Mike Cane is a real books guy. Books are his thing, as he says. He’s got two very good posts up at his iPad Test site offering his thoughts on the iPad’s iBookstore, after getting a recent sneak peek at it, and highlighting some unexpected free titles in the fledgling store.
He’s got lots of good insights and screenshots, covering everything from pricing levels (which he points out may well not reflect what we’ll see when the store opens) to the rather clunky sorting options offered in the Free Books section.
Best of all, he’s got his overall impressions on reading on the iPad. Here’s just a little taster of those:
As I looked around, I got a sense that this is finally the tipping point for books.
I imagined myself using an iPad and looking at these.
So there I was, holding a device that cost between $500-$870. Looking at these books. And you know what I thought? I thought: These are books I can finally buy because this machine I’m holding is something that will be permanent in my life. It doesn’t feel like or look like a disposable thing, like every eInk device. Those will go away. The iPad will not.
That’s some very high praise. For lots more on the iBookstore and some surprising free titles found in it, check out these two posts:
http://ipadtest.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/sneak-peek-the-ipads-ibookstore/
http://ipadtest.wordpress.com/2010/03/29/revealed-the-free-books-in-the-ibooks-tour/