“Last December, I wrote about an ebook killer app waiting to be built, and that I wanted for Christmas. I didn’t get it,” Chunka Mui blogs for Forbes. “But, with Apple’s introduction of iTunes Match, there’s a glimmer of hope that Apple (or Amazon or Google) could build my hoped-for app.”
“The app I want is an ebook system that lets me read every book in the rich way the web has taught me to love and expect: with multimedia, hyperlinks, and the ability to cross-reference and annotate,” Mui writes. “By ‘every book,’ I mean every book, not just the new acquisitions I’m making for my Kindle or iPad. The problem is the hundreds of books in print form that I already own and that have been relegated to second-class status. Any app that brings my old books across the chasm into the digital world would indeed be a killer app.”
“Apple’s iTunes Match has offered a model for how my desired ebook app might work. For $24.99 a year, Apple will give me iCloud access to songs in my existing digital music library, irrespective of whether I bought them on iTunes,” Mui writes. “That’s worthwhile for me, because I’ve ripped hundreds of my pre-iTunes CDs into my computer library over the years. It’s worthwhile for music labels, too, because they will share in the revenue with Apple and essentially get paid again for music that there’s no chance of me ever buying again.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “GetMeOnTop” for the heads up.]
You know what I think would be way cooler than iTunes Match or “iBooks Match?” Some service which allows us to scan our DVDs once we insert them into our computer’s optical drive. Then, we’re credited with those movies on iTunes, and can stream them to our Apple TV, etc.
Or you can just rip them. But yeah.
I’d love to have time to read a book once in a while. I guess I need to make time. Just feels so busy these days. Any non-work time is time spent exercising, cleaning or sleeping. What’s a TV again?
Ditto. But I still make time to catch my Phillies and bang the little lady.
I’ve wanted for some time now to re-read “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley. Screw “1984” – this guy was waaay closer to the truth.
But you are reading 1984 NOW. reading it when it was written is another experience maybe?
Oh yeah…. Please add me to the list.
Exercising, laudering, babysitting, sleeping.
Yeah. You remind me that I had a life once…
iTunes Match for books….brilliant!
Here’s hoping Apple works out a way to do it!
iBooks Match? Bit of a head-scratcher. Where audio/video files are concerned, you (or rather, your computer) can rip optical discs, download pirated files, buy from iTunes etc. quite effortlessly and fast. But I don’t know of any easy way to “rip” books (digitally, not physically) or download pirated copies of books in the iBooks format. And I’m not sure Apple would want to match digital books you purchased from, say, Amazon, or even if the file format is the same. So what would iBooks Match do? How would you get digital copies of books into your archives in the first place if you don’t know how to or are not technically able to convert them to digital format?
Think Different. You could scan the UPC code. I know, what’s to prevent you from borrowing your buddy’s book and scanning his UPC code? Nothing, but at least in this scenario the publishers get a piece of the $24.99 pie (every single year that you leave it on icloud). Currently publishers get a hand full of nuthin’ when your friend loans you a book to read or you check out a book from the library.
In fact, what’s to stop you from going to Barnes & Noble and scanning every book on the shelf.
Brilliant idea! I’ll be right back….in about 3 years.
The problem with iBooks is, of course, Amazon’s bookstore is awesome… and.. personally, I love my Kindle… how can reading on backlit screen be a pleasureable experience??
I have iBooks and the Kindle app on my iPad, but I confess that I don’t use it as a book reader much. I mostly read magazines and other periodicals that are disposable. It doesn’t really matter if Amazon’s store is great, though, as long as you can get books on any device.
How bout when u wanna read in the dark? Not very pleasurable experience reading a kindle in the dark. Those little book lights are lame……I love reading books on the iPad.
This is how Cisco Systems won the router war – offer to buy out EVERY piece of network equipment in a company at any cost to turn the company into a Cisco house. Apple is doing the same with music and it makes sense with books, apps or even movies/TV shows.
Hmmm….interesting analogy.
The problem is there are many thousands of print books out there that have never been digitised, and often those that have been are very badly done, using OCR software on quick crappy scans and not bothering to proofread the resulting pages. It’s rendered books I’ve actually paid for virtually unreadable. I have dozens of books that are unavailable as ebooks, most by very well known authors. Heaven knows when any of them will get into the digital domain.
If “iBooks Match” could let be download the e-version of a physical book that I currently own… Now, THAT would really be something! 🙂
yep