eBooks...

This is a fairly broad topic, but that's fine. Mainly what I would like to talk about is the success or failure of eBooks. I have been reading ebooks for years starting on my first Palm Pilot. I have watched with interest as various companies have tried and failed (and succeeded) in this market.

Several companies have been around for a while as they sold eBooks. eReader (one of my favorites) has been around for a long time in the market. They have been bought and sold several times. Another site that I consistently buy through is Fictionwise. They have tons of books, and they sell for my favorite eBook software MobiPocket. Now would be the time (I guess) to point out that both are now owned by Barnes & Noble. Which brings me to my point(s)...

Why in the world would you make eBooks sales any different than a regular physical book's sale? I would think you certainly wouldn't want to make it more difficult for a consumer! Recently, I read that a person that was given a Barnes & Noble gift-card from family members, couldn't use the card on their eBooks! REALLY?!? And how is this a good business decision?

I recently needed to buy a textbook for a class that I had for my MBA. Because of the timing, I ended up buying an eTextbook rather than buying a physical copy. It was so heavily DRM'ed and then I lost the rights to the book after 180 days!!! What? The other textbooks I buy don't mysterious disappear after the class is over! I'm not sure why the eTextbook version should... Needless to say, that was the LAST eTextbook I will buy!

Finally, one of the Readers that I had on my early Pocket PC was Microsoft's Reader. I bought several books for the Reader, and enjoyed the software. Unfortunately, the DRM was linked to a passport. At some point this seemed to go south... An update to the software, or something caused the DRM to block my ability to read all the books I previously bought. Guess what. I don't buy books for Microsoft Reader any more! I recently saw they updated the program (after several years) and the problem still exists.

The moral of the story is:

1. DRM is fine if it is simple and doesn't get in the consumer's way.
2. Don't cause the DRM to timeout and make a book unreadable. I have books that are VERY old. None of them have disappeared.
3. Physical books are loanable... Barnes & Noble may have something with the Nook. If I have a good book that I like and loan it to a friend, they may later BUY said book.

I hate to say this, but one thing that may help will be to agree on a common format for eBooks (like the MP3). I have multiple readers for all the different versions of books that I have purchased over the years. I don't want to loose them now, but if I could convert them to a "common" format, it would be nice.

With all the hardware options coming out for eBooks it is certainly an interesting time. Look for readers that give you the option to read several formats... AND, is fair-handed with the DRM!

Happy reading!