Are Real Books on the Way Out?
by Victoria Durm
Picture walking into your favorite bookstore chain, and being able to go to a computer and read a sample chapter of the latest Holly Black book. Or maybe there's a mother sitting in the corner of the store reading from a device to their child. It feels like you've walked into a science fiction story, right? Wrong. This is the latest in the trend of mobility. This is the age of the Ebook.
Ebooks were originally meant to service small groups of people for specific purposes such as informational manuals, and were only available by special request. Since 1998, these digital books have been steadily gaining popularity; a cheap alernative to real books, as the price for hard copies goes up. However, is the invention of such devices as the Kindle from Amazon and other E-readers a sign of the end of reading books as we know it?
Many say no. In fact, some publishers are rising to the occasion by providing their books in both formats, or offering sample chapters for readers to try out. Braen books, for example offers free Ebooks for the Stanza reader for the Iphone and Ipod touch. Ebooks are becoming a marketing tool as well as another source of revenue. Signs of the gravitation toward the electronic age has now been extended to the printed word.
Does that mean book-lovers are going to be out luck for finding their favorite books in hardback in the near future? "Not totally, " says Penny Ash, who writes and reads regularly, "people are always going to want a hard copy of their favorite books."
Author Kathleen Duey offers another reason why print books will out last this new technology."Print is permanent. It can't be changed without evidence." She says.
Yet, Ebooks do offer some benefits to the busy rush called life. They're quick to upload with applications like Stanza and other Ereaders, making it possible to carry around multiple volumes in the palm of your hand. The most arguable advantages to the Ebook is the fact that paper and ink is not used, thereby being environmentally friendly, an issue that is becoming more important than ever.
They also have their downfalls. One of the biggest disadvantages is that a stand alone E-reader is big and clunky. They're also electronic, and even if they're mobile, the battery wears out. Electronic devices are also more likely to get damaged than a hardcover book. Lending out your digital books may cause legal trouble, due to the digital rights that most E-reader and E-book dealers hold. Thus, book swaps would become obsolete.
No matter how you look at it, both sides of the argument have valid points. Book lovers enjoy the comfort of curling up with a book close to them, and being able to get lost in a story. Tech savvy individuals like the portability to take an entire libraries of books on the go. Many individuals would like to see the two mediums live in harmony. Only time will tell.
