Today we see the domination of the mp3 player as the next evolutionary step in our enjoyment of music. That same stride has now been taken in literature and written media with the mass marketing of the e-book reader. Instead of carrying around cumbersome books and stacks of magazines, imagine having all of your printed materials on one device to enjoy. Most e-book readers weigh about 10 ounces. So drop that hardcover copy of The Count Of Monte Cristo that weighs almost 4 pounds and load it onto your e-book reader and while you’re at it how about an entire set of the Encyclopedia Britannica too? Not only has the weight and shear bulk of a stack of books been eliminated, so has the cost. Once you have the e-book reader of your choice, you start to save right away. A set of the six-volume hardcover of Jane Austen costs $110.25 on Amazon.com while the digital download version of all six books comes to under a dollar! Any literature over one hundred years old is public domain, meaning FREE! Even books in the public domain need to be printed, shipped, and distributed through a store, potentially causing large cost to the consumer. With production complications out of the way, this frees the publishers to also release newer books for free to promote the authors without a loss of revenue.
The biggest concern I hear people mentioning is losing the feel of the book. Yes, it is a romantic notion of holding a nicely bound book close to your heart and sinking deep into the story. This not the case for many people, including myself. Most people are able to get inside the story just as much on an e-book reader.
E-book readers utilize electronic ink. This technology allows a reader to view the text for hours without any eye strain. The lack of a backlit screen, like the type computers use, prevents a constant electrical charge from operating while the reader is viewing the text. Only when you go to a new page does the e-book reader send an electrical charge to refresh the screen. This allows a far longer battery life. The Amazon Kindle DX boasts a battery life of up to 2 weeks under certain settings. Currently most e-book readers display their text in 16 shades of grey although some companies are investing in color e-ink technology.
There are about a dozen e-book devices available today. Sony and Amazon are at the forefront of the market and there are many e-book stores online to fill your devices with hundreds of thousands of books and magazines. You can even access blogs, pdf documents, and have your newspaper delivered to your device daily . It is believed by media critics that this method of distributing information is going to save the suffering newspaper industry.
E-book readers are the mp3’s of literature and I look forward to a future of easily portable and accessible books.
Do you think this technology will ever replace books in the traditional sense?
August 27th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
You know when they truly will replace the book? When they’re water proof and dust proof. For now, I wouldn’t take an e-reader on the beach with me, or in a hot tub or bathtub. But any other way, heck yeah, sign me up!
September 9th, 2009 at 9:48 am
I have been using a kindle (from work) for a couple of weeks. It is pretty okay for reading (but then I’m someone who has read alot of books on my Palm smartphone over the years). But I find that I am uncomfortable with the fact that I can’t lend a book to a friend anymore. One of the first things I downloaded was a book by an author that a co-worker had lent me a trilogy by… but I can’t lend him the book I bought in return.
Plus the fact that Amazon has deleted people’s books in the past and that there is a finite (and unknown) number of downloads available makes me very wary of actually investing in many electronic books until the market has settled. I want to be guaranteed access to content I buy and I’d like at least some lending ability beyond handing someone my entire e-reader.
September 22nd, 2009 at 4:50 pm
The Kindle rules! I agree with Hans that I wouldn’t want to take it to the pool or beach. Even if it was waterproof, if you got up to do anything, its going to disappear (unless its your private pool). Otherwise, the thing rocked. Sure, not being able to loan the book out is a disadvantage to the reader, but a hugh plus to authors.
October 8th, 2009 at 10:09 am
I read e-books on my iPod Touch and love it! No page turning. I can read lying down without having to hold a heavy book above me. It is so small, it is dead easy to carry with me wherever I go. True, I can’t lend the books I read, but the free books are generally available at any library (or even garage sales). I think e-books are great! And I can play games and do lots of other things on my iPod Touch to boot.