I came across this article E-book ‘will not threaten paperback’ today.
But Stephen Bury, head of European and American collections at the British Library, said the book lover and pleasure reader would not give up the traditional paper book for an electronic gadget.
I paused to consider. Are there other electronic devices that have mostly taken over their non-electronic counterparts? Are there ones that haven’t?
When I headed off to college, I wrote letters with real pen and paper! Do I still stay in touch with far off friends? Yes, but I can’t think of the last letter I wrote. Probably to my now deceased grandmother, who didn’t have e-mail.
Do I think e-Books will replace “real” books? My first guess is that while it may take longer to see the shift, yes, they will. Perhaps not in their current “proprietary” forms, perhaps we will see a few generations of devices first. Readers will have to be able to display illustrations and other more advanced features first.
But I tell you, watch for the eBooks section in your library! Wait a minute! They are already out there! For instance the Michigan Library Consortium has eBooks and audiobooks available for download.
In fact, I have downloaded eBooks from our library, but due to digital rights management issues, I cannot listen to them in ITunes or on my iPhone. I do think that these issues will get worked out with time, just as the hardware and software issues of eBooks will get worked out with time.
Now, back to the article, Bury spoke of very special books. True, people will go back to those (or digital reproductions) just as they appreciate historical letters. But as a consumer, I do believe that bookstores and libraries need to be prepared for the wave (and I have the sense that they are working towards that).
When you got Kindle, you got it for Camille. Are you using it too? Do you think that families will have multiple devices?
What is strange, is that I don’t like that it has a limit as to how much it’ll store. I don’t like the idea of deleting something to make room – and then wanting it back. Of course, I am not opposed to giving a book away, and then buying another copy. It is just a new way of thinking…
Ooops…I was logged in as Katie instead of me!
I have used it yes. And as families now have multiple mobile phones, tvs, iPods, DSes, etc, so will they have multiple devices.
And like an iPod, you won’t storer all your books on your device. You will store your library on your computer and put the books you want to have readily available on your device.
I can see myself eventually getting an e-book reader, especially for travel–you should see me packing for a two-week trip. Books go in the pile, books go out. I agonize over whether I’ll feel like reading the rest of the books in a series or what genres I’ll want with me. And I always end up at a bookstore anyway. But I like turning pages and taking a book into the bath. I think I’ll still have paper books as my main reading material. I doubt that’ll be true for Lilah, though 🙂 I’m sure she’ll grow up with all this e-stuff as “normal” while I still remember when my family got a computer, and then the internet.
Allison – ah, they’ll be waterproof, i’m sure of it. That’s what I mean about the design issues that still need to be tackled 🙂
I am finally getting to where I buy eMusic instead of CDs, and I feel like such a hold out. I really don’t think it will be long until eBooks are ubiquitous.
And, you strike me as a person that would put pen to paper to write a letter (knitting, jam-making gives that vibe), so I just think of you as old-fashioned (in a GOOD way).