The Bookshelf of E-readers

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As Amazon no longer allows people to download e-books I would like to look at the collection of e-book readers that we could use today. We have Kindle, Nook, PocketBook, Kobo, iOS devices, Android devices, Tolino and more. In effect we could fill a book shelf with e-books if we wanted to. That's because almost each ebook seller has their own device.

Amazon wants us to get a Kindle to read their books. Barnes and Nobel want us to get a Nook to read their books. Fnac wants us to get a Tolino device. Ebibliomedia encourages us to get a Pocketbook and others also want us to get their e-book reader. The result is that if you want to shop around to get the cheapest books you need to be ready with a number of e-readers. Instead of a book shelf filled with books you end up with a bookshelf filled with e-book readers instead.

The most versatile platforms are iOS and android. With their apps you can access everything, or almost. In theory DRM protects the rights of content creators but in practice it seems to protect Amazon, Barnes and Nobel, Fnac and other platforms. With some versions of Epub we can switch from one device to another but it is not as simple as it could be.

I bring this up today because although Apple got attention for restricting access to books bought on its platforms, other platforms are doing the same thing. We need a market in which e-books can be moved between all platforms.