Book Designer Says Good Riddance to Print

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dbu8554

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I'm not so sure I agree with this guy. I like being able to loan out a book, and I don't much care if someone spills soda on my $7 book, and I can leave it in cars and all kinds of cool stuff eBooks cant do.

Print is dying. Digital is surging. Everyone is confused. Good riddance
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Wait? Does the guy work in the Business? Talk about bias. Of course he's gonna say that.
In ye old book favor. Who's gonna find and read most of the crap they produce these days when digital can mean anything.
 
This is like the electric guitar making the acoustic obsolete. It's a false choice.

Let's say this is for the print industry vs. digital, and not public or school libraries. Some books from 100+ years ago are still in good shape. A large percentage of the books from the 1940s and 50s look like they're from the 80s or later, well-preserved with no effort. The B:/ floppies holding WordPerfect thesis papers are a tad obsolete.
 
The book is simple to pick up and read and has no chance of having electronic issues. I prefer readding a book than using a computer to do so since the computer can be very distracting. It's also good to read printed copies of books,magazines, etc... on the toilet.
 
TheCommander said:
The book is simple to pick up and read and has no chance of having electronic issues. I prefer readding a book than using a computer to do so since the computer can be very distracting. It's also good to read printed copies of books,magazines, etc... on the toilet.
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I agree with everything in this comment.
 
I enjoy printed books for many reasons but I also find the digital format quite handy. Initially I was against dedicated ebook readers like the Kindle and BeBook (still am against Kindle but for different reasons) since it seemed superfluous to me. If I wanted to read a digital book I have a laptop and several desktops where I can view them but after using the ebook readers for some time now, I can say its a totally different experience from reading the same document on a laptop/desktop. It's much easier on the eyes, more portable, the text appears much the same way it would in its printed counterpart, and in many cases it's far more comfortable. Try reading a 1600+ page hardcover textbook while laying in bed for instance.... I do see the ebook industry has a loooong way to go but its making headway. I personally would love to see all these proprietary formats fuck off and die but I am against that kind of thing as a rule.

All that said, I do not see digital formats replacing its printed predecessors anytime soon. For one, to truly enjoy a digital copy one needs a dedicated device. The formats are far too numerous and some are truly not suited to the task. Not all devices can read all formats. The printed book has an emotional attachment for some which will be difficult to break. The printed book also is ideal for those elitist psudeo intellectuals who measure their intelligence by the size of their library.

The place where ebooks should be focusing currently imo is universities and colleges. Get those bulky and unwieldy and overly expensive texts in a worthwhile digital format and make them more affordable. It would expose countless people to the format where they otherwise may have been reticent to try it out and they would likely continue to or be more likely to continue using and purchasing ebooks in the future.
 
i like my books, I was just reading the Dragonlance Chronicles again, and while i was sitting at the car dealership to get my car maintenenced, I found myself enjoying a PRINT book.

They can take my books away when the Orwellian 1984 comes to real life.
 
Agree with thread. Camping + digital books = angry campers after 60 mAh. I prefer reading things that won't turn off mid-chapter.
 
You can get 6-7k(ish) page turns from a full charge for many readers out there. If anybody can burn through that while camping I'd be seriously impressed. I know when I go camping I do not plan on banging out War and Peace over 5 times while doing so.

Either way, ebook readers are not in a position to completely replace the print alternative. Not even the author of the article is saying that. They do have a place and that place is growing...rapidly. From personal experience as I mentioned earlier I was not in favor of the idea of a device dedicated solely to reading books/documents and now I would not give it up for the world. I also own many print books and have the same feelings towards them as well.
 
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