E-Reading
My name is Colin, and I own an iPad.
While I am an iPad owner, however, I have not gone wholesale into reading e-books. I have nothing against e-books, but I’m old school. I still prefer the feel of paper, the rustle of pages, that “new book” smell, and that “old book” smell. There are some books that I’ve read on my iPad, and the experience was not a bad one. Indeed, there are many advantages to eBook reading. There are two areas of discomfort, however, that prevent me from giving up on traditional books.
The first is the library. There’s something about books on a shelf. Casting an eye across spines, seeing titles and authors displayed in big shiny letters. The physical, quantitative representation of the author’s labors in terms of pages taking up actual space. Series in matching covers. Yellowed pages of old favorites. Nothing digital can ever replace these things.
The second is, perhaps, more significant. It has to do with permanence. I work in I.T. I know what happens when systems upgrade, when a new version of an Operating System is installed, when a new version of Microsoft Office is deployed. File formats change. Things that used to work no longer work. Documents that used to open need to be converted to the new standard. Remember floppy disk drives? I remember when Dell announced they were no longer shipping PCs with floppy drives. No-one uses them anymore. It’s all flash drives and The Cloud now. What happens to all that precious data on your old 3.5 inch (or, heaven forbid, 5.25 inch) disks? If you haven’t transferred it to the new storage system, that data is lost forever.
Ebooks are a digital format, and they exist under the assumption that those file formats will be around for a long time. Granted, the PDF file format has been going for years (since 1993, according to Wikipedia). But will it still be around in 50 or 100 years? Will my iPad, or the Kindle, or the Nook still be around? And if not, what happens to all those eBooks? Do they get converted to the new format? Or do only those that sell get converted? How many low-selling but otherwise excellent eBooks might be lost forever in some future system conversion?
Paper books have been around for two thousand years. And I’m sure they’ll be around for many years to come. Can we say the same about eBooks? While I see the many benefits of eBooks and e-reading, that’s why I’ll always buy physical books first.
What do you think? Are you sold on e-readers? Do you have your doubts? Let’s talk…!
I have my likes and dislikes. My kindle is perfect for when I travel and being able to buy more books without running out of space in a tiny flat. Some of the books can be a lot cheaper too. But like you I love seeing books on a shelf. I love the smell of new books. And libraries remain to be one of my favourite memories of my childhood. If I really loved a series I’d want it in paperback. Who can forget the excitement of midnight releases and getting that book you’ve been waiting for in your hand? 🙂
There are some children with poor eyesight at my boyfriend’s mum’s school. It’s almost blinded them so glasses can’t really help them. E-readers have been quite beneficial for them because you can change the size of the format which enables them to up the size to one that they are able to see and read. It helps my gran as well whose eyesight is also quite poor, even with glasses.
Those are some good examples of the benefits of e-readers, Robin. As my shelves fill up, I can see the advantage of having some of my less read books in digital format. And for those with vision challenges, being able to change the font size of the book is invaluable. This is why I’m not a total “trash e-readers, paper forever!” kind of person. E-readers have their place, and can make for a pleasurable reading experience. It’s the content, after all, right? But I would hate to see them completely replace traditional books. E-books still seem too ephemeral to me. Will the same e-books still be around in years to come?
I am the exact same way. My ex boyfriend got me a Kindle for Christmas, because he knew I lvoed to read…and I didn’t have the heart to tell him I much prefer real books. But I guess now that he’s an ex it doesn’t matter 🙂
LOL! You can still get some use out of the Kindle I’m sure, Megan. You can download free samples of books to try out before you buy them in paper format. And you might find great deals on books you want to read, and if you really like the book, you can get it in paper format later. Or you can use it as a fancy bookmark for really big paper books… 😉
My heart wishes that e-books would go out of business but my head says differently. I love to read actual, physical books and go into bookshops and browse the shelves but even I have a kindle now (just for when I’m on holiday.) I think bookshops are going to be replaced by sites like Goodreads/ Amazon and in 50 years everything will be digital. The look of e-readers will surely change and the quality (just like DVDs have been replaced by Blu-rays) but I think e-readers are here to stay 🙁
I think the survival of the brick-and-mortar bookshop depends on them changing their business model. Instead of trying to compete directly with Amazon, they need to focus on what they offer that Amazon can’t. You can’t shake hands with an author on Amazon. You can’t sit around a table sharing books over coffee with your writing group on Amazon. You can’t mingle with other readers at a release day event on Amazon. You can’t enjoy live music, or literary readings with artist Q&A on Amazon. Bookshops will (and should) continue to sell books. But it’s these extras, I think, that will keep them valuable and viable in the future, regardless of the e-reader.
You’ve got me scared now Colin that all my books are going to go away. I do love my kindle but still do buy print books too. To me it depends on what they represent. I have some views on where I would like publishing to head but I need to work on it a bit more before sharing (I suspect I shall blog at times).
My kindle failed me just this week because although I thought I had charged it up I hadn’t!!
I do hold out hope that things will all work out–that they’ve thought of this. As I said, PDF has been around for years now, and I don’t think anyone’s going to stop supporting it anytime soon. Even Microsoft has come to terms with the fact that not everyone adopts their latest software, so they are conscientious about making their new stuff as compatible with old stuff as they possibly can. But I think it’s as well to be aware of this risk, and especially if you have obscure books in your collection, to make sure you have them in physical form. 🙂
And yes, you never need to charge up a paper book! 😀
I think it is funny how all the “readers” feel the need to justify their e-readers/ipad, etc. (e.g. I only use it on vacation, it will be useful when I am old). It is as if we all feel like we are cheating on books somehow. I am not a fan of reading onscreen–it gives me a headache, and don’t even get me started on 3D movies–sometimes I will skip a blog post because it is too long and will hurt my head (never here of course :-)). But all that said, I do have some children that I think might actually read a whole book if it was on an e-reader (guess we had better start saving).
I think with many, but not all, readers, there is a certain feeling of guilt–like a betrayal–in admitting we use electronic devices instead of paper. Whether this is because we genuinely feel obligated to traditional books, or we think it’s considered “unseemly” within the reading/writing community to embrace new technology, I’m not sure. And I wonder if writers are more likely to be wedded to traditional books out of a sense of loyalty to bookstores, or a fear that e-readers will somehow negatively impact their careers (which I don’t think is the case)? An interesting thought.
I think you’re right about certain of our kids, though. 🙂
I’ve come to love my Kindle for a few specific circumstances: publishers are much more willing to give out e-galleys than physical ARCs, so I’ve been able to do advance reviews of books I otherwise wouldn’t have gotten; ebooks are sometimes deeply discounted (I follow Kindle Daily Deals, and I frequently see authors tweeting when their books are available for a sale price), which is a great way to pick up titles I’m on the fence about or get virtual copies of books I already own in hard copy; and sometimes, you need a book RIGHT NOW and you aren’t able to get to a bookstore. I would say 85-90% of my Kindle purchases fall into one of those categories. The others are things like the Matched trilogy–the first book was relatively inexpensive when I first got my Kindle, so I tried it out…and then it made me nuts to think of having the other two in hard copy but not the first one, so I bought Reached and Crossed on my Kindle as well. Things like that.
I think all those are good reasons to consider ebooks, Jess. From a writer’s perspective, I think ebooks are another way to get our stories into people’s hands. The immediacy, and the cost saving–both in terms of printing and distribution–are things that should ultimately benefit the reader. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have a soft spot for traditional books (as I’m sure many of us do), and I’m not a little concerned for the future of lesser-known, less popular titles in a digital world.
I’m with you – I like my ‘real’ books and will never give them up. But I do have a kindle too, I just don’t use it that much. 🙂
I think there can be a balance between the two. Everyone will have their preference, but it doesn’t have to be one or the other. It can be both. 🙂
I think some day I’ll get an e-reader. But it will never totally replace real books. I love curling up on a cold winter day by the fire, a real book, a blanket and a hot cup of tea. Or out on the deck on a beautiful day. I love buying cheap paperbacks to take on a beach vacation where I won’t worry about them if they get lost or damaged.
That’s a good point about cheap paperbacks. With an e-reader you can minimize packing space by loading it up with all the books you want to read. But if your e-reader gets lost or damaged, you’re not only out of reading material, but you’re out of pocket in a not insubstantial way.
I am still proud to be the girl who buys real books, not e-books. Like you, I love the smell of books. I love to hold real, living books in my hand, not a lifeless piece of technology. Although I don’t remember a time when I didn’t know what a computer was, or have access to the internet, I hate technology. I am old-fashioned, and to me, books are the real thing. A Kindle would be useful when going on holiday, but I’d be scared to take it to the beach in case it got sand in it. I am very protective about my books, I wouldn’t change them for the world. At this point in time, an e-reader is a step too far for me!
That’s one of the things I like about the iPad–it’s not just an e-reader. I can get email, surf the internet, write, and play Angry Birds on it. I think most e-readers are multi-purpose these days. That makes them a bit more useful. 🙂
To think, I spent the first 20+ years of my life without the internet… and the first 11 without a computer! I know, you must wonder how we survived… it amazes me, sometimes. 🙂
I have the kindle app on my phone and have surprised myself at how much I use it. I’ve always been a ‘I like to hold/sniff a book’ kind of person but there are some times when it’s really useful having them on my phone. I tend to read really quickly and also have a couple on the go at the same time so if I go away anywhere I have to take lots of books with me. It’s a bit like music. I have an ipod that’s great and I use it a lot, but I also still buy cd’s, one doesn’t replace the other.
Also, a fantastic as ebooks are, I find it hard to remember what I’ve read. With a real book I can picture where I was when I read it, how I was feeling, where I sat etc, and often I can flick through a book and tell you what I was eating too 🙂
I think you’re pointing to something that’s at the heart of my concern: how “disposable” ebooks are. In fact, our society seems to be very much “of the moment.” We can download an ebook now, and have no thought to its longevity. Do we care whether it will be there for us next week, next year, in ten years? Like I said, and as you say, ebooks are great and have their place–but they’re no replacement. 🙂
I love my Kindle! I still buy physical books occasionally, but I’m not a “keeper” anyway. Most books I read and pass on, I only keep my absolutely favorites. If I kept them all, I’d run out of house.
Thanks for offering a different perspective, Carol. I suppose it makes sense that if you’re not inclined to collect books that an e-reader would be ideal. I have actually considered using my iPad for books I want to read but don’t care too much about having on the shelf. I’m not sure which books those would be, but that would help save shelf space for the books I *do* want tangible copies of. 🙂
I’m a librarian, so I share your concerns about permanence. But I can’t deny that I love my Kindle, and have fallen in love with reading ebooks on it. I never thought I’d say that, but it’s true. I still love physical books too though, and would hate for them to disappear. I have to hope there is room in the world for both of them.
Just stopping by from A-Z! I hope you are enjoying your weekend. 🙂
Thank you Julie, and thank you for your service to literature! 🙂 I share your hope that when the dust settles, books and ebooks will find a way to co-exist.
Have a great weekend, too–and thanks for stopping by! 😀