Why are ebooks awful?

[robgendreau]

So...I thought that with the popularity of digital books I'd check out some and see if I should start reading them instead of print.

But it's a fail; they seem to be nothing but digitized books. For a considerable sum of money. I had thought that by now someone would be creating a real electronic book, something intended to be read with an iPad or Kindle or something. Printed material in books, magazines and newspapers is optimized for those forms; ebooks are just dreck. Yeah, I can search. Or bookmark. BFD.

Are there any examples of someone writing a book that isn't either a digitized version of a paperback, or a glorified web page? I'd like to see a version of the Odyssey, for example, where it could switch back and forth between languages, or had contextual maps, or would pronounce names for you, or whatever. Something that could exploit what an electronic device can do, in a way that adds to the content but doesn't distract you. Anything?

Rob

 

[opeter]

Maybe in 10 years?

 

[Mal]

eBook creation has so far been the domain of the techs. Not the creatives who would really have the ideas to do the kind of stuff you refer to. Once there's a good tool out there for creating eBooks, we'll start to see that kind of stuff available. Right now, though, it just doesn't really happen because the people that can do it aren't working with the people who are creating the eBooks.

I don't think it'll take anywhere near 10 years though.

jW

 

[maccompaq]

The year 2012 will probably show vast improvement in ebooks with all the new hardware being developed.