The book will always survive for some things, anyway. I really can't see my art book collection working on eReaders, for example. eReaders are fine for purely textual work but (despite the hype about adding music and video content) are frankly not great for anything beyond that.
The time might not be right now, but e-books might take off in the future and all of this positioning is with eyes on models similar to MP3s.
Having said that, I read a few e-books, but I don't buy any. I'd rather buy and read a book with real pages.
Sure libraries have a copy or two of a book that gets circulated serially, but that's not the same as thousand of copies getting electronically replicated and distributed simultaneously. An e-book is small, and much more easily distributed than a movie, or even a music file.
My point is that at the moment, authors in print have very little to worry about piracy (even though you can illegally download anything you care to name); in e-book format, they have a lot more to worry about. Will it put big authors out of business? Probably not. Will it hurt smaller authors trying to get going? Yes. Independent musicians/game developers/whatever go out of business all the time; would they have gone out of business anyway without piracy? Can't say.
My CGI business ran for a few years before the pirates noticed it, then, when my stuff started getting pirated, by sales dropped by aroung 50%. And CGI is a specialty item, unlike books which are much more general public. So as an author of a e-book how would you like your $10,000 in sales to actually be worth $5,000 or less in your pocket?
I don't think piracy is an overblown worry at all. Anyway, sorry, we're off topic.
However, even I held out on an ebook reader because I also really ENJOY the feeling of paper, particularly a hardback - I'm addicted to hardcover books, which makes my book addiction a rather expensive habit.
The ebook reader isn't replacing books I might have bought, it's replacing books i might have borrowed (library.) I'm replacing a borrow with a purchase. At least in my infinitesimally small use case, authors are making *more* money with my ebook reader than they'd have made if I didn't have it.
And I'm still buying hardcover books of certain titles (particularly of books I love and want to read over and over.) That's not going to stop.
For someone like me who reads *all the time* when I can squeeze it in, it's so nice to have an ebook reader that I can tuck into my purse, and easily prop on the exercise machines at the gym (and easily turn the pages without having to huff and puff while holding one side of the book down to keep it from falling off), on the counter while I dry my hair, on the kitchen table while eating breakfast, in my lap/on the dog while reading before bed. It's significantly *improved* my experience as a reader.
Just wanted to offer some reasons why ebook readers aren't all agents of the devil. Thanks for the link, kdw, this stuff is really fascinating to me!
I can lie back comfy, my finger on the mouse or arrow button, adjust the screen just right, increase the font to perfect.
I will never go back to paper books. They are smelly and take up too much space, and I need to have my lights on to read them.
I prefer reading in the dark, allows total immersion.
The best part is I can eat snack and chips and read with out holding the book up - the screen does everything. And my pages are always crip and clean!
If I do get the urge to hold a book, I have my EEEpc, that looks feels and weighs like a small novel. I just use a screen rotation software so the entire page fits sideway - it's looks and feels exactly like a real book. To flip the page I just tap my mouse button. I also have a 17inch laptop to read to massive 100 page lecture notes. Can also read my novels on it in - it's like having a giant tome!
I've bought so many ebooks and online textbooks...can never go back to paper. I refuse to!
As far as ebook piracy - yeah it's a worry. I like to think that it won't happen to me if I ever get published, but the rate of piracy is high - it'll happen to you the minute you become popular. Not sure how to resolve it.
I think they should just make a book really cheap. People wont fret pirating books that are like 50cents to a dollar. It's not cost effective to pirate, and the average joe won't want to bother stealing something that really a bargain.
I know people tend to undervalue the quality of the work based on the price. Maybe we need a pricing system for books alone! 35 Lit-bucks! Goodness for that price it must be good!
I do like to flip pages, but I also like clear surfaces. I held one of those e-book reader thingies with "digital ink" and I must say, though I love books, I love that little thingie more. It's almost like reading from a page, brightness-wise (not annoying as reading from a laptop, for example).
I'm not a consumerist, I don't get excited about gadgets or bigger TVs. I despise all that. Simple living is what I like.
But, clearing out the space books take and having them all in that gadget sounds very okay to me.
I think many other people who grew up online will think the same thing.
But there are a lot of people (particularly Kindlefreaks) who are claiming that "the book is dead RIGHT NOW!" and they are sooooo far from being right that it's just embarrassing. Even if eBooks clib to 50% of the US market - which inside five years they might well do - that is still a long way from the death of the book. Bookstores are having problems, yes, just as record stores did - but that is largely because of the ability to order ANY book online whenever you want, not because of electronic delivery as an alterntive to the physicl product. Big bookstores can't carry inventory without heavy costs. Internet bookshops (like Amazon) can.
http://bradrtorgersen.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/print-will-never-die/
I am sure some time I will get an e-reader. That time has not yet arrived.
I think we recognize the world as a whole is changing dramatically, in the way we get and distribute information. Technology is still in its infancy and it's changing faster than we can keep up with. The way the "system" of distributing information, be it news or fiction, will continue to evolve over our lifetimes.
My suggestion is: be on board with the changes, but don't be married to them. Don't let the parade of technology pass you by, but realize that today's fancy e-whatever will mostly likely evolve into something we cannot even imagine.
Or can we? Aren't WE the ones who are supposedly speculating about tomorrow's future technology via our fiction?
What the internet lacks is some kind of nominal hashcash pool, where you can be charged very very tiny amounts of money for activity on given sites. If a site gets a million views at 1c/view, that's a lot of cash, even though no-one has actually paid much individually. But policing how the viewer knows what they are being charged and when is a huge problem - there are obviously a lot of scamming possibilities with such a system. Some subscription-type models would work for regular users but the casual browser is the market that needs to be captured (if you have a choice between reading two similar news pages, and one demands you to have filled out a subsription... I think we all know what happens there).
It is indeed a problem in that people expect the internet to be "free", but to continue to provide quality for nothing is frankly an unsustainable model. At some point, the "free" to "nominal cost that I barely notice" expectation has to shift, but it's going to meet a lot of resistance, particularly from a generation who have experienced it free and have a major sense of entitlement that they should just be able to have it (even though they don't balk at paying hundreds of dollars for the devices on which they receive the information, they magically believe information is "free").
The degree to which biased, inflamatory conjecture and opinion is being passed off as "news" today is frightening. Of course, this scenario has been put into a fiction format before. I believe the title of the book was called "1984."
Free content, whether for newspapers or books, is never "free." There is a price we pay whether we realize it or not.
[This message has been edited by Elan (edited February 05, 2010).]
Print publishers need to pay more attention to their strengths and weaknesses in this time of virtual accessibility. Otherwise, people will accept that they won't get what they want and so ignore print completely.
I haven't purchased a newspaper in about ten years now. Newspapers could not provide the focus to their content that I wanted, and when the internet came along I found that focus. I subscribe to several internet websites that provide specialized news-like content for a fee, so it's not like I'm just being a cheapskate.
But anything longer than (the equivalent of) a 1 or 2 page article, I dislike reading on any type of electronic display I've come across. That's too bad because books do take up room and consume trees and the like.
I don't see an equivalence with digital music files because when talking about books versus ebooks it's the "playback device" that we're comparing, and regardless of the source of the electrical signal, people are still using the same speakers/headphones to listen to the music.
For me personally, audio books are the media that is most likely to displace the old fashioned paper book. I imagine that with an uber high quality text reading software one might have an ebook machine I would be interested in. Audio books are still a bit pricey, but ever since I discovered the "Weekly Reader" public radio show (not sure if that's the right title)many years ago, I've enjoyed listening a book recited by a good "actor" more than reading the same title.
Already it sounds like the the new Apple device is opening the door for reading to be more of a multimedia experience, perhaps leading to books that come with musical soundtracks and even short graphic dramatizations like those commonly found with computer games.
I do think that in the ebook world it will someday be possible for a "kid with a computer" to win a pulitzer without ever signing a contract with a publishing company. There is effectively no cost to Apple or Amazon to accept an electronic manuscript from you or me and put it out there on the "shelf".
Without a demand for paper books, publishing companies would be hurting for a niche.
Call me a cynic, but traditional newspapers can be -- and often are -- loaded with conjecture and bias. I've seen too many stories hyped, buried, or "spun" by the editorial board (or the reporter in question) to believe that the newspapers' so-called journalistic integrity is vastly superior to that of blogs.
But then, I used to read the Seattle P-I, so maybe that explains my grumpusitude on the matter.
I suppose stuff still in copyright might find its way onto any e-book I might buy, too...
As I write this, I've lost power approximately ten times in the past two days. Though none of the outages has lasted more than 5 hours - and many have been much shorter - it's given me a new appreciation for books that don't require any outside power source (or even just batteries).
Audio books enable us to listen to stories at a time when I can't read them myself because of other demands on my visual attention. My children benefit greatly from this, I've seen it in their language arts skill and ability to communicate themselves.
To address a point from a previous poster about ebook readers, if you haven't checked out one of the dedicated readers like the Kindle or the Nook, hold off making a final determination. The key difference is the use of "electronic ink" - which lets the devices run without backlighting. Reading on a computer screen is inherently fatiguing for the human eye, the brightness of the screen is a drain on our resources. Ebook readers are not designed to be backlit - they're designed to be books. Books don't come with automatic illumination, so the ebook readers don't either (although there are nifty covers you can buy that have a built-in light. I personally clip a book light onto my ebook reader to read while settling my kids for bed.)
My opinion is that the more we provide different mechanisms for people to consume stories, the more we'll benefit as writers.
Also, America is gradually becoming a nomadic culture. So carrying around books doesn't make sense.
However, consider eBooks. On my 16 GB flash drive, I can store about 17,000 books on a device that is smaller than my car key. I can then, put it up on a big screen monitor and make the text as big as I want. I can also change the font of the text to whatever I want. With a book, I am stuck with the text being a certain size (need a magnifying glass if I want to make it bigger, but reading a book with such a glass is bulky) and a certain font. Having the book in electronic format is simply A LOT more convenient.
As far as piracy, I think what we need is a change in culture about art in general. If you like something, pay the artist that made it for you. The artist could do that on the first page of the eBook. Otherwise, if you buy a book, much of the money goes to sales, the publishing company, and so forth.
The same thing is happening with music except that musicians can compensate themselves through live performances (which people are still willing to pay to go see).
quote:
try lifting a box of them when you are moving
It's not lifting a box that's the problem, it's lifting the 30th or 40th box that gets you....
I'm not going to knock the convenience of portability - if they'd had Kindles available when I lived out of two suitcases for two years, I'd have gotten one in a heartbeat (so much cheaper than the airline fines for overweight luggage!) - but I'm curious as to why e-books might be considered a better investment than print books.
Pardon my ignorance, but you can't resell an e-book, can you? I'm not missing something here? In which case even getting pennies on the dollar for a print book, or donating it for a tax write-off, would be a good deal. And if my apartment burns down, my insurance policy pays for the replacement costs of items not their resale value.
The thing is, about 99% of the time a print book is going to be something you plunked down $20 for that you won't ever see again. There are exceptions, but they are actually rare. I learned this the hard way by having shelves of books that over time, cost me well over $100. Had a hard time getting rid of them when I tried to move. Ended up giving them to an acquaintance. What did he pay me for them? Well, he bought me lunch. So whenever I buy a book (which is actually rare these days) I assume that it is money I will never see again.
And as far as living out of two suitcases for two years, with the economy the way it is, A LOT of people are going to be doing that. Makes better sense to store your books on a flash drive that you can put on your key chain next to your car key.
To be honest, the only print books I buy anymore are books I use for teaching English at school. This is because I don't know where I will live from year to year. I have been in Korea for 6 years but I have lived in various different places in those 6 years. Having too many books would add a significant amount of unnecessary bulk to what I would have to move when I go to a new place. Also, if I leave Korea, most of the books are probably going to be at the top of my list regarding things I'm going to leave behind. This is going to be true for quite a lot of people.
Unless you have a place you KNOW you are going to keep for years, books just don't make sense. E-books make a lot more sense.
I believe that more than 30 of those were boxes of books. At leats ten are still boxed up in the garage, waiting for us to move to a permanent (rather than rented) accommodation.
Yes, books are expensive. And there are probably a lot of those books I will never read fully again. I suspect if I bought ebooks, the situation would in some senses be worse - I would probably even forget what books I owned.
Just the other day, I got the urge to reread a book...and it was an ordeal to (1) find it and (2) dig it out of there. It's only, like, three years old, but it was up against a set of shelves and behind three layers of books. (Several books make a pile, and several piles make a layer.) I had to move it all out, then move it all back.
And I'm very glad we don't have stairs!
Well, a cheaper mass-produced version which I hope will come about 2013. E-paper's the future. Thin like paper, reads lie paper.
Can you imagine buying a novel size book with about 300 novel-size e-papers pages in it? Plug in your USB and download a novel and start flipping the e-pages! Font too small - change it.
Don't want to read curse words - use the internal program to blur words.
Done reading the novel? download another! And another!
Ah, can't wait.
Every one will have these - comic size bound e-pages, magazine size bound e-pages, newpaper size bound e-pages, textbook size e-pages. Heck, wallpaper size epages so you can read your book off the wall.
Can't wait!
Then e-notebooks, with blue ruled lines, where children can take notes on both sides and practice their handwriting and save it for retrevial later.
Can't wait!!!
At the school I go to they already are forcing students to go paperless. Everthing in given as pdf or powerpoints or word docs. Printing is discouraged. They no longer print out packets for us. There are people who spend hundreds of dollars at kinko's printing out the semester's ppt slides.
I think the battle to keep things 'paper' is slowly losing - once it becomes to costly too print using real ink and paper...watch out.
Bathubs.
Battery life.
Wait, that was three words...
People that say that the e-reader is cold or feels detached usually have not actually tried one (in my experience). I love holding the book with one hand and not worrying about damaging the spine. I like being able to sip coffee and turn the "page" without acrobatics or balancing acts. The weight is even similar to an average paperback. The digital ink (or whatever they call it) is an outstanding reporduction of the real paper and ink aesthetic. I encourage nay sayers to at least give it a shot. The battery life is extremely long. I recharge every 10 days or so. There is no greater friend in the airport or on a plane than the kindle in my opinion.
I have curled up next to my fireplace in a big comfy chair and read a few books on my kindle. Do I think it will replace the paper book? No. I still prefer to have my favorite books on my shelf if for no other reason than as a talking point or to lend to a friend. Do I think most people can have a wonderful, warm experience reading off this handy little device? Absolutely. Even the nay sayers that scoff at the very idea may find they enjoy it if they gave it a shot.
Some people simply fear technology and progress and I get that but it has its place.
It was a combination pen/recorder/computer so that as you wrote, it digitized and saved everything with attached sound clips for the various parts of the lecture that went with what you wrote. Then you plugged the usb into a computer and dumped all your digitized notes and sound recordings to your hard drive. Supposedly it's all fully searchable, too.
Now, whether or not it works well is another matter entirely. But I thought it was a pretty darn cool idea.