[KentD]

The iPhone screen is big enough to read, but paging is annoying. The reader should smooth scroll with a speed control on the side where your finger could control it.
Also, DRM is evil, but writers need to eat, and much of the public is not honorable enough to pay for the content.

[jpmhughes]

Andrew said:

that M.C. Escher poster of the bearded guy holding a mirrored ball

Hi Andy,
Actually I think most college students are staring at his crazy cool 3D stairs, no?

Anywho, what was I saying?
Oh yeah, I'll just re-read it later on my iPod touch and post a relevant comment...
Jim

[rogerjth]

Just a bit more info about the eReader experience exemplified by the Kindle. First of all, I sense that very few (if any) folks here own or have had access to a Kindle (it is not exactly sitting on Best Buy shelves, nor has it been commented upon very often, so it remains at best a rather mysterious contraption...) I do not wish to appear to be an Amazon Fanboi, even though I do an enormous amount of all kinds of shopping from that site in any case (living in a rural, remote area!). So, I finally broke down and purchased a Kindle for my spouse: we both estimated that many of the books she reads - assorted novels - just are not fit to crowd out precious shelf space in our home. So, Kindle limitations - dark graphics for one - do not apply here. Mr Jeff Bezos wanted to focus upon facilitating the reading experience; so the Kindle is simply NOT meant to be a PDA cum tablet computer cum phone, etc... He also wanted easy book purchase and storage format (got it for sure!) and, most importantly, great battery life (got it also!) since reading and putting down a book is something we all do rather casually: so, no color graphics, no backlight (great actual readability though). A very ad hoc machine for specific reading needs and habits. First generation machine of course: but reading on an iPhone...Come on, that's pushing enthusiasm for the iPhone a bit too far (actually, it laughable!); I own an iPhone and have it already loaded with many, many aps: I find it to be the most wonderful portable computer ever made so far (that's what I bought it for, not really for its phone capability: there ARE much better phones otherwise, as we know!)
YES, Apple coulda/shoulda enter the ebook reader market.... But has not yet even talked about it. I like rgetter wishlist above regarding a "real ebook appliance" though. But, mind you (and this also applies to those electric "cars of the future" going 40 iles on one charge!) I have become extremely appreciative of the Kindle extremely long charge holding characteristic.
- Roger T

[dibble9012]

I would love this functionality in my iPhone, specifically textbooks. The iphone is not too small for an ebook reader, imagine having all your textbooks in your pocket! I would want a rent option though, because with the electronic version, you could not sell the book after you have used it.
Also it would be nice if the books could be opened on the computer, so if a larger screen is needed it is available.
Hopefully Zinio will come out with an application for the iphone, but I'm not holding my breath, they take forever to release updates.

[zensunni]

Perhaps if Apple made a specific device book book reading, they'd make a winner. But using the iPhone? No way. Backlit screen? Constant power to read? No way. Electronic paper is a must for eyestrain and battery life.

[NanoFrog]

DRM. No way. APP store, to much control given to Apple. I would never have a DRM file on my computer. Also the idea that iPhone apps can only be purchased from the Apple App Store is vulgar, monopolistic and entirely to greedy of Apple. Why would I want to ever support such a narrow, controlling, greed-motivated vision? While Steve Jobs has been innovative, he has some creeping and creepy control disease that has suddenly created a much less open and free user experience than even Microsoft ever dreamed of. I think Jobs is becoming slightly insane.

[dwdmguy]

Or, you could just go on eBay and buy a used Newton for $75.........

[smib]

I want to start by saying that I am somewhat anti-Apple and very anti-iTunes(stumbled on this article via google news).
With that out of the way, I absolutely agree that Apple should make an e-book reader. While their products aren't always the best looking IMO, they are always stylish and modern, and the Kindle is neither of these. I have a Kindle and love it, it functions exactly as I want it to with the key part being the screen. I know a lot of people sat that reading books on a small backlit screen is fine when you get used to it, but that's not what I or most avid readers really want. The e-ink display is super easy on the eyes and the size is about perfect as well, though a bit bigger would be nice. I don't want it to be a MID with an e-reader function. Although the Kindle can (sort of) browse the internet, cell phones, I think, handle mobile internet well enough for most people,and anyone who really wants to be able to use the internet for extended periods of time while out and about should just get a netbook or UMPC or something. If you start adding in all that functionality, particularly a normal backlit screen and multi-touch, battery life will suffer a major blow. The Kindle can go for weeks without charging, and because of it's microSD expansion it can hold plenty of books to fill that time.
As far as using open and free formats, I'm on the fence. I like for all things to be that way, but in the end if you want publishers to give their support, DRM is pretty much a must. If iTunes added a section for e-books and they added in a mobile book store like what's on the Kindle, Apple could make buying books easy for all and more attractive for those who don't read much. I never read at all, but once I bought the Kindle for my girlfriend, I started using pretty often because it makes finding interesting books and picking up whichever one I feel like reading at the time incredibly easy. I'll most likely be buying one of the new versions for myself when they come out. Apple has the ability to have this effect on millions of people, which would be nothing but good for the population in general(I've always said, hypocritically, that people don't read enough).
So while I personally probably couldn't bring myself to buy it, I really think it would be a good thing for Apple to make an e-book reader. It would look good, be built well, bring lots of new people to read on a regular basis, (the anti-Apple stuff is coming in now) allow Apple to cripple another potentially great device, bring even more traffic to that horrible iTunes, and allow fanboys to say that Apple invented the e-book reader.

[macreader]

I just started to play around with Stanza on my iPhone and it's not too bad. I know there are other readers, too. Anyway, I'm finding the iPhone to be a more capable device for ebooks than I expected. Project Gutenberg is a treasure trove.

[canicula]

Londoner said:

Handy e-book readers are coming fast now. Beside Amazon's Kindle there is also Sony's Reader (http://www.sony.co.uk/hub/reader-ebook), which looks a lot better than the Amazon variant - in fact, it almost looks as something Apple could have designed a couple of years ago.

Agreed. I've been using a Sony Reader since June 2007 (first a PRS-500 then a PRS-505) and Sony have really nailed the form factor with the 505 for reading fiction. It's useless for A4 PDFs, but as a replacement for paperback or hardback fiction I think it's perfect. The battery lasts for weeks. It mounts as a USB drive on the Mac so you can drag content on. You can get books from lots of free online archives and commercial ones from Fictionwise and the Sony ebook store. The later needs a Windows app to work you can run that in a VM. The recent update to allow it to use the new Adobe eBook format, and the fact that the UK launch will use this format, should mean much more current content in the future. I'd replace mine immediately if I had to.

Ian Robinson
Belfast - UK

[WarrenS]

An iPhone app. So, go make one, one that works, if you cant, hire someone who can. Steve cant do it all.
wsh

[Inkling]

Apple needs to do this much better than Amazon. I'd suggest:
1. Don't just do etexts as books to be sold. Do them like podcasts as something to be subscribed to, free or paid. Briefer, time-sensitive documents make more sense for reading on the go than books.
2. Treat etexts like music in iTunes. Once downloaded, allow users to have the same text on their iPhone, MacBook, and iMac. Synchronize book marks, so the place I left off on my iPhone becomes the place I pick up on my iMac. And do this locally, over the local network, WiFi or maybe Bluetooth not the buggy MobileMe.
3. Provide a good scheme to manage reading. Professionals have to read to keep up in their field. With printed text, we create stacks--read from this stack, put it into that stack. Any Apple ebook system needs to let us efficiently track what we've read and what we still need to read. Read lists like smart folders would help. And track where we stop, so we can pick up where we were later.
4. Circumstances often don't permit reading. Give us text-to-speech, so an iPhone can read text to us. And sync things so when we take up text-to-speech it picks up where we left off reading and vice-versa. We spend a lot of time driving or exercising where reading is impossible.
--Michael W. Perry, Untangling Tolkien

[KentD]

I fear DRM is a necesary evil. We don't ive in a mythical "socialist utopia", where creative people are supported, and we can all enjoy their work for free. Most people who download music through BitTorrent would not steal a bag
of peanuts off the shelf in the "real world", but ethics seem to get lost
in cyberspace. On the other hand, some content is restricted to the point that it is not available unless you have the right hardware. Apple does it with their ACC files, and there is a lot of content out there that requires Windows Media Player 10.

I would love to see an open DRM standard.

[trip1ex]

Apple could do a great book reader. But the iPhone isn't a book reader. It might do in a pinch, but the Kindle has the one thing you need in a book reader. The electronic-paper display.

I would love to have a second monitor be an electronic-paper display for reading purposes. Or if it was possible it would be great to have a 2-in-1 display.