Sunday, February 3, 2008

That Hybrid Book Idea is Starting to Spread...

Remember this hybrid book idea from last month? Others are speculating about the same thing, most notably New York Times blogger Brad Stone in this post. Now that Amazon's Audible acquisition has been announced, Stone asks these questions:

How about a service that allows you to seamlessly switch from reading a book on your digital device to listening to the same book read aloud as you get in the car, or if your eyes are tired, or if you simply want to hear a crucial scene acted out? And then to switch back to the printed page? How about audiobooks that you can easily transfer between your computer, e-book reader and cell phone? Or e-book downloads that come packaged with a discounted audio track?
He goes on to say that "the real opportunity is to start bringing some excitement and flexibility into the hardback-bound world of book publishing –- and to get people reading again, even if their eyes never land on the printed page." I couldn't agree more. On a related note, I'm tying together some additional thoughts on e-content distribution/consumption on my Publishing 2020 blog, starting with this post.

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