The Beginning of the End for the Book in Off Topic

ID:44961
 
Jul 5 2008, 8:44 pm
Keywords: books
Since I was a wee tot, the received knowledge about electronic books is that they would never work and the rather startlingly functional traditional paper-based book would always be King.

However, while I think the Kindle is butt-ugly and I can't imagine getting one until at least 2.0, casual reviews like this and the experience of a friend with the thing, and my own experience reading blog posts and websites on my iPhone, have me believing we are seeing the beginning of the end for the book. Now, I doubt it will ever totally go away, as paper books are just too darned useful.

But in the same way I will never again buy a game in a box if I can avoid it, I think downloading books to a device is going to become the norm eventually, and I wouldn't have thought so just a few years ago.

In addition to the conveniences of buying any book you want any time you want, and not having to lug a bag of books on vacation, I once read an intriguing argument that those fervently favoring the "traditional" book were actually ignoring the fact that the book as we know it today is a very modern technological development.

Books have actually gone through many stages of development over the centuries, and the oh-so-convenient pocket paperback only came about in the last 50 years or so.

So books moving to digital devices would actually be just another expected step on the ladder of progress that has been occurring since Gutenberg had a bright idea...
#1 Jul 5 2008, 10:00 pm
I enjoy reading books on my laptop/phone, though there are several people I know that simply cannot stand reading any lengthy amount of text on a screen.
#2 Jul 6 2008, 1:36 am
One of those people would be me.
#3 Jul 6 2008, 6:12 am
I greatly prefer paper books, but considering that gutenberg.org makes more and more classic books available for free, I'm willing to do some e-reading once in a while. I already do it with blogs, anyway.

It's interesting that the Kindle costs about the same as an Asus Eee. The Kindle's display is supposed to be very paper-like (though some people have complained about the lack of contrast), but on the other hand, the Eee is a full-fledged computer. I'm probably not getting either until the price drops, though.
#4 Jul 6 2008, 6:47 am
Murrawhip wrote:
I enjoy reading books on my laptop/phone, though there are several people I know that simply cannot stand reading any lengthy amount of text on a screen.

I'm the opposite. I can't stand reading any lenghty amount of text off a screen. :P
#5 Jul 6 2008, 7:55 am
I'd prefer a book. Sorry.
#6 Jul 6 2008, 12:34 pm
Pfft. You guys can stay with your books. I'll stick with my stone tablets, thanks.
#7 Jul 6 2008, 12:35 pm
I look forward to a day when School textbooks are replaced with these, although I'll probably be free by then.

As comforting a bookshelf full of books is, the extra space would be nice, not to mention all the paper we could save (it's not like people often recycle books)

Also, it'll be interesting to see which libraries embrace or fight the electronic book. I know my local library has been offering free ebook versions of their most popular titles for a while now.

Only thing I'm worried about is if they follow the path of music of videos, which would hurt their marketability to large publishers.
#8 Jul 6 2008, 1:34 pm (Edited on Jul 6 2008, 1:41 pm)
Generally speaking, I try to buy games in boxes if I can, simply because:

1) I own the product (the CD) and can make a back-up of it. I'm not required to jump through ridiculous proof-of-identity if I ever lose my copy, since I'll still have my back-up. Many direct-download services give you only one download, and if you lose that copy you're required to reauthenticate to download another. After several years, you may not even remember the password to your account.

2) There's less DRM to worry about, and you can often find them for cheaper than the direct-download service, which usually charges retail price exactly. The only deals on the internet (like on TotalGaming) typically require you to buy in bulk.

3) It's just comforting having a physical object I can point to and say, "Yes, I really do own this!"


My opinion on the Kindle (first I've heard of it, actually!) is that I'm surprised it's taken so long before it came out there. I figured we'd have hit electronic-books-as-mainstream back in the PDA craze of the early part of this decade, and that expectation turned out to be completely false.
#9 Jul 6 2008, 1:42 pm
SpikeNeedle wrote:
Pfft. You guys can stay with your books. I'll stick with my stone tablets, thanks.

You must sell me your technology secrets.
#10 Jul 6 2008, 1:45 pm
I like owning physical things, and have many many books and games, but the tipping point for me with games was having to find ancient CDs, locate the serial #, and then keep the damn thing in the drive any time I want to play.

After experiencing the joys of Gametap -- single click install, no device in drive -- I was a convert.

As for books, come to think of it I'm already doing the digital thing, with audiobooks. Now if an unabridged audio book is available, I usually prefer that to a hardcopy book.

The exception is classics/books I really enjoy that I both just want to "have around" and want to be able to refer to, and books that simply aren't available in audiobook form.

On my recent plane flights to/from Ohio, I had a DS and many games available, and podcasts, and yet I spent the time both ways reading old-fashioned books. But still, I think it won't be long before I might be holding ancestor-of-Kindle in that situation instead...
#11 Jul 6 2008, 1:46 pm
3) It's just comforting having a physical object I can point to and say, "Yes, I really do own this!"

It's also nice that a physical object can be given as a gift. Books, records and CDs, VHS tapes and DVDs, and console cartridges and discs are great to give and receive. I'm not crazy about gift cards, because they don't demonstrate that I actually thought about what to get; and if gift-giving boils down to swapping gift cards, that just seems kinda lame to me. Not that I'd ever turn down a gift card!

Not many people realize this nowadays, but cartons of cigarettes used to be a pretty common present. I agree, to a point, with Deadron's thesis that things are generally getting better and better... but obviously there is much of value that we could learn from an age when people gave each other cartons of cigarettes for Christmas.