At BookExpo America, which was held last week, professionals in the book industry agree that e-books will transform the book market.
But, what the publishers wish above all is a distribution standard for these electronic books, so that it can be read on, both on Apple’s iPad, and Amazon’s Kindle, for example.
Apple, like Amazon, wishes to sell THE electronic book reader as well as to offer THE most standard electronic book download platform with the best possible reading comfort.
Today, if you buy an eBook on one of these two platforms, you are obliged to consult it, either in the Apple universe or the Amazon universe.
According to David Shanks, CEO of Penguin Group USA, what users want is freedom. And to get there, you have to agree on a standard that can be used by any platform.
One of the problems is the fear of pirating electronic books. Consequently, it is also necessary to define a common DRM system.
This battle between different formats in new technologies is not new. Everyone remembers the war between the Betamax format and VHS in the 1980s and, in the 2000s, the war between the Blu-Ray format and the HD DVD format, to name just a few.
The annual BookExpo America show showed that traditional paper books still have a good life ahead of them, but in the era of electronic books, publishers do not want to make the same mistake as the music industry when switching from Audio CD to digital format MP3, AAC, etc….
In particular, leaving the opportunity for the user to lend his electronic book to a loved one.
We discuss it on the forum.
[Wired]
