Why haven't all books been made into e-books?

[reality]

I cant understand why all books aren't being scanned and made into e-books? I know google, microsoft and others are saying they are scanning all books but they are only making a couple of pages available because of copyright laws... what is the point in that I ask?

It would be great if we could buy all books as e-books.

 

[ions]

Money.

I prefer real books myself anyway so I'm in no rush for that to happen.

 

[mehastings]

I prefer real books myself anyway so I'm in no rush for that to happen.

Same here, I don't care for eBooks. I'm sure the theory is "why put all this capital into putting everybook into eBook format when many readers don't have the hardware necessary to read them, and many of those that do won't touch them anyway?"

The only thing about eBooks is that I have a friend who reads them exclusively. She is constantly asking for suggestions, and my suggestions aren't often available in eBook format.

 

[MonkeyCatcher]

I also prefer real books to e-books. I love the smell of new pages, and they fit so nicely into your hands. I get extremely uncomfortable when I'm at the computer for large amounts of time, and so e-books really aren't for me.

I know google, microsoft and others are saying they are scanning all books but they are only making a couple of pages available because of copyright laws... what is the point in that I ask?

It's so that a person can get a feel for the writing style of the author before they purchase a book. It helps them to make decisions on weither they would enjoy the book or not.

 

[reality]

I agree that you cant beat the real thing but there are certain books I am not comfortable having around the house for family members, friends etc to see, i.e I suffer from social anxiety and depression and would be embarassed if people saw a book on this subject.

 

[Motokid]

There's the whole copyright infringement, stealing, pirateing issue. I can certainly buy a book, and then just hand it around to all my friends, which in a weird way is stealing/pirating....but the ability to buy an ebook, and then send it/sell it to thousands of people makes the whole thing hard to swallow for me. I'm not sure how I would feel about offering a ebook version of my book. I prefer the idea of somebody having the tangable thing in their hands....and in an unaltered state.

ebooks could allow people to alter artwork, and passages....

 

[KristoCat]

American copyright law is steadily moving more and more to the side of the creator. Powerful people and corporations have been working very hard to extend the period of copyright and to make copyright law even more strict, such as with the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. This makes it expensive to buy the rights to books to make them electronic. Added costs include digitization itself and the implementation of encoding and other protective measures to guard against piracy.

When you look at these costs compared to the limited e-book market, it becomes clear that many books (especially fiction) are just not cost-effective in electronic format. I think that technology needs to evolve to the point where reading an electronic book can be done in the same manner and level of comfort as reading a print book.

 

[abecedarian]

Besides, it's no good trying to snuggle with a child while reading an e-book..Green Eggs and Ham was meant to be held by both the child and the reader. The Little Motorcycle wouldn't be much fun on a mere screen. How many of us would set a pricey gadget in the lap of a preschooler so they can enjoy the "book" for themselves? I'll take an old fashioned printed book any day.

 

[Dan Luna]

I'd much rather have a real book, but e-books are a good way of sharing the older, out of copyright, works that are rare and expensive. I'm currently working on my first submission to Project Gutenberg so other people with the same interests can read it, and hopefully upload some of theirs in turn.

 

[phil_t]

Well .... the fact is that they are being made into ebooks and distributed, just not with the authors permission. There is not enough demand from the public yet for publishers to consider it worth their while to put out electronic copies of books instead of the real thing.

I have seen a slow progression towards that though, for instance ... Roleplaying Game books are towards the expensive end of what you would pay for a book, and as such they are heavily pirated on the internet. The major companies are now starting to do simultaneous pdf releases along with hardcopy releases, as a way of combatting piracy. As we move further into the digital age I would expect to see something similar in the mainstream publishing industry as well. I wouldnt think you would lose 'real' books for a few decades yet, because of the huge attachment people have to them, but I imagine they will become rarer.

Piracy will soon become a problem though. For instance, I have come across a website that offers download of pdf versions of all six Harry Potter books. I didnt download them, in fact i have about two or three copies of each book anyway, but I can see that people would. Give it a few years, and authorised ebooks will probably have become much more popular.

Phil

 

[angerball]

Like a lot of others, I prefer the real thing. Even if all books became available as ebooks, I'd still rather borrow the proper book from the library.

 

[G4G]

Until devices for reading ebooks are perfected, I'm not going to be interested. I'm talking about portable devices. Screens make the eyes much more tired sooner than reading off paper. That needs to be sorted out. I don't know what battery life is like on these devices, but probably not good enough for someone who reads a lot. And picking up a book and opening it and starting to read is a kind of instinct - unlike turning something on and arsing around with menus and so on.