Where are the smarter ebooks?
I have a Kindle 2 which I love. It is great for straight ahead reading of books with an excellent screen and fantastic range of available titles (especially once I connect to the US store). Physically the Kindle cursor movement and selection is a bit painful, but you don’t need to use it too often.
I love having the built in dictionary, and I find myself trying to find the definitions for words in print before I realise what I am reading. But ebooks could be so much more. The dictionary can only show me definitions for common words in English. I want to be able to click (or really, touch) a characters name in a fiction novel and have a short bio pop up, telling me who that person is and what they’ve done so far in the book.
I want to read Tolkien and touch the name of a battle or a location from the Lord of the Rings and get quick access to the information I need to know, or a map of the location.
Obviously this means a lot of extra work up front for publishers, but there is an opportunity to make the ebook so much better than the print version. There’s your way to justify paying a decent price when there is no printing and transporting to do. Books might well start to come with DVD style extras, with Cliff’s Notes accessible as you read or even come with soundtracks.
I’m sure these are all things that are being worked on already, I’m just impatient. Give me my smart ebooks today, on a Kindle or iPad or Hitchhikers Guide. The device itself is just a convenient carry case.
Is this going to happen, or is it a colossal waste of time? Tweet me @mrpatto with your thoughts.
