eBooks Again

I just downloaded Palm's eBook reader last night from their Palm Digital Media site and I was looking around at the eBook readers. The RCA eBooks seem to be going away, as there's no new ones on Amazon any more. Though you can buy a refurbished one for $250. That's pretty good since originally they cost over $600... The problem is that the RCA uses a proprietary document format which makes downloading stuff from the internet or using PDFs impossible as far as I can tell. That sucks. Thus it's back to Palm's eBook.

Anyways, as these things come around blogspace, Pascale is thinking that eBooks might be the next technology she hates but then learns to love (like answering machines and cellphones) :

How the Future Sneaks Up on Us... until it becomes indispensible.

...

So, now we come to ebooks. Still don't like 'em, still don't use 'em. I like real books. I like paper.

But I've just read a post by Doug Miller of Erehwon Notebook, and I now know one day I'm going to be saying, "What do you MEAN this isn't available as an ebook??"

I want something better to read eBooks on than my Palm, but since I have one I might as well use it. I personally HATE regular books. I love reading. I love having all the info contained in books accessible to me, but I hate shelves and shelves of books. They drive me nuts. I'm constantly buying and getting rid of books because all they do is take up space and collect dust. Especially old tech books which are useless as hell.

All you bibliophiles with stacks and stacks of books, you're wacky. Books are just 3000 year old forms of storing data. I used to have a friend who wouldn't crack the spine of any book and keep every one, even a $3 throw-away novel he bought at an airport. Insane. I can't wait until I have NO books in my house and several tablet PCs spread here and there wireless connected to my datastore where I have thousands of books, magazines, etc all available on demand.

It'll be possible soon... just not soon enough for me!

-Russ

Later, I bought my first eBook just now from Palm. The Procrastinator's Handbook. Palm has an interesting way to try to stop copying: Your name and credit card number are the unlock code! That'll definitely discourage me from sending around the ebook any time I have a chance!

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