July 18, 2003
Tablet PC and O'Reilly Network Safari: a perfect match (almost)
A couple years ago when I was working on a book for O'Reilly I was given an account on the Safari Bookshelf service. Safari is an online service that allows you access to a large library of technical books, including it appears the entire O'Reilly library. I really didn't care much for the service. At the time I had a clear preference for paper books and reading at the computer was just not pleasant. I saw the value as a reference, but the price wasn't appealing since I was still buying a lot of paper books.
Technology has advanced since then and display quality has improved quite a bit. My current 20" Apple Cinema Display is vastly more readable then the 19" Sony CRT monitor I was using at the time when I tried Safari. Even more importantly though, I now have a Tablet PC and this finally makes the Safari service a must have if you're a technical user. Reading on the tablet works very well, and allows you to comfortably take your reading away from your desktop system. This was always a big reason I preferred paper books. Sitting at a desk and reading long passages just doesn't feel comfortable, but reclining with a Tablet PC works perfectly well.
Interestingly, the Safari service is also a place I would actually like to see DRM applied. The one big limitation with Safari is that you have to have a network connection to access it. You're given bookshelf space based on the service level you subscribe to. For instance for $14.95 per month you get a 10 slot bookshelf. You can swap the books at any time as long as the book your replacing has been on your shelf for at least 30 days. Basically it's a book rental service and as long as you're the type who accesses lots of books and swaps the books out often it presents a good value. With the Tablet PC it would be very nice to be able to download books in PDF format that could be accessed anywhere. Since you're basically renting the books, it would be perfectly acceptable to require the books be renewed once per month to continue using them. Buying books with DRM is a bad use of DRM because it takes value from the customer, but using DRM to enable an alternative service model that gives value that wouldn't otherwise exist can be a very good thing.
It may seem strange that this presents good value, but you have to consider the particular market this is playing in. Technology books are expensive ($30-$60) and go out of date extremely fast. Very few maintain their value past about two years and will generally be updated in that time (requiring another full price purchase). They're also often big and heavy which makes it impossible to carry a library around with you. In the past I constantly ran into problems where I would own a book on a subject, but that book was not where I needed it to be. The Safari service solves this, as long as you have a network connection. Using DRM and the PDF format would even enable this limitation to be removed without spoiling the basic business model. I've reduced my book spending considerably, but I still spend hundreds of dollars per year on technology books, in the past I actually spent at least $1000 per year (usually much more) on technology books. I now have boxes and boxes of tech books that just aren't worth anything because they're so out of date. Just giving them away is painful considering how much they cost. The Safari service allows you to keep an up to date library, accessible from anywhere there's a network connection without the problem of storage and disposal of paper books. Considering this, the Safari service is an outstanding value. Hopefully the service will be able to offer the same value and eliminate the need for the network connection by leveraging DRM in a good way.
Oh, yeah, just thought of something else. The Safari service will also allow me to get rid of all the other books that I'd been hanging onto, "just in case". Those books are out in the garage right now, there's not much value in that.