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Thursday, July 10, 2008

As Long as They Don’t Call it “iTomes”

posted by on July 10 at 13:00 PM

David Rothman, who is always very excited about e-books, brings news that the iTunes store might be incorporating e-books into the music and movies. This comes on the heels of multiple news stories reporting that the new 3G iPhone will have an e-reader function. Rothman says that this is “one more reason why publishers would be foolish to be Kindle-centric,” which is absolutely true. Of course, they shouldn’t be iTunes -centric, either.

If all this actually happens, it’s one step closer to what I think will be the real future of the e-book. It’s not going to replace anything, it’s just another distribution system for publishers, and could very well result in more people reading more books.

RSS icon Comments

1

Hey Paul--

Go take a look at the eReader app over at the Apple iTunes Store (you'll need to get the latest version of iTunes to do so). There are also apps "of" books themselves available for free.

Sadly, none of the apps available to download now are useable until Apple releases the 2.0 version of its iPhone/iTouch software tomorrow.

Posted by Boomer in NYC | July 10, 2008 1:14 PM
2

Yes, a number of books are available on iTunes now. You have to look for them in the app store though - they do not show up as an option in the library or store panes.

Posted by Sachi Wilson | July 10, 2008 1:27 PM
3

That's what I want to do. Read a book on a fucking cell phone.

Posted by Mike | July 10, 2008 1:52 PM
4

So long as they're free, sounds like a plan.

Otherwise, nobody I know is even slightly interested, and most of my friends love to read.

Posted by Will in Seattle | July 10, 2008 2:10 PM
5

Been there. Tried that. But I'm sure once it's on the iPhone it will be "revolutionary".

Posted by matthew e | July 10, 2008 3:16 PM
6

ive had the ereader on my iphone since this morning, i have to say its one of the least 'wow' apps i've tried out, but it works better than i thought it would.

Posted by um | July 10, 2008 4:16 PM
7

@3 - Tru dat.

I already have enough trouble trying to read web pages/email on the iPod, let alone a 300-page novel.

Posted by Josh Hemsath | July 10, 2008 4:24 PM
8

Call it the iStrain.

Posted by Greg | July 10, 2008 4:57 PM

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