Audiobook players

[Doug]

On 03/01/2011 12:48 AM, drew einhorn wrote:
> I would like a pair of them that play nice with each other.  I'd like 
> to be able to listen on any device supported by ubuntu or android. 
>  Then easily create a placemark, and resume listening at the same 
> place on any other supported device.  The abilities to easily 
> reposition a placemark, name place marks, save place marks, and 
> restore placemarks would be icing on the cake.
>
> -- 
> Drew Einhorn
>
> "You can see a lot by just looking."
>   --  Yogi Berra


(I suppose this is really off-topic for a computer software mailing list 
such as this, but I am going to go ahead
with the following comments anyway.)

An interesting idea, but it sort of flies in the face of the purpose of 
the Kindle, the Nook, et al.  These devices
are designed to be portable, and it is expected that one would carry it 
with him, so as to be able to pick
it up and read on in their text whenever they have the opportunity.  So 
why would you need two of them?
I don't know if the present versions have provisions for place-marking, 
but that could be easily implemented,
if they don't.  I believe that all the present units have the capability 
of downloading books directly from the
Internet, so it is less important that they be interoperable with a PC, 
altho it would be handy for researchers
to be able to copy bits of text for reference, and perhaps for inclusion 
as referenced material in papers
prepared for educational or scientific publication.

It could probably be argued that any capability for copying from an 
ebook device would lead to unauthorized
duplication and dissemination--i.e., piracy.  On the other hand, it 
could be argued that the purchaser of an
ebook should have the capability of copying the file to some sort of 
permanent storage, so the text could be
stored like a real book, and reread at some later time, perhaps by some 
other person who would normally have
access, such as a family member or a student.

--doug

-- 
Blessed are the peacemakers...for they shall be shot at from both sides. --A. M. Greeley