birding-aus

ebooks

To: David Adams <>
Subject: ebooks
From: Chris Sanderson <>
Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2010 10:58:00 +1000
Jill,

I think using an iPad (or similar, I'm sure another company must be working
on something by now) will be better for things like field guides than an
eReader.  The big issue you have with thinks like Kindles for field guides
is they can't do colour.  So while they are much better than iPads for
reading books (non-active screen so they don't tire your eyes out), that
isn't such a huge problem for field guides.  You can already get quite a few
field guides for iPad/iPhone in the USA, and a few in other countries
(obviously including a bird guide in Aus now), so I think while the uptake
is currently slow, it will happen eventually.  Will be interesting to see
how long it takes CSIRO as our biggest publisher of field guides to pick up
on the technology.

Regards,
Chris

On Thu, Dec 23, 2010 at 10:44 AM, David Adams <> wrote:

> > I have armloads of
> > reference books that I can't take with me when we go away in our
> campervan,
> > because there just isn't room.
>
> Familiar problem, made even worse then air travel is involved ;-)
>
> I'm not sure about e-readers, but more and more field guides are
> becoming available for smartphone operating systems, particularly iOS
> (Apple) and Android (Google.) Morcombe is available for Australia on
> iOS (worth it for the calls alone), there are two excellent guides for
> North America, some for Europe, and the SASOL guide for South Africa
> was announced yesterday.
>
> Static e-readers might be of some use for field guides, to be sure.
> After using a dedicated field guide app, I'd say apps have a lot more
> to offer:
>
> * Integrated sounds, links, photos, and the like.
> * Searching by more than word or phrase.
>
> I find the apps good enough that I've been guying electronic version
> of books I already own for more than I paid for the books in the first
> place. I honestly wish I could get everything in this format. I'd
> still carry paper, but a lot less.
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