Can a Widescreen iPod Jump Start the eBook Revolution?

The Bible, put simply, was revolutionary in more ways than one. Today we are interested in the most mundane of the revolutions: the evolution from scrolls to books. Prior to the Bible scrolls were considered more prestigious than books, after all important edicts were handed down in scroll form, books were for the more common (but still comparatively rare) literate masses. That began to change when the Bible was published 1900 years ago. The book form was particularly suited to the Bible, scrolls did not admit page numbers, chapters were separate scrolls and scrolls were bulkier and more difficult to hide. All of these things were of interest to early readers of The Bible and, some might say predictably, utility trumped prestige.

Since the first century, not a lot has changed but the price. Movable type meant books didn’t have to be hand written by cloistered monks, advances in bindings made books less expensive, paper replaced variety of mediums and further reduced the price. The passing centuries continued the downward trend, stereotype plates, high speed presses, pulp paper, electronic editing all contributed to pushing the price of books down to a point where books are not considered luxury items but something more akin to CD’s. That is, something nice to have but not something to get bent out of shape over if you spill beer all over the thing.

While books are cheap and seen as generally disposable there are costs associated with actual texts. The book owner must set aside space to store the books, the book retailer must hire a staff and floor space to sell said books, libraries can either become huge buildings of stacks or satellite libraries that carry a relatively small number of titles. Finally, every spring one is forced to gather all the unread and wish they hadn’t read tomes of pulp and badge them with .25 cent tags for the yearly garage sale. Of course no one ever buys the books but at least the neighbors can learn you’re a secret fan of really cheesy horror novels.*

The above are minor complaints, books have a great many other limitations. Cross-referencing is a nightmare (look at the citation, find another book read the relevant text but miss the tone). Locating specific text is more a test of memory than of well written indexes and finally the font is fixed in size and in type, the reader is expected to conform to the book instead of the other way around.

All these and more represent reasons why companies are constantly betting that there is an ebook revolution is around the corner. Thus far, the revolution has consisted of a meager smattering of titles and an even more paltry selection of ebook reading devices. Likely, the devices aren’t universally terrible but, as the market indicates, they are certainly not as compelling as the ubiquitous paperback.

The reasons why an ebook revolution hasn’t yet occurred are seemingly manifold. People argue that ebooks are cumbersome to read without and ebook reader (users are forced to rely on their computers) and that the best ebook readers lack the tactile enjoyment that readers get from even the most poorly produced paperbacks. Further, they will argue, with an ebook users are stuck with a single format. Sure, they can change the font size but where is the coffee table book with glossy pictures? What of the manga graphic novel chock full of blood and nudity? These, most would say, are niches no ebook device can hope to fill.

Those are valid complaints but they have more to do with the current way books are being published than the appeal of ebooks. Recall the example of the Bible. One can imagine any number of reasons why scrolls were inherently better than books. With scrolls users were forced to enjoy the heft of the scroll, readers were treated to the well-crafted spindles the scrolls resided upon etc. In the end, the reason that the complaints about ereaders have validity isn’t as much about the inherent superiority of books as it is because ereaders, to this point, are trying to convey the same information as a book in the most book-like manner possible. The situation is a lot like tofu trying to pass itself off as a hamburger. Since hamburgerness is defined as being a hamburger the best tofu can ever hope for (assuming tofu hopes, and it is said to be the most optimistic of curds) is to be so similar that people can’t tell the difference between the real thing and a substitute.

Which is where the fabled wide screen iPod comes in (a product racing with Jesus to see who shows up first). Certainly, Apple won’t be pushing the widescreen iPod as an ebook reader, there is simply no money in the proposition. Apple, however, can’t define the way something is used. A clever enough individual will undoubtedly reformat electronic books to work on the widescreen iPod. If the rumored dimensions are correct the format should be ideal for books, the screen will be optimized for movies and, therefore, more than adequate for displaying pictures. Text isn’t a chore to generate, even the Timex Sinclair could manage the task, so battery life should be ample.

If the only thing that happens is tat text is dumped into a widescreen iPod, electronic books will still sit in the back seat, unexciting and requiring a massively expensive ereader. On the other hand, if publishers slash prices on ebooks making then substantially cheaper than their wood fiber based counterparts, iPod adopters might be enticed to pick up a few titles. If the titles are further enhanced for the iPod, allowing users to print illustrations, search for text and link to references directly to use some imaginary and obvious examples, then the ebook format could go from being an oft-failed business experiment to a vibrant and growing niche. Should that occur one can easily envision a world where content is produced for the iPod without regard for adaptability to the traditional book format.

The concept of 100 GBs of reading stored on a widescreen iPod is tempting. Picking up former paperbacks for 3 bucks instead of 8 is an enticing possibility as is the chance to truly mix media in a on the go format. Will the concept take off, is it even a viable business model? Most will be doubtful and even those who think the concept will gain traction can envision instances where a widescreen iPod just wouldn’t cut it. On the other hand, people surely said the same thing about scrolls.

Classic garage sale joke: : “Hey Chris read any good books lately?” Glances at book box “Oh wait, you haven’t.”