Google vs Amazon (and the rest of the publishing world!)

Discussion in 'Google' started by Notting, Jan 31, 2006.

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  1. #1
    Any big fans of the Amazon affiliate scheme (and im assured that there are some out there!) may want to consider their medium/longterm strategies.


    Ok...so people aren't about to stop buying books (as a student I am well aware of the small fortunes spent on the little buggers - bought a text book today - £37.99:eek: ) but over the next few years the convergence that we have seen for many other kind of publishing (newspapers etc) will arguably move to literature in a much bigger way. If sony are promoting ebooks, and we know that sony will have some sort of copy protect;) then we can probably expect some kind of change in the literature world.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4598478.stm
     
    Notting, Jan 31, 2006 IP
  2. adamjthompson

    adamjthompson Well-Known Member

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    #2
    I don't think ebooks will ever replace real books.
     
    adamjthompson, Jan 31, 2006 IP
  3. iBold

    iBold Peon

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    #3
    at least not until there is a better median for reading them..I honestly don't want to stare at my computer screen for hours on end trying to read something.
     
    iBold, Jan 31, 2006 IP
  4. adamjthompson

    adamjthompson Well-Known Member

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    #4
    I agree. Perhaps, though, they could come out with an ebook reader similiar to an MP3 player. You would rip the books to your player. It would have a small screen, like the portable DVD players have, that you could curl up in a chair with our whatever. Hopefully, the screen could be very eye-friendly, too.
     
    adamjthompson, Jan 31, 2006 IP
  5. Notting

    Notting Notable Member

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    #5
    never say never.

    There Could be a point in time where you could read from a monitor screen and you literally couldn't tell the difference between the monitor screen and the page of a book.

    EDIT: I just repeated what you said!
     
    Notting, Jan 31, 2006 IP
  6. dsm56

    dsm56 Active Member

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    #6
    Its like Giles said in Buffy the Vampire Slayer...books just have that smell to them :)
     
    dsm56, Jan 31, 2006 IP
  7. jackburton2006

    jackburton2006 Peon

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    #7
    Totally agree. Even for guys like me, who is basically attached to my computer/websites for the majority of my day, can't stand reading on the computer screen. Ergh. It's just so cold and lifeless. Try reading a really passionate piece of literature and the screen just saps all the blood out of the text.
     
    jackburton2006, Jan 31, 2006 IP
  8. Owlcroft

    Owlcroft Peon

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    #8
    In the long run, what will mostly replace books is . . . books. But books in which the pages are, though flexible as paper, electronic displays. The day of such stuff is not tomorrow or next week, but it's not lifetimes away either.

    But till then, no one (or no ones in any numbers that matter) are going to be giving up books for today's clunky substitutes. The sales data have shown that already and for some time.

    (Meanwhile, back at the Amazon ranch... we can assume that when The Day arrives, Amazon and its kin will just start selling the new "books", so no affiliate has to start re-making his or her retirement plans if Amazon was a part of them.)
     
    Owlcroft, Feb 1, 2006 IP