Nick Hornby writes off eBooks

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 7 Jul 2008 at 10:20

Author Nick Hornby has launched a stinging attack on eBook readers, claiming they are so expensive that even multi-millionaire stars don't want them.

Hornby claims his local bookstore is "piled high" with Iliad eBook readers.

And he claims that despite the low cost of the associated eBooks (£4), interest in the £400 devices remains minimal.

"Attempting to sell people something for £400 that merely enables them to read something that they won't buy at one hundredth of the price seems to me a thankless task," Hornby writes on his blog.

"A member of staff at Borders told me that he attempted to persuade a young and famous comedian to buy an Iliad last week. He seemed interested, until he was told the price, at which point he swore loudly and walked away. So at the moment, they are priced too high for millionaire showbusiness entertainers."

Hornby claims it's not only stars who will turn up their noses at eBook readers, but the public at large, saying they will never have the mass appeal of devices like the iPod.

"eBook readers have a couple of disadvantages, when compared to MP3 players," Hornby writes. "The first is that, when we bought our iPods, we already owned the music to put on it; none of us own eBooks, however. The second is that so far, Apple is uninterested in designing an eBook reader, which means that they don't look very cool."

And with the average Briton only reading seven books a year, Hornby claims we have no practical need for a device that can store hundreds of titles. "The advantages of the Iliad and the [Amazon] Kindle - that you can take vast numbers of books away with you - are of no interest to the average book-buyer," he states.

"While people are so resistant to the act of reading itself, the £400 reader is not going to be the must-have accessory of the near future."