Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Kaufman
For me, getting my Kindle was sort of a no-brainer. Having all my books in one convenient, compact place? Check. Ordering books and then having them within minutes, often at cheaper price (well, it used to be that way)? Check. The list goes on and on. And while more and more people are converting and joining the club, it seems there are still plenty who are holding out and claiming they never will.
Which got me wondering: Why is it, do you suppose, that people refuse to go with e-readers? Is it an emotional thing? An unwillingness to adapt to technological advances? What is it? I've tried to figure this out, but every time I think I have, I really haven't. Can anyone offer some insight?
Andrew E. Kaufman/author
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I love my Kindle, and I really like e-books. But I like paper books too. I can think of a number of reasons why people might stick with paper books.
For someone on a budget, paper books can be borrowed from the library or bought second hand. A Kindle could potentially be cheaper in the long run but is a big chunk of money to shell out today. A book is an impulse buy; a Kindle must be planned for.
Some people don't read all that many books--for them the Kindle is a bad deal.
Paper books remain readable no matter how many times you switch e-book readers.
Art historians and art lovers curse Leonardo Da Vinci's tendency to experiment with colors and methods because while other artists used paints and media that had stood the test of time, many of Leonardo's pieces flaked or changed color and now are gone forever. Similarly, while digital works are k-strategists, making so many copies of themselves they are nearly impossible to kill, they depend utterly on a digital environment that has not yet stood the test of time and may yet turn out to be more fragile than we like to think. A CD might last forever, but that does you no good if there's nothing to read it on. A paper book, on the other hand, is a well-known, traditional medium which has demonstrated it has the potential to last for centuries.
Some people are very fond of the book-as-artifact for its own sake.
And finally, it's common for people to need a while to get used to a new idea before adopting it. We're early adopters--many people choose to think about it for years, and watch how the early adopters get on, before making the switch themselves. And some people never do switch, but stick to the old ways. In general this is a good thing--it lets society experiment with new things without abandoning tried and tested alternatives.