Volokh on eLawtric Books: Post No. 1.

As I noted in an earlier post, Professor Volokh’s (“PV”) has done a nice series on e-Books (we’ll just refer to it as “Volokh on eBooks”) in anticipation of an introduction he’s writing for the Michigan Law Review. In his first post on the subject, he had this to say:

Electronic distribution will reduce cost, increase choice, and increase convenience. And in the process it will not only facilitate access to existing material, but will also promote the production of more material.

I’ve been thinking about this quote for some time. He’s not the first to say this in connection with electronic books, or more correctly, e-readers. But with every person who mentions something like this (at least in the context of law), I’m trying to figure out what happened to things like Folio, LawDesk (still use it!), Westlaw, Lexis, CEB Online, Hein Online, and on, and on, and the host of other publishers who provide content electronically and have been doing so for decades. We are not a profession that has been without electronic books.  [Aside: I remember getting Butterworth's Court Charge Reporter on CD-ROM for the first time, pulled it up on my Gateway desktop with the massive 14" CRT, and thought I was in heaven.] So, I’m curious as to why now, all of a sudden, we’re talking about electronic distribution, cost reduction, and increased choice and convenience as if it’s a new thing. It isn’t. The only thing that has changed is how quickly and differently you can get things on the Tubes. And that has nothing to do with e-Readers. Computers were the first great equalizer for publishing (my company is a terrific example, and do you remember the catchphrase “desktop publishing”?), and the web has been the next. But e-Readers are simply a by-product of what you’ve had access to for years, just untethered from the Tubes, sort of. The biggest difference, of course, is the fact the law books are less useful on that $300 piece of hardware you’re now holding in your hand. And that’s because they are metadata rich (really rich), and e-Readers are terrifically awful at giving you access to it. In fact, e-Readers are outright stupid. No, e-Readers will not reduce cost, increase choice, or increase convenience. But the web will, and connected, smart devices will play a roll in how you access that data. In my following posts to PV’s series, I will tell you why.

I do agree with PV on one thing: e-Reader is an awkward name. Honestly, e-Book is just as awkward. But I think we’re stuck with them until someone comes up with a better moniker.

[Image  gunthert]