Kindle Oasis?

[Wruter]

Ebooks are actually not books—schools among first to realizing this fact | Digital Book World

If you could reach into that file and pull out something physical I might agree. Those patterns of 1s and 0s, aren't such patterns the basic programming that tells a processor which pixels to light on a screen to form words? Like the 1s and 0s that tell processors to form characters and weapons on a screen to make digital games? Isn't anything that runs on a computer, even one solely dedicated to 'ebooks', software?

TV, movies and music are still encoded onto DVDs and such, just as are computer games, so yes, they're software, too. But a movie shown at a cinema isn't - that's usually on reels of film. Though if they've gone digital that's software, too.

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This article seems very specious to me too.

 

[steelyglint]

Inept inaccurate article. eBooks are not printed books, but they are not at all software. I've been writing software for over 30 years and producing digitally encoded content for over 20.


Sorry, but a computer game is a mix of software, video, animation, text etc.

Digital doesn't mean Software. I can store images, video, or sound in Analogue format or in Digital format on discs, plastic film (film) or magnetic tape. Even photographic film can actually store analogue frames or digitally encoded data.

Laser discs are Analogue.
8mm magnetic tape cartridges (interchangeable) can be analogue video or digital video.
Barcodes are printed on paper. It's simply machine readable text. Rarely ever actual software, though it's possible


Software is NEVER EVER merely content. Software is a stored program for a digital computer.

I've rarely heard or read such un-informed rubbish. DVDs and CDs, cassette tapes can have software stored on them (machine code and data intended to be loaded as programs). Nothing is "software" purely because it's digital. That's nonsense.

Can you take that 'content' from the DVD, CD or cassette and hold it in your hand?

The DVD, CD, flash drive or whatever is not the software. What's on it is. The physical machinery is the hardware, the information manipulated using it is the software. One you can physically touch, the other you can't. The 'books' in Kindles and such, the music and movies on CD and DVD are all data, designed to be manipulated by machinery. Software written to run on hardware.

Some more un-informed rubbish...

software - definition of software in English from the Oxford dictionary

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[Wruter]

*runs screaming*

 

[Foxbat]

Can you take that 'content' from the DVD, CD or cassette and hold it in your hand?

The DVD, CD, flash drive or whatever is not the software. What's on it is. The physical machinery is the hardware, the information manipulated using it is the software. One you can physically touch, the other you can't. The 'books' in Kindles and such, the music and movies on CD and DVD are all data, designed to be manipulated by machinery. Software written to run on hardware.

Some more un-informed rubbish...

software - definition of software in English from the Oxford dictionary

The words contained within a book is simply a communication mechanism with which a writer can convey his/her thoughts to the reader. It is simply data. Tax is irrelevant, medium is irrelevant. Your eyes brain and mind are your own forms of hardware (wetware) and software. We manipulate and interpret the information for ourselves. Can you take each actual word from a page and hold it in your hand? No, because the words are intrinsically linked to their medium - just like an electronic document.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

It's true that the digitally encoded and stored books need a separate book reader and benefit from a different distribution model. They generally (but not always) should be cheaper. A printed book has the analogue encoding and storage combined with the text.

The programs and other operating information used by a computer

A book text is NOT a "program" or "operating information" used by a computer. It's data used by the reader software running on the hardware. The Kindle App, or the firmware in a reader is the software:
Amazon.com Help: Fire & Kindle Software Updates
Firmware is software stored in a non-volatile memory chip (Flash usually today, but used to be EPROM or ROM) to operate a computer. A PC BIOS is firmware. Older devices, before flash was developed, had to have the chips (ICs) physically swapped to change the software (upgrade the firmware).

The software + hardware is equivalent to ink, paper and card before the book is assembled.
The eBook file is equivalent to the layout of the ink to make human readable characters.

The software in an eReader "renders" the eBook file (data not a program) as text for your eyes.

eBooks are NOT printed books. They are quite different. They represent the information encoded by the printing in a book. They are not software either. One of about two correct comments in the article quoted earlier and listed below:

The management of ebooks is quite different to printed book management. There are a number of stupid comments here (Ebooks are actually not books—schools among first to realizing this fact | Digital Book World )

an ebook differs from a book in that it is content only, not content-plus-object, as in the case of a paper book.

No, that's not quite correct as an eBook needs a eReader (Software + Hardware) or an eReader App (software for general use phone, tablet, TV, PC etc)

The next bit is totally deluded and isn't even correct about software! It's got an evil suggestion, in bold about selling. The Cloud idea is bonkers.

Ebooks should be sold the way software is sold
It’s the conundrum that schools are facing today. Ebooks are not books at all—they are software and they should be sold the way software is sold.
Why do some publishers and distributors require schools to pay for a separate version of every ebook they want every child to see? Why can’t the ebooks be distributed in bundles, with user agreements and tiered pricing levels that change based on the number of “seats” served?
Why aren’t more ebooks being served up in cloud-based computers, with password-protected access based on subscription payment models? Why are ebooks still being sold individually, as if their “thingness” was their primary attribute, when they are not, in fact “things” at all?

1) There is no one model as to how software is distributed and sold. Many models are exploitive and unfair, especially per seat licences.
2) Often there is an educational discount on software, but the price can often be per machine or seat or if the student can have a copy on their own laptop it's a discounted per persopn price. The author is ignorant of how software is sold.
3) Cloud isn't a real thing, it's marketing hype for rented services at the end of an internet connection. No Internet, no book. If the server fails, no book. If the publisher fails, no book. It's worse than the mediaeval practice of chaining up books in a library. It's an evil idea for selling ebooks, you never have a copy. ("Pirates" will though!)
4) eBooks ARE a thing, just not the same kind of thing as physical books.
5) It makes NO difference to industrial piracy. A machine can cut the binding off and an industrial scanner can copy all the pages. The "pirate" can cheaply make as many copies as they like. Cloud eBooks or DRM doesn't stop a text being electronically copied.
6) Absolutely each child should own a copy of each eBook. There should be a big discount.
7) No matter HOW eBooks are sold and distributed, really at present only novels are suitable as eBooks in schools. Here's why:

• None of the eReaders (Hardware and Software or Apps on phone/tablet/PC) are much good at organising books or flipping between parts. The bookmarks and annotations are clunky.
• The page size / screen size is too small for many reference works
• Having more than one book open needs multiple eReaders
• Colour isn't going to happen any time soon
• The trial of the Kindle DX by Amazon in selected Universities was a failure because while eReaders are great to linearly read a novel, they are poor to useless for text books, newspapers, magazines, reference works. This is a combination of poor software* (The User Interface and text management), too low resolution and small screens, slow page flipping /search performance and lack of colour.

eReaders are great for people reading eBooks of novels. They are poor for research and learning. They can certainly complement printed books in schools, but till there are 11" folding ones in colour with much better UX (software) they are unsuitable for most educational uses.

eBooks certainly are not printed books. They present new opportunities and challenges. Let's not cripple use by pretending they are software. The way much software is sold is evil. The Cloud is only suitable for temporary collaboration. It's a truly stupid idea for core business functions or exclusive access to information.

The only sensible comment in the article

they shouldn’t have paper books’ pricing and distribution models, either.

Make backup copies of all your eBooks. Install Calibre to manage them.

[* The software in eReader hardware or Apps (Kindle, Kobo) is very very poor. We had better document management systems in 1980s. Only one level of hierarchy (collections or shelves). No library or publisher categories, no sensible level of extracts and management of them and annotations. No use of eBook tags and other meta data. Do they really think that something that can store 2,000 books (or 20,000 on an SD card) can be "managed" like this? Do they only test with 20 to 100 books? Poor search. Kobo only searches titles or inside current books. The actual reader app when you are reading a text isn't bad, but "random access" to flip to middle or 1/4 or leaf through is far worse than needed.]

 

[Ray McCarthy]

The Oasis is on the Amazon store, release on 27th April.

It's actually slightly shorter (0.75" / 20mm) but with the included cover, needed to make it flat and have decent battery life, it's thicker, wider and heavier!

Figures compared here, taken from Amazon's pages:
Kindle Oasis | TechTir

Introducing Kindle Oasis - Amazon Official Site - E-reader

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OQVZDJM/?tag=brite-21

So $170 extra to have a cover and two buttons (20c each), that were on models before the Touch and should never have been removed. It adds about $10 to make a cover with a built in battery. An official Kobo H2O Aura HD "sleep cover" is about $15. So the Oasis with cover included is overpriced by over $120, probably $140 overpriced.

 

[anivid]

My Kindle 4 weighs 191 gram, without cover that is.
I think that's far too heavy for transporting on a little afternoon café outing.
The Oasis is noted for 131 gram without cover - that might be an amelioration, but not much
- with it's congenital cover it weighs 238 gram according to this table.
My (app. 4 year old) Kindle 4 has physical buttons for next page too.
I think I better hold on to my antiquity

 

[pambaddeley]

The Oasis is on the Amazon store, release on 27th April.

It's actually slightly shorter (0.75" / 20mm) but with the included cover, needed to make it flat and have decent battery life, it's thicker, wider and heavier!

Figures compared here, taken from Amazon's pages:
Kindle Oasis | TechTir

Introducing Kindle Oasis - Amazon Official Site - E-reader

Kindle Paperwhite e-reader – Amazon’s Official Site – Learn More

So $170 extra to have a cover and two buttons (20c each), that were on models before the Touch and should never have been removed. It adds about $10 to make a cover with a built in battery. An official Kobo H2O Aura HD "sleep cover" is about $15. So the Oasis with cover included is overpriced by over $120, probably $140 overpriced.

This is why I said I can't imagine who is going to buy one - in the UK the 'cheaper' wi-fi model is £269.99. And I'm not sure about the chunky right side idea either.

 

[pambaddeley]

My Kindle 4 weighs 191 gram, without cover that is.
I think that's far too heavy for transporting on a little afternoon café outing.
The Oasis is noted for 131 gram without cover - that might be an amelioration, but not much
- with it's congenital cover it weighs 238 gram according to this table.
My (app. 4 year old) Kindle 4 has physical buttons for next page too.
I think I better hold on to my antiquity

I'm happily sticking to my 2nd hand Keyboard for this reason

 

[anivid]

I'm happily sticking to my 2nd hand Keyboard for this reason

Hope it's a little more modern than your avatar

 

[pambaddeley]

Hope it's a little more modern than your avatar

Just a tad! The KK has nice physical buttons on either side for forward and back so although it's heavier than the Paperwhite and other recent Kindles, I'm happy with it.

 

[anivid]

Just a tad! The KK has nice physical buttons on either side for forward and back so although it's heavier than the Paperwhite and other recent Kindles, I'm happy with it.

Ha - same model as mine, if it has to be Kindle I think it to be the best model - besides it has delicious parchment coloured background for the text