Quote:
Originally Posted by LDBoblo
Sure, there are people who only want content delivered to them in whatever ugly but convenient way possible.
There are many different ways to categorize "us" and "them", and while basically all of them are fallacious and largely irrelevant, here's a fun one.
You're in a bookstore looking for a classic book you've read before and liked and decided to purchase (to read, not to invest in or build a library with). You see 5 copies of the book by different publishers in different sizes and grades of quality. Let's just imagine the following:
Book A) A bit bigger than the rest, classic cloth hardcover with stitch binding, good quality and design, $30
Book B) Almost same size as Book A, but perfect-bound (glue bound) trade paperback, good paper and design, $20
Book C) Mass market paperback, passable paper and OK printing, but not particularly good. Fairly compact, $10
Book D) Somehow-legal txt file printed with an inkjet in a big font on low-grade recycled paper, in a cheap D-ring binder, A4 sized $2
Book E) Another mass-market paperback but from a different publisher with much better paper, cover art, and typography than Book C. $18
Which one would you buy? No shuffling like "depends on what kind of book..." allowed.
I'm a Book E type usually, but I enjoy A for my favorites and will buy B when E is unavailable. If my only choice is C, then I'll have to think twice before purchasing.
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None. I don't buy physical books any longer, just as I don't buy newspapers, magazines or anything printed on paper. I just don't see the need of a physical object, not when I can have the convenience and virutal limitless space afforded to me by technology.
But...let's say it was me four or five years ago you're talking about. And let's say I was looking for this classic book. And let's further say you didn't add the choice I would have made back then.
Choice F: Walk out of the bookshop, go to the local second-hand bookshop. Sit down with the nice lady there, Alice, have a cup of tea and a chat, buy a second-hand copy from her no matter what the binding or anything else.
I will still buy an ebook that has a good cover, but as long as the story inside is readable, I couldn't give a gnat's chuff how it's layed out, or what typographical jiggery-pokery is going on (the same with web pages. Good design is good, I want it, but I'm much more interested in getting to the meaning of the content.)