Given a choice between reading something on paper and reading something on a screen, I'd choose paper each time. It's a lot easier on the eye, and the iPod's screen is going to be a lot smaller than an average book page.

Reply

I did a post based on what Engadget mentioned. I think that Apple will eventually launch two devices; the video ipod that everyone is expecting and a UMPC-like iPod. This 2nd ipod would be larger and have a screen suitable for reading ebook content. Apple did file for patents that can go into this kind of iPod (e.g. qwerty touch screen input) so I think we can reasonably expect some sort of ultra portable pc or mobile media player.

Reply

Yeah, cos reading what's on there with the bloody great touch wheel covering it is gonna be easy.

I don't think so some how

Reply

of course, seeing the picture of false ipod to illustrate , I can be assured than people thinking we can read text on horizontal wide screen are just kidding .

please people, it's hard to read text if lines are too much longs , an "ebook" ipod would be read vertically.

Reply

I love the idea. With a larger screen, the iPod would be great as an ebook reader!

Reply

I have never wished listen to music on the move. Hence I have never wanted a Walkman/CD player/iPod. However an eBook reader would make me want to buy one of these. Especially if the content included newspapers, magazines as well as books.

Imagine connecting your gen 6 iPod to the net, then buying and downloading this morning's copy of The Times while you made breakfast. There are still plenty of times when people cannot read the news on-line - like on the London underground for example. Also the cost would be lower compared to being connected for a long period to read the same amount of content.

iBookStore anyone? Bring it on....

Mark

Reply

This would be great! I used to use my PDA (first a Handspring Visor, then a Palm T|E) for reading ebooks and listening to music (well, the T|E, for music) and stopped after I bought my Nano (smaller is better.) I would be happy to see this become a feature, and the screen size would mean more real estate than I previously had (well. hopefully, 320x320 is suprisingly good), so it'd be win-win for me.

Matt, I think the wheel would disappear, unless we're to assume every video-playing mock-up also implied the interface would never fade out (in that oh-so-apple way.) I doubt it would be the wheel interface for page turning, but could see it being accessable for controlling music while reading. I'd imagine input would be like in Palm Reader, dictated by area-of-screen for page progression.

Reply

amazon.com
amazon is preparing a music download service like iTunes.
forget Zune. forget napster.
it will be amazon vs. iTunes.

Reply

Great, here goes another $500 NZD of my cash...

Reply

eBook + Text to Speech + iPod

Reply

no this will suck. having read a book on a backlight display, its just painful. now the sony reader looks good with its digital ink.

Reply

1.) Scott, how many times are you going to mention that you are an avid reader?

2.) It won't sell as an eBook reader on its own. The eBook market is very tiny and most people don't enjoy reading for long stretches at a time staring a 320 x 240 screen. Even if it was the size of the PSP's screen, most people couldn't/wouldn't use it for that long. Just look at the sales volumes of eBooks.

Reply

I could see myself really getting into browsing my daily news sites over the ipod, especially outdoors and with a nice strong cup of coffee.

Reply

um, hello? Audiobooks anyone? I bought a 2 year subscription to Audible and get 2 books a month. I listen to them on long trips and while I'm working in my studio.

As a budding geezer I find my eyes straining to read text on screen after more than 30 minutes. I have purchased a couple of ebooks from Amazon and read them via Adobe reader. I like being able to increase the font size so I don't have to press my nose against the screen AND still being able to have a full two pages of text visible (well, mostly visible, just a little up and down scrolling is necessary).

If they come up with a portable reader the size of a paperback AND if the greedy so-and-so's in the publishing industry will adjust the COST of the books accordingly, then I'd be buying ebooks like mad. OTOH, all the books I currently buy wind up being given to a friend who then gives them to the library when she's done so there's still a lot to be said for paper. I'm a big fan of my local library and I don't think they can accept my audiobooks if I burn them to a cd. Too bad because I like to share.

Reply

oops, meant to say I listen to my audiobooks on my iPod.

Reply

Mark (#5), iRex and Sony are releasing devices that are better suited to your desires. If you really have no use for music on the go, why opt for an iPod to read when you can take advantage of a better reading solution like Sony's Reader or iRex's iLiad, both of which will use eInk technology to reduce eye strain and battery consumption? Both will also have media stores to sell you that book you want or the day's newspaper.

See here for video review of the Sony Reader:
http://reviews.cnet.com/Handhelds/4660-3127_7-0.html

See here for images of the iRex Iliad:
http://www.infosyncworld.com/mobility/handheld/irex_iliad_er_0100.html

Personally, I'm excited about a new wide-screen iPod for watching movies/tv shows. I would not use it as my ebook reader, however.

Reply

John,

Sure the eBook market is very tiny. But then, the MP3 player market wasn't exactly of monolithic proportions until the iPod hit the market.

Reply

I guess if the right device was on the market, then maybe. Most people I've talked to about it, especially when PDAs were the hot thing, just couldn't a) get into reading on such a small screen and 2) needed the actually book. THere was jsut something about the actual holding of a book made of paper that they couldn't get used to. Kind of like how people print out their emails!!

I personally, would love it, but I found that not enough titles were available and sales were way low. That is why I think that it won't fly. For RSS feeds and short stories/articles -yeah, but for reading actual novels -nope.

Reply

I hope Apple does go into the eBook market.

Even with the current iPod's screen size, the Notes feature on iPods is great, but has its limitations (namely 4000 chars per text file, max 1000 files).

This year could be the year eBooks start happening... with genuine e-ink display devices such as iRex's iLiad now shipping, and Sony's Reader coming soon. They are bound to enhance interest in electronic book storage and display devices.

Some innovative news publishers have already started using eBook-like features on the iPod, such as Slate magazine's "textcasts"

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=153900786

These give a printed summary of news in the day's papers: Just a glimpse of the potential of eBook publishing.

It's a clever hack that puts the text in the notes field of a "silent" MP3, timed long enough to read the book. If Apple actually made a proper eBook mode, the value would be much greater.

Reply