Are books obsolete...?

[Ending]

When reading eBooks, a good LCD screen is mandatory or else your eyes will hate you. With real books, well; it has been said before. Ritual, something you can touch, and easier to read. Can't pass those until some serious technological advancements have been done.

Still, PDF format eBooks are a valid choise, even if not as good. They take no space, you can read them anywhere (if they are compatible with cellphones), and often they are free to view. But the fact is that books in general are not even nearly as popular as other forms of entertainment (like anime).

Personally, I don't want to waste space for something I use only twice every three or four years and I don't have much money to spend either, so eBooks are the way to go. But they both are fine with me, by principal.

[npal]

Oh well, I'm an ebook supporter Unless I need immediate reference to something (like a core rulebook in D&D and the like, or a limited hardcover edition of LotR, etc), I'd have ebooks anytime (not scanned though, scanned books are not ebooks, their fonts and size is not optimized for screen display, so they tend to be a bit hard to read and the scan is often low quality).

And no, I don't get any bodily symptoms when reading ebooks. On the contrary SOMETHING has to hurt eventually when I get down to read a paperbook for long periods of time.

The nice things that paperbooks have are
1) Decoration
2) Fill Library space
3) They smell nice usually

[monir]

NO!! Books are not obsolete. If they were, dragging my 700+ books to three address change were pretty pointless.

[Sides]

Well ebook are quite handy for researching stuff, since you can get electronic
journals faster than requesting a hardcopy from a local library.
However for domestic pleasures and archiving documents,
i doubt that ebook will replace paper (and microfilms).

[Tsu]

Paper books aren't obsolete just yet, but I'm hoping they will be once e-ink technology catches on. Books are annoying things, really. With paperbacks, you have to constantly keep it open. Hardcovers are heavy and unwieldy. Magazines and such are weak and need some kind of support to be read. Furthermore, they're difficult to search in and get damaged and dirty easily.

Originally Posted by kj1980

While eBooks will save publishing costs, you won't get those limited edition stuff that are premiums online. It's those types of things that still makes actually owning the book in your hands.

They can still do that if they sell eBooks in the form of memorysticks/cards (which should still be cheaper to make than paper books).

[Sides]

Just came across this article on bbc's newspage, quite intressting,
considering that i use my mobile/cell only to receive calls.

[Love Yuui]

While I don't believe books to be obsolete (yet), I am certain that libraries are near the end of their life cycle.

[yukimayuki]

I don't think books will become obsolete too soon. You must consider some special groups besides the readers:

I think writers still prefer the paper version if they are interested in getting money from it. It is more difficult to "corrupt" or copy books (although not impossible, but the products won't be that good).

I have also experienced that those gloomy scientists avoid digitalized data (well... computing in general) at all costs. Well, of course, books on paper are less prone to get lost or changed and are more handy to cite (the probability of your library getting destroyed is, currently, much lower than the probability of your data storages getting unusuable). In addition, ever thought about the future? In future, you will still need your eyes only to read a book, but digital data must be handled by a device - if it can do that. Just remember those floppy disks, and you might understand what I mean...

[Tzurial]

Originally Posted by Wordplay

But the fact is that books in general are not even nearly as popular as other forms of entertainment (like anime).

I can't see how this is true by any stretch of the imagination..

[Cz]

I like the concept of eBooks because of the convenience of bringing lots of information around. Imagine not needing large and heavy school bags to bring text books to school. I come from a country where children have to do that because schools (except some private schools) do not have lockers. Even schools with lockers (e.g. in the U.S.) can save money on the big lockers if students do not need them to store all their text books.

Also, consider the people who need books as references throughout the course of work. For example, an IT professional who will likely have a number of reference books on one's desk/cubicle at work or at home. Or college professors who have rows upon rows of books in their offices. Imagine how much easier it would be if we had eBooks on proper eBook devices for comfortable reading. I would certainly prefer not to lug around a large collection of books when moving around, or a few reference books to work and back home, and so on.

That said, I will not use eBooks extensively until someone comes up with products that make reading them easier: devices with large enough screens that are easy on the eyes; devices with long battery life so they do not die halfway while reading a novel; devices that are not very bulky or heavy.

Books may not be obsolete in the near future, but I believe it will be in the long-term if eBook technology catches up to the likes of Star Trek PADDs or similar functionality. I like the smell of some books, but unless one is an avid collector of books due to their smell, their feel, or the covers and how authors can autograph them with pen and paper, I think eBooks would be better if one prefers convenience over such things. I would be one of the latter.

Besides, eBooks might have electronic smells of ink people love if the technology matures. Electronic autographs can be made (just use a stylus on a PDA, for instance). The wonderful feeling of paper? Sure! If thin flexible plastic displays become a reality, it may be possible to display text on paperlike material, although there probably won't be enough of them to flip like a real book has. With technology, almost everything is possible.

[Kamui4356]

Originally Posted by lwl12

I like the concept of eBooks because of the convenience of bringing lots of information around. Imagine not needing large and heavy school bags to bring text books to school. I come from a country where children have to do that because schools (except some private schools) do not have lockers. Even schools with lockers (e.g. in the U.S.) can save money on the big lockers if students do not need them to store all their text books.

Also, consider the people who need books as references throughout the course of work. For example, an IT professional who will likely have a number of reference books on one's desk/cubicle at work or at home. Or college professors who have rows upon rows of books in their offices. Imagine how much easier it would be if we had eBooks on proper eBook devices for comfortable reading. I would certainly prefer not to lug around a large collection of books when moving around, or a few reference books to work and back home, and so on.

That said, I will not use eBooks extensively until someone comes up with products that make reading them easier: devices with large enough screens that are easy on the eyes; devices with long battery life so they do not die halfway while reading a novel; devices that are not very bulky or heavy.

Books may not be obsolete in the near future, but I believe it will be in the long-term if eBook technology catches up to the likes of Star Trek PADDs or similar functionality. I like the smell of some books, but unless one is an avid collector of books due to their smell, their feel, or the covers and how authors can autograph them with pen and paper, I think eBooks would be better if one prefers convenience over such things. I would be one of the latter.

Besides, eBooks might have electronic smells of ink people love if the technology matures. Electronic autographs can be made (just use a stylus on a PDA, for instance). The wonderful feeling of paper? Sure! If thin flexible plastic displays become a reality, it may be possible to display text on paperlike material, although there probably won't be enough of them to flip like a real book has. With technology, almost everything is possible.

They might be useful for work or education, but when it comes to reading for recreation, they fail. Even a star trek like device still loses part of the experience. After all, would you rather turn the page or hit a next button?

Maybe a device with enough of those thin plastic displays to turn pages like a book would work. It's only need about 50 or so double sided displays, if when you closed the ebook, it would start with where you left off on the first page. Of course it would probably be prohibitively expensive if possible to make.

[sorvani]

Originally Posted by Kamui4356

They might be useful for work or education, but when it comes to reading for recreation, they fail. Even a star trek like device still loses part of the experience. After all, would you rather turn the page or hit a next button?

do you own one? have you actually used one? was it eInk or PDA.. because if it isn't eInk it shouldn't be considered an eBook Read IMO.
like i said above, i've had a librie for a year. i severely wish more of my reference manuals at work could be loaded onto it and be searchable.
and all of my recreational reading is done on it.

[Nightbat®]

I tried it, but that 17" and keyboard in my bed are just too much

[Tzurial]

Originally Posted by sorvani

do you own one? have you actually used one? was it eInk or PDA.. because if it isn't eInk it shouldn't be considered an eBook Read IMO.
like i said above, i've had a librie for a year. i severely wish more of my reference manuals at work could be loaded onto it and be searchable.
and all of my recreational reading is done on it.

These eInks look really nice and are most likely going to make the strain of reading on digital devices obsolete. But I think books will never become obsolete. Maybe the content will transfer to digital, but a book is still a unique medium of communication that is capable of experiences that are completely lost on a computer screen.

For example! I don't know if anyone is a fan of these recent graphic novels that have been coming out.. (they are something between a comic and a full blown illustrative journal..) but I have spent over 100 dollars on them in the past couple of months. Anyway, they incorporate collage, cut paper spreads, pop up, and textured papers. So no matter how nice the screen is, some things will never translate.

[Sepiraph]

Right now, reading a book online is much more tiring than reading from a book, but when they solve that problem, I would switch to email right away.

Having said that, ebook does offer so much more potential that it is hard to ignore, even with its current short-coming.

[Kamui4356]

Originally Posted by sorvani

do you own one? have you actually used one? was it eInk or PDA.. because if it isn't eInk it shouldn't be considered an eBook Read IMO.
like i said above, i've had a librie for a year. i severely wish more of my reference manuals at work could be loaded onto it and be searchable.
and all of my recreational reading is done on it.

I'll admit I have not used an eink reader like the librie. I've relied on my laptop for things like this. However, while eink screens may address the eye strain problem, it doesn't really address other issues relating to the reading experience. You still have a next button as opposed to actually feeling the paper as you turn the page. It's all part of the experience that's lost. This is why ebooks ultimately fail for recreational reading.

[Cz]

Originally Posted by Kamui4356

They might be useful for work or education, but when it comes to reading for recreation, they fail. Even a star trek like device still loses part of the experience. After all, would you rather turn the page or hit a next button?

Maybe a device with enough of those thin plastic displays to turn pages like a book would work. It's only need about 50 or so double sided displays, if when you closed the ebook, it would start with where you left off on the first page. Of course it would probably be prohibitively expensive if possible to make.

I wouldn't mind hitting a "NEXT" button. It's faster than flipping a page carefully. Then again, you don't really need to have a next button when there are so many ways of "turning the page". You can just scroll down. There are many ways of scrolling down too: a mouse-wheel like control, a pressure-sensitive area where you move your finger on to scroll, a track ball, a mental interface so a thought controls the scrolling, a voice command (e.g. "Computer, scroll down!"), etc etc.

I wouldn't mind reading novels as eBooks as long as the device satisfies the criteria I mentioned before. I wouldn't read one on a laptop or current PDAs but a proper device would make me happy enough to carry one of them around that could contain multiple books to read. Remember, you should SAVE THE TREES!

Originally Posted by Tzurial

For example! I don't know if anyone is a fan of these recent graphic novels that have been coming out.. (they are something between a comic and a full blown illustrative journal..) but I have spent over 100 dollars on them in the past couple of months. Anyway, they incorporate collage, cut paper spreads, pop up, and textured papers. So no matter how nice the screen is, some things will never translate.

With technology like holograms and whatnot it might be possible to simulate some of those things with eBooks. If not then most reference books and normal novels may be in eBook form (Star Trek PADDs, eInk, etc) and such graphic novels will remain in paper format and will be available to the niche group of people who are into such books. You cannot deny the tremendous convenience eBooks have as opposed to paper-based books that take up the entire room. =p

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Kamui4356

They might be useful for work or education, but when it comes to reading for recreation, they fail. Even a star trek like device still loses part of the experience. After all, would you rather turn the page or hit a next button?

Maybe a device with enough of those thin plastic displays to turn pages like a book would work. It's only need about 50 or so double sided displays, if when you closed the ebook, it would start with where you left off on the first page. Of course it would probably be prohibitively expensive if possible to make.

Even Captain Picard reads paperbacks and not a electronic screen.

[Cz]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

Even Captain Picard reads paperbacks and not a electronic screen.

Captain Picard likes 20th century culture (and probably history in general). Ever notice the (time/period) settings for most of his holodeck programs?

[Tsu]

Originally Posted by Kamui4356

However, while eink screens may address the eye strain problem, it doesn't really address other issues relating to the reading experience. You still have a next button as opposed to actually feeling the paper as you turn the page. It's all part of the experience that's lost. This is why ebooks ultimately fail for recreational reading.

I wonder how many people actually care much about this experience, especially when compared to the advantages of eBooks. Personally, I don't really care much for the feeling of paper and the action of flipping a page provides with enough room for my clumsiness to get a chance. While I can't assume many people are like me, no one can... until they do extensive statistical testing, anyway.
I do know, however, that I'm very comfortable with buttons, mainly because computers have been a big part of my daily life for over half of it. This should be even more true for the Z Generation.