There’s a certain something missing from the e-book, and it’s not just the paper. We tried to add some of the romance back when we disguised the iPod Touch as a Moleskine notebook, but it just didn’t work. The folks at Smell of Books, though, think they have the answer: a spray-can loaded with, that’s right, the smell of books. A quick spritz from the aerosol can and your Kindle, Sony Reader or iPhone will be transformed into a romantic bundle of musty smelling stories.
There’s even a choice of flavors: The default option is New Book Smell, which gives your electronics the tang of a freshly pressed paperback. When thumbing through the classics, you might prefer Classic Musty Scent:
When was the last time an e-book made you sneeze? Probably never. It’s a scientifically proven fact that e-books lack the necessary “character” to trigger a strong physical reaction. Our Classic Musty Scent solves that problem.
Also available are Eau You Have Cats (”It’s just like borrowing a book from grandma’s house), Crunchy Bacon Scent (”a low calorie, low cholesterol alternative for your breakfast reading enjoyment”) and the Scent of Sensibility (”It’s like living in a Jane Austen novel”). Oddly, these are all priced differently, ranging from $5 to $10, although we have a suspicion that this is all a spoof. A link on the product pages takes you to the parent site, Durosport Electronics, where you’ll find some rather odd products, and this news item on legal action from the Author’s Guild against Smell of Books:
While the Authors Guild supports efforts to improve the digital reading experience, we believe this product represents a significant threat to the development of aroma rights, and as such, will adversely impact the rights of our members.
It is important to note that in the digital era, books, and the smell of books, have been decoupled. In the future we expect authors to participate in the development of custom aromas for their books. These olfactory rights constitute a derivative right to be licensed separately. The preservation of these rights is essential as authors explore new markets and distribution channels.
Allowing unauthorized third parties to provide the “scent” for a book substantially changes the underlying work to a degree that infringes upon the author’s copyright, not to mention artistic vision.
Wonderful.
Product page [Small of Books via Neatorama]
Smell of Books™ Under Attack By Authors Guild [DuroSport]
The Demy turns out to be a rather neat little cook’s helper. Think of it as a touchscreen, color Kindle for the kitchen, an e-recipe book. At first glance, it seems a little pointless, but a look at the specs shows that some thought has gone into the design, specifically the way it will be used by the cook.