire published it in the fall... E-ink. It's the same technology that goes into the kindle, but somehow, seeing the words change on a "static" piece of paper is mind-boggling. More evidence that words are going digital fast.

Bad for books or just BN?

Back when I was a barista, and before that was a common word, a customer once offered an explanation for the crowds in the coffee shop. "In bad times, people are more willing to pay for small luxuries." 

Barnes & Noble thinks it's going to be a less than merry Christmas season. But maybe books are exactly what people want when everything else is on hold?