iBooks?

Engadget appears to have some inside information on the next generation of iPod's. The word is that they will have an ebook function.

From EcoGeek:

There's already been dicussion about the magnificently increased screen real estate, but so far, we just thought it was for watching movies.

Well, just in case you'd rather read the Homer's Iliad than watch Pitt's Troy, it is very likely that this fancy new iPod will come with eBook functionality, allowing the device to drop into a monochrome, high-contrast, low-power mode. But, must important, Apple's iTunes store will very likely be carrying eBooks with basically the same DRM as the iTunes MP3s.

It sounds like at least one publishing company has already been asked to deliver their entire manuscript collection to Apple for archiving. If this is true, Apple could do to the publishing industry what it did to the music industry, which is to say, reinvigorate it.

Where do I sign?