30.Sep.2009 | Maria Thurrell
Disney puts their bid into the digital game
Yesterday, I responded to a comment on yesterday’s post about the landscape of digital books. In my response, I asked Rick Toone what he sees as the future of children’s books in relationship to the digital revolution. In an act of serendipity, within moments I was alerted via Twitter to Disney’s big announcement.
This morning, The New York Times wrote Disney Tries to Pull the Storybook Ritual Onto the Web:
Disney Publishing plans to introduce a new subscription-based Web site. For $79.95 a year, families can access electronic replicas of hundreds of Disney books, from “Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too” to “Hannah Montana: Crush-tastic!”
As a serious lover of books, I am happy to see Disney exploring new ways to use technology to entice children like my nephews to get off their PSPs and to explore the magic of the written word.
However, converting Disney’s collection to a digital format is certainly not revolutionary. Ebooks aren’t headline news anymore. We’ve already gotten over seeing text on a digital screen and want more. Disney is trying to speak to this by having their collection online and in a format that allows for greater connectivity. Ms. Epps, an analyst for Forrester, points this out in the article:
“The company feels that devices don’t offer a Disney-level experience for kids and families, and I agree with them”
Mike Cane adds additional comments on his blog:
Should children be expected to become interested in low-resolution grayscale imagery in a non-interactive and single-purpose eBook device such as a Sony Reader or a Kindle? What advantages would they offer over print? None for a child. And there’s no way flat ePub can compete with a videogame, a TV, the Internet, or even a full-color printed paper book.
As both Ms. Epps and Mike Cane point out, Disney made a great call by creating this site, rather than just converting text to be read on lifeless devices. In physical format, we’ve seen read-along and the capability on certain toys to be able to touch a special pen to the page and have a voice say the word aloud. Disney is going to be building similar functionalities into the online version of their library — marking a new dimension to the children’s book industry.
However, I’m not sure this site is going to push the envelope when it comes to the digital book industry as a whole. We’ve already seen quite innovative uses of technology to enhance digital books and the reading experience. Making an online version of what is already available in the physical world isn’t enough anymore. We need innovation. We need to find creative uses for technologies we already have and image new ones that don’t yet exist.
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You don’t think it’s revolutionary, or not revolutionary enough?
It’s Disney. They’re now here. That’s revolutionary.
To carp about the digital books in their present state is to ignore an important fact: not everyone has a fire-breathing CPU at home (well, I don’t!). It’s impossible to offer features a developer *knows* will work without a known platform target. That’s what the iTablet will offer.
Everything dynamic and very positively!
Dirnov