The new novel from Nick Cave is available in the AppStore on iTunes, but this is no ordinary book. “The Death Of Bunny Munro” comes in the form of an enhanced edition eBook with many special features. The iPhone application is an eBook with full text, audio and video clips of Nick Cave reading from the novel.
The iPhone eBook was created by Enhanced Editions, a company made up of designers, film-makers, editors and publishers. This is their first book and according to their website, future work will include two Barack Obama books so it will be really interesting to see the multimedia aspects of those books when they become available.
Features 
So what exactly makes this book so special? Here’s some of the bells and whistles that come in the application.
- Full eBook text
- Unabridged audio book synchronized to the text, read by Nick Cave
- Original soundtrack
- 11 videos of Cave reading from the novel
- Switch between reading, listening or watching without losing your place
- Tilt-to-scroll
- Typography designed and optimized for the iPhone and iPod touch
- Add bookmarks
- Email quotes to friends
- An RSS feed of news related to the book
The audio aspect of the book uses a 3D audio spatial mix, which has been specifically designed for listening on headphones. As you can imagine with all of these features the book has a fairly hefty file size of 900MB.
According to the man himself,
Enhanced Editions have brilliantly entwined reading, listening to and viewing the story. The fact that the reader can choose his or her own experience is interesting because the true meaning of a book lies in the reader’s own interpretation and the circumstances of that interpretation.
You can download the full book application from the iTunes store and it costs $24.99
If you’d like to sample it, there is also a free version of The Death of Bunny Munro is available on the app store. The free version carries exactly the same features as the full version, but is limited just the first three chapters. Bunny Munro Sampler App
Do you think this is the future for books? Would you rather be snuggling up in bed with a paperback or an iphone with full sound and vision?
Jennifer FarleyJennifer Farley is a designer, illustrator and design instructor based in Ireland. She writes about design and illustration on her blog at Laughing Lion Design.
