eBook readers are growing in popularity and in most cases, you are able to store your downloaded books and read them on an iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Blackberry, Android or even your laptop.
This flexibility is one of the most attractive features of electronic reading. Gone as well are the days of lugging around heavy books when traveling, or for that matter, even having to decide which books to bring with you to your various destinations.
No matter how convenient eBooks become, however, many will continue to fiercely criticize the new technology. Reading is such a physical experience for so many bibliophiles that the act is greatly diminished when things like the feel of the pages, the texture of the cover and the smell of the ink are taken away.
How can eBooks develop in order to satisfy these missing qualities?
1. Simulate the experience of a well-used, favorite book, since many booklovers dislike the never-changing, cold feel of the digital screen. The eBook reader display could start to appear worn and ripped after you have read a particular volume hundreds of times. A coffee stain could appear in a key area of some of the pages, and the program could insert a virtual pet bite mark. Eventually, some pages could even fall out and completely disappear.
2. With eBooks, there’s no way to show off your impressive collection of classics you’ve never even attempted to read as we do today on our coffee tables and bookshelves. Ebook applications could sync with all your social media accounts and constantly bombard all of your friends with announcements of your collection until they murmur in awe at how intellectual and cultured you must be.
3. eBook readers could provide a feature that makes the device temporarily heavier based on the size of the books you have downloaded. This way, you could use your eTextbooks and dictionaries to flatten your posters and serve as a paperweight just as you do with your real ones. (This feature might prove to be the most difficult to implement…)
eBooks will continue to unveil new features to make the experience more rewarding, and it will be tickle city to track how well they are catching on.
Do you prefer eBooks or physical books? Will electronic books decisively overtake their physical counterparts sooner rather than later?
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on September 24th, 2010 at 10:38 am
I don’t believe I am typical of most internet users. I do not own a kindle, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Blackberry, an Android or even a laptop or a cell phone. I like the feel of books in my hands and I prefer to read hard copy at this point in time but that may change in the future.
on September 24th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
I like my Kindle, but I prefer the feel of an actual book in my hands. Plus I don’t have to remember to charge the battery.
on September 25th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
I used to be anti-ebooks but now I am seriously looking into purchasing one. The convenience of an e-book when traveling (even if it’s simply taking it to work and back), and the number of books you can store into one slim device that I can take anywhere is becoming more and more appealing to me. Plus, e-books are generally cheaper than physical books, and once you’ve purchased the ebook device (kindle/nook/etc.), I feel like you’d be saving money in the long run.
on September 26th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
I really like idea #2, it would be a great for ebooks to sync up a library in various social networks, maybe even having a central digital library that people could then use to check out ebooks for free © . There is something to be said about a physical book though, the material of pages can’t be beaten by an ebook, spinning through the pages with your fingers while the classic smell of a good read finds your nose… Books will never be replaced but for convenience of travelling and storing your reading ebooks will have a place in literature.
on September 27th, 2010 at 6:20 am
Whenever I download any ebook that interest me, I would always like to print out a copy of it. I prefer reading it hard copy as it has less distraction to me. Also, I can read anywhere I like without having to rely on my computer or laptop.
on September 27th, 2010 at 6:40 am
Tee hee! You’ve got some funny ideas there. Right now I’m torn. I LOVE the feel of a paper book in my hands, plus it’s so much easier to flip back to passages and reading in the bath tub? I wouldn’t take an ebook in there! Still, my daughter has a Kindle and she loves it. I’ve read a few books on it, too. Not a bad experience. And I like the fact that I’m saving trees. For the younger generation, I think the transition will be easy. For me? Only time will tell.
on September 27th, 2010 at 9:49 am
Hi Andrew! Great post, I loved your second suggestion! But you know, for me nothing compares to the smelling of a new book, the texture of the paper, to read the inside flaps! On the other hand, e-books are convenient when travelling, as young-eun said, and good for saving spaces. And the convergence of different media such as Ipod, Iphone, Ipads, etc. to download e-books seems very interesting! Anyway, it’s only a matter of time, as it happened with digital cameras. In the beginning of this era, I thought that I would never use one and now I have two different models, for different kinds of pictures! Well, let’s see it within few years, or even few months!
on October 25th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
I have no problems with reading books using the laptop for convenience sake. I like being able to take my reading materials everywhere. But I love the sigh of books on shelves or books on tables and I love the smell of old books. It is hard to decide. I like the old and new at the same time.
on April 24th, 2011 at 8:36 am
Love this post. Would you mind if I post your link in my blog? Send me an email slpierce2011@hotmail.com