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Can’t predict timing or details but that’s where things are headed. And when we’re there ebooks will dominate both revenue and unit sales. Think of the fraction of ALL clock technologies (including clock chips in every digital device) vs jewelry wristwatches.
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The ebook of the future may not even be distinguishable as such. Your top 3 clocks today are: phone, microwave, stove. But it won’t be generic atomized content online either. It will be a designed and published experience.
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For the future, I’m considering doing the following: - Quality ebooks + pricey ($30+) higher-quality print books with carbon priced in somehow - No cheap print. - Experiments with rich books (based on roam+gatsby content garden with paywall perhaps)
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I didn’t even discuss a big topic — affordances: highlights/search/notes vs free-form marginalia. It’s a subjective toss-up but ebook wins hands-down for me. Search and exportable highlights way more important than doodling in margins.
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And fwiw, doodling in margins is getting there. Try LiquidText with PDFs on iPad+pencil. Somebody will figure it out. It’s purely a compute problem. Capturing real-time handwritten annotations on vector files with low-enough latency and non-janky retrieval is just better silicon.
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Oh, and on the buying side, my book consumption is currently: 70% ebooks checked out from library 20% ebooks I buy 10% print and hate it except with larger format comic books and technical (with diagrams) Sold/gave away about half my collection in the last decade
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Of what I have left, I’d say it’s 25% sentiment and aesthetics, 75% special case books not available in ebook or not worth selling/rebuying. Also wife won’t jet me get rid of more. She’s Xennial.
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On writing — 90% on computer, 5% paper notebooks, 5% whiteboard. But stuff that I write on paper/whiteboard (and often photograph for archival) is hard to do even on better iPad-pencil apps like Notability. The UX is there, but file management/backup/review workflows are poor.
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