Digital Books - SanDisk Booklocker
eBook Publisher | 19 February, 2005 10:09
A new device has hit the market that finally might have a chance of making it.
We have reviewed proprietary ebook readers in the past in other articles.
We have not been a supporter of proprietary electronic ebook readers. In fact, we have been downright nasty to the vendors who have tried to make a go of them. Why? Because they are proprietary. They required you to use their proprietary software scheme and they were clear attempts to get a lock on a market with no intention of allowing competitors to play.
That strategy has failed going back to Rocketbook and all the others.
Those devices were entirely proprietary, with the exception of a cable that could connect to your computer to download the ebook.
SanDisk has come up with an interesting twist that may just work. It's the BookLocker.
We haven't tried the Booklocker yet. SanDisk is a maker of flash and RAM memory cards for computers. They have targeted the college textbook market with the Booklocker. This is a massive market, locked up by a handful of publishers and authors.
The college textbook market is the ultimate cabal or cartel. This group of people and companies is so tightly intertwined into their profit grabbing methods that no attempt to break it has been successful.
It MUST be broken. Period.
And it will. The Open Source software movement is moving into education markets with the advent of Moodle and other free elearning platforms. These are but a few examples.
New young professors who have grown up with free Open Source software will oneday eschew locked in publishing deals in lieu of more open use of their works.
The interesting thing with the Booklocker is it's potential. It trails dozens of others who had hardware / software combo with "potential".
SanDisk would do wise to get into the publisher side of the bed, without giving it all up, and keeping their product low cost and available to the masses. This dilemma is the chicken / egg case. SanDisk must get publishers to publish in their Booklocker format. Then they must get students to buy the device. This is a tough group to break into and get traction with. Not enough publishers and you won't get students to buy. Not enough students buying and you won't convince enough publishers to signup.
But we wish them well and hope that SanDisk can manage the process better than their ebook device forefathers!
EP
We have reviewed proprietary ebook readers in the past in other articles.
We have not been a supporter of proprietary electronic ebook readers. In fact, we have been downright nasty to the vendors who have tried to make a go of them. Why? Because they are proprietary. They required you to use their proprietary software scheme and they were clear attempts to get a lock on a market with no intention of allowing competitors to play.
That strategy has failed going back to Rocketbook and all the others.
Those devices were entirely proprietary, with the exception of a cable that could connect to your computer to download the ebook.
SanDisk has come up with an interesting twist that may just work. It's the BookLocker.
We haven't tried the Booklocker yet. SanDisk is a maker of flash and RAM memory cards for computers. They have targeted the college textbook market with the Booklocker. This is a massive market, locked up by a handful of publishers and authors.
The college textbook market is the ultimate cabal or cartel. This group of people and companies is so tightly intertwined into their profit grabbing methods that no attempt to break it has been successful.
It MUST be broken. Period.
And it will. The Open Source software movement is moving into education markets with the advent of Moodle and other free elearning platforms. These are but a few examples.
New young professors who have grown up with free Open Source software will oneday eschew locked in publishing deals in lieu of more open use of their works.
The interesting thing with the Booklocker is it's potential. It trails dozens of others who had hardware / software combo with "potential".
SanDisk would do wise to get into the publisher side of the bed, without giving it all up, and keeping their product low cost and available to the masses. This dilemma is the chicken / egg case. SanDisk must get publishers to publish in their Booklocker format. Then they must get students to buy the device. This is a tough group to break into and get traction with. Not enough publishers and you won't get students to buy. Not enough students buying and you won't convince enough publishers to signup.
But we wish them well and hope that SanDisk can manage the process better than their ebook device forefathers!
EP
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