De-enhanced eBooks
Ouch. Thorn.
Kristin Nelson of Pub Rants points out a potential issue with “enhanced” eBooks (multimedia sBooks). While reviewing a contract with a film studio, she saw this clause:
Electronically Read Editions: The right to publish the text of published print editions of the Property via the Internet and in the form of CD-ROM, DVD, videocassette tape or similar electronically read devices individually purchased by the end-user. Such electronically read editions may not contain moving visual images (other than the text) or audio tracks of any kind.
So much for enhancement. That pretty much leaves us with using PowerPoint to add special-effected text, and maybe if you’re naughty, that annoying frogman.
I don’t want to get into writing a 250,000 word opinion on this topic because there’s an underlying philosophical issue at hand that I cannot begin to bring clarification to on my own. But I’ll put a teaser out there for you to grasp: by enhancing are we bringing about the demise of the book as we know it?
