eBooks are probably the most underperforming of all the internet related inventions. When the ‘eBook’ concept was launched a mere 5-6 years back, we all expected a lot of miracles with this technology. I was one of the earlier users of http://www.eBooks.org and really looked forward to a time when I could go online and buy a pdf version of any book I wanted. But even after the technology is out for a reasonable time now, there are still no quality books out there in pdf format, except those cheap fiction and $ 2 ‘get rich quick’ books mainly promoting online scams.

The way internet has changed music and video is phenomenal. Look at Apple who has altogether shifted the way we used to buy and listen to music. It has now become instantly downloadable, easily portable and relatively affordable.  The same is true with video, Youtube has  transformed everything in a short period of time.

Then why not books when the biggest commodity on internet is still the written word or the content. Like the demise of VHS tapes & audio tapes, ‘when will we see the end of printed books and why this has not taken off like other internet applications’ is an important question. However the answer might not be very simple. Despite that books offer less interactivity and internet has found more interactive ways of sharing knowledge & ideas like Wikipedia and internet blogs, printed books are still the largest source of knowledge and many of us still love to read them. I wish to see exciting developments on projects like Google Book Search and whether there is any significant development in this area with Web 2.0 and other emerging technologies.

ÂÂ