Digital Jane
Sharp-eyed Alert Janeite Laurie wrote to tell us about a BBC article on the future of e-books. She noticed that the second photo in the article, which displays a close-up of a page in an e-reader, reveals that the book being read is Mansfield Park. Laurie wondered if Jane Austen’s novels will be included in the launch of the new Sony e-book reader device and library. We speculate that it is likely, since Jane Austen’s novels are popular and, most importantly, out of copyright, and therefore free to Sony.
However, after the incident recently where consumers listening to their legally-purchased Sony CDs on their computer had spyware installed, without their knowledge, that inserted a backdoor on their system that could have been exploited for nefarious purposes by Internet evildoers, we are extremely suspicious of any system they would provide. Sony will take advantage of lack of copyright on Jane Austen’s books to provide them in their library, though they will protect THEIR properties like Jack Russell terriers. But enough of the editorial. From the article:
But I have to say, PDA novels are not particularly easy to use.
First you will have to download, install and activate some reader software on your mobile device and there are several different makes to choose from (Adobes and Microsofts among them).
And you also have to make sure that the novel you want is available in a format which matches the reader software.
And even when you get all that working, the experience still does not match reading a good book.
Penguin Books’ e-publisher Jeremy Ettinghausen says: “Well, I think one of the major issues is that the book isn’t a bad piece of technology. The book is cheap, durable, you can do lots of things with it. You can make notes on it and, unlike perhaps the vinyl record or even the CD, it’s not a bad piece of kit.”
We like e-books. We have all six of Jane Austen’s major novels on our PDA, Enrico (yes, after Henry Tilney). We have amused/annoyed our fellow Janeites more than once when they ask idly, “What was that quotation from Emma again?” and we whip out Enrico, open the e-book, and use the search feature to find the quotation in question. And the Palm eReader allows one to insert bookmarks and make notes anywhere we like. We buy our e-books from Fictionwise, and try to choose those that come in several formats. We sometimes have a version on our PC and another on the PDA. And we avoid that Microsoft encryption thing like the plague.
That being said, we don’t see e-books replacing the regular paper sort anytime soon, except perhaps for textbooks and other specialty items, especially books that are regularly updated. However, we find the portability of the PDA e-books is just fabulous. We are never without something to read!
March 31st, 2006 at 1:05 am
My professors have started giving us internet links to articles instead of offering a course packet, and honestly I’d prefer the paper. I don’t like reading off the screen and if I’m going to pay for the printing I’d rather do it up front (when I can append it to my textbook bills).
What? Off the topic? Oh, how embarassing, excuse me…
About the only thing that attracts me to electronic versions of books is the search function. Enrico sounds like nearly as much of a dreamboat as his namesake if he can help one go from vaguely remembered quote to solidly phrased argument.
March 31st, 2006 at 9:14 am
on our PDA, Enrico (yes, after Henry Tilney)
Yes, well - my iPod is named “My Mr. Knightley.”
March 31st, 2006 at 9:47 am
My professors have started giving us internet links to articles instead of offering a course packet
Possibly because professors are getting in trouble for copyright infringement for distributing printed materials in course packets. Mostly photocopies of books, but it would extend to copyrighted articles from the Internet.
I remember the great big books that my fellow students majoring in engineering and science used to have to carry around (I was an English major, I had cunning little paperbacks, or nothing at all for my writing classes) and I can’t help but think it would be a lot easier to cart around a CD than those big textbooks–and cheaper to buy! Maybe those new e-book readers will be a real boon for students. For me, the usefulness of e-books is in the portability, so the PDA version is better.
March 31st, 2006 at 2:47 pm
The purist in me absolutely hates the idea of ebooks. But the feel and smell of the paper! The gentle sound of turning pages! And I don’t like reading long tomes onscreen either.
But you have a point with ebooks for students. I was an English minor, but I didn’t always have cunning paperbacks either. For my Shakespeare tragedies class the assigned book was the Riverside Shakespeare! No way was I toting that to class! And for my class on the Romantics we had a similarly backbreaking hardback anthology.
I hope that ebooks and paper books will long exist side-by-side. The more accesible the Austen the better, right?
March 31st, 2006 at 4:08 pm
Oh yeah! I forgot about the Riverside Shakespeare. I still have my copy, 22 years after I took the class.
I don’t carry it around, though. And I don’t curl up in bed with it.
I hope that ebooks and paper books will long exist side-by-side.
Yep. They each have their place and their use. Imagine having, instead of cunning paperbacks, a cunning small, light e-book reader with the Riverside Shakespeare installed? Searchable yet?