birding-aus

ebooks

To: Clive Nealon <>
Subject: ebooks
From: Jill Dening <>
Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2010 11:47:27 +1000
I don't want to start a thread about the worth of ebooks compared with paper books. I was talking about the possibility being able to take an ebook reference book into the field when it isn't possible to have paper books with me.

So far, responses have indicated that when I DO buy a reader (and it will happen at some stage) the only one for me is the iPad, because I want to view reference books in colour. Now apparently it's a case of waiting until the pertinent books become available as e-books. And by then the market will have different products available.

Jill Dening
Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

26° 51' 41"S  152° 56' 00"E

On 23/12/2010 11:33 AM, Clive Nealon wrote:
That's all true - I can't imagine not having access to all the books I've 
accumulated over time.
However, I have used the Morcombe Guide app downloaded to an iPod touch and 
found it very useful, convenient, and light.
Certainly if I'm travelling overseas in the future I'll be looking for the 
relevant Guides.

(While I have a mobile phone, I still see it as a tool that people can use to 
contact me - I rarely make calls myself.)


Regards, Clive.



-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Russel<>
To: 'Chris Sanderson'<>; 'David 
Adams'<>
Cc: 'birding-aus'<>
Sent: Thu, Dec 23, 2010 4:22 am
Subject: RE: [Birding-Aus] ebooks


I still prefer books, paper ones of course. I have enough to occupy me when
on trips - things like scopes, bins, GPS's etc. I don't even give in to
having a mobile phone ( which tend not to work in the donga anyway). iPads
and eBooks sound horrendous.  I often wonder why people need to have the
latest gadgets.

Tony

-----Original Message-----
From: 
 On Behalf Of Chris Sanderson
Sent: Thursday, 23 December 2010 11:28 AM
To: David Adams
Cc: birding-aus
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] ebooks

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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