Mike and Mike chat a little about a few of the things that they've done over the holidays, and this week it's all about Facebook and ebooks.
Listener Review: Ben in Tampa tells us about his ebook reader: the Nintendo DS handheld game device. The software that makes this possible is open source, and DS Libris is the application that turns the Nintendo DS into a book-like format, and with the R4 flash cartridge, you can put your own content in the device. There is also a commercial Nintendo DS ebook app you can buy that contains 100 classic books, including Shakespeare, Dickens, but it appears to only be available from Amazon UK
Voicemail: Shane from NJ weighs in on why he thinks the ebook reader market won't expand beyond a smallish niche, because of the cost of the devices, or of replacing the broken and abused devices; Gary in Atlanta comments on the drawbacks and limitations on ebooks that influence his possible choices of becoming an ebook consumer; Shane from NJ calls in to say that he's been playing with his new Xmas gift: a Sony ebook reader! He's still not thrilled with the cost of an ebook, but he's warming to the possibilities; Web Genii relates an anecdote about an ebook "failure": the ebook version of the third book in a trilogy... or rather the lack of having the concluding book in a trilogy; Mike Wills of Mike's Hot Dish thanks the guys for having a clean and wholesome show for his kids to listen to in the car.
Submitting Listener comments: If you have any suggestions or comments, please let us know!
Dragon Page Social Community:
Twitter: @dragonpage
Link: Guardian UK: Game Review: 100 Classic Book Collection
Promo: Dragon Page With Class
We recently bought 100 Classic Book Collection for the Nintendo DS for only £15. There's an interesting article about it and the DS as an eBook reader in the Telegraph.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/technologyreviews/videogamereviewsandpreviews/4142077/100-Classic-Book-Collection-review.html
I agree with the reviewer in the show that a flip-book dual screen format is a good way to emulate the feel of a paper book. I'd like to see it used in a dedicated ereader with wider "pages", and better quality displays.
Hello DragonPage,
first congrats to Michael M. about the job, I am very happy for you!
OK, it's ebooks again (this will carry on I suspect hehe).
Ebooks on the DS? Now that's an interesting idea, sounds like a reason to revive my DS which been collecting dust since I pretty much suck at all the games I own 😀
But at those few I was good at, namely the new breed of Adventures where you have to use all the features of the DS to solve puzzles, you often had to read a lot of memos, documents, diaries etc. and this was very nicely done. And easy. And geeky 🙂
Could be worth a try, depending on what is available of course.
I think that Shane and Gary (voicemails) have a valid point there. It might be an individual thing but it's there (for me at least). Not everyone owns a device that's capable of displaying ebooks. I have a Palm, but a small one. Reading on it is possible (lots of free software available) but it's a pain. A. Real. Pain. The display is too small for me to read and with a bigger font I get annoyed if I have to flip pages all the time. Pick up a larger and probably older model on ebay? Then I need to carry around one slow Palm for reading and one fast Palm for the other stuff. Might as well carry a book around with me.
To be blunt, I personally am not prepared to spend a few hundred EURO on an iPhone or iTouch at the moment, as good as they might be. It's simply out of my reach and I have to make due with what I have and I'm sure that applies to a lot of people.
Sure, once I buy one of these gadgets and ebook prices drop, eventually the investment will pay off but it's that first investment that is holding me back.
Alas, the iPhone alone would totally replace my current phone and Palm...sigh
Books are nice, smell of, well, ink and paper and have lots of applications. But I'm also a lazy bastard who loathes carrying a lot of stuff with him. I'd be happy with a single device, very happy. But money is the killer argument against that, in my case.
I do always have my MacBook with me, it's just not very handy for reading books on the train, especially if you're standing LOL
Cheers,
Cryo