[Richard T. Eger]

Dear Andrew, Morten, and Ed,

I remain a printed book dinosaur. Even my son, who works for Google, is devoted to printed books, even though he has been connected to the Google books project. To me, it is the feel and longevity of a book, its ability to be quickly thumbed and rapid conclusions reached as to merit, and the photos and illustrations that, somehow to me, just aren't duplicated on a screen. Flipping back and forth - just how does one do that in an eBook which, to be honest, I don't have a reader for anyway?

Now, on the other hand, there is the huge benefit of being able to conduct a word search, something you can't do with a printed copy.

I also am somewhat of a bug on photo reproduction quality. Reproduction quality varies all over the map in printed books, quite frequently dropping far below my standards. I'll look at a book, sigh, say to myself I guess it's passable, but it certainly isn't going to win any prizes.

Are there some other dinosaurs out there who remember the oohs and aahs we used to express for Monogram's books and the really nice photos they had? If you looked, you'd find they were printed in the Far East, which is where the best technology existed and, perhaps, still does.

I recently bought a copy of the USSBS report on Fieseler in Kassel, Germany. I got a .pdf copy on disc for a really cheap price - $5.00 plus $2.50 S&H. Well, I read the report and, while I could read the text, which had marginal definition, the print in some of the tables was really too small to be able to read. The photo reproduction, likely from a microfilm copy, was very bad. The point is, with something supplied electronically, it just may not have the definition you'd want.

This is a community of sharing. If my friend Joe would like to see a copy of the photo on page 20 of your eBook, will it be electronically locked up so that I can't share it with him?

As for eArticles, which is just saying articles in electronic format, there is always the alternative of publishing in a magazine, preferrably one of the higher grade, specifically focused ones.

Then there is the ephemeral aspect of something provided in electronic format. At NARA II, researchers can look at motion pictures on honest to goodness motion picture film or on Sony 1-inch tape. Of course, everyone has a Sony 1" tape player, don't they? Well, NARA II went down that path, only to be stuck with obsolete equipment that is in terrible shape. The tape, itself, isn't in great shape, either. Now, before everyone panics, these are just researcher viewable copies and NARA II does have both the original motion pictures and first generation copies, the latter supplied to contractors to provide copies for the public. The originals and likely the first generation copies are kept refrigerated.

And, of course, we all have our 8-track tape players and RCA laser movie disk players, don't we? Notice the gradual transition from DVD to Blu-Ray. So, that eBook I buy from you guys, uh, will I have something it can play on in 20 years? Will someone be able to repair my ancient gadget? For that matter, will the coating on the disc disintegrate in 20 years and make the disc permanently useless?

Then, there is the printed book. It uses the latest Mark 1 eyeballs to read it. Same as when they whipped out the Gutenberg Bible.

Each to his own.

Regards,
Richard