Nature India | Indigenus

E-book woes

Makes me sad that digital book reading technology would cost Indians far more than book lovers in the western world. A slew of new technology tools being launched in the west will be priced far more in India, a country whose tech-savvyness and love for books match any western nation. Add to that the higher cost of acquiring a book online.

But first the details, and then a little more crib.

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Among many such devices, Google Inc. is hoping to launch a new online service that will let readers buy electronic versions of books and read them on gadgets — cell phones, laptops and possibly e-book devices. Google Editions will make millions of printed books available online, abiding by all copyright laws.

Google faces competition from Amazon.com Inc.‘s Kindle e-book reader and Sony Corp.’s new Reader Pocket Edition. Kindle weighs less than 300 grams and gets you a book to read within a minute. Sony’s eBook Store includes more than 100,000 books, as well as a million free public-domain books available from Google. The Kindle Store currently has more than 330,000 available titles, according to an Associated Press report.

Indian bibliophiles will have to wait a while to be able to afford these ‘lighter than the lightest paperback’ devices. Or hope that someone kindles a flame here to develop an indigenous e-book reader! The latter sounds more like it, what with a country abounding in world-class software experts. Or maybe, we have an indigenous version already that has escaped my keen eye.

Comments

  1. Rita said:

    There is one more coming from Barnes and Nobles which is supposed to give Kindle a tough competition – Nook. I guess the problem with indigenous e-book would be the proprietary E-Ink/display tech..though one can ask whether the $100 laptop tech. can be adapted for a low-cost E-reader for India.

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