Will Paper books fade away?

[thibaulthalpern]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

You have a point there, but also note that those areas do have plenty of sunshine. A small solar charger would be a great asset there.


I'd bring a solar charger, personally ...

(hey, when you're backpacking, or biking, and only sleep in a small tent, without electricity, those things become important! I have to keep my photo camera working and my ebook reader!)



They only need those stacks of paper to keep their hands busy... It could become embarrassing otherwise...

Sometimes, too much electronics when it is not an absolute necessity becomes a self-imposed impediment. In the tropics where I grew up the weather is humid, hot and it's always dusty. In this environment, electronics quickly deteriorate. With institutions switching over more and more to electronics, rooms are now having to be air conditioned in order to maintain a less dust and less hot and less humid environment.

Do you see what's going on? In order to have those electronics working, they are having to "encase" them (if you will) in a mini-environment that works for it.

Now, I'm not saying we shouldn't use electronics in those places. I'm saying that when really not necessary, there are times to stay AWAY from electronics and go manual.

Heck, I myself used a digital voice recorder, digital camera, and laptop when I was doing research. I didn't carry the laptop when I was on the move but I did carry the digital voice recorder and camera. For the laptop, I had to purchase an electricity stabiliser because voltage would often go up and down (and even go off entirely, but the stabiliser didn't help in that situation). I didn't live in the village. I lived in the capital. My stabiliser would beep and click whenever the voltage was too high or too low and it would literally stabilise the current so that it wouldn't damage my electronics. And it beeped and clicked often. The clicking happens when the stabiliser needed to step-up or step-down the voltage. Sometimes I would hear a series of click-click-click-click like someone was tap dancing.

[fugazied]

I think when all is said and done, the decline of paper books and newspapers will mean a lot less paper will be required. They will probably always exist, but at much lower levels than now. My guestimate is 5% of their current usage by 2025. A lot of older folk won't make the switch at all.

[Stitchawl]

I lived in Japan from 1991 until 2002 when I moved away. I returned to Kyoto in 2008 and was very surprised at what I saw....

Prior to moving, the single largest reading done by rush hour train commuters was the 'manga.' For those who aren't familiar with them, these are large comic book format 'series' books, often the thickness of a big city telephone directory, with new ones coming out each month. I was shocked to see so many adults reading comic books every day until I learned that the content was not necessarily super hero stuff. I would guestimate that 30%-40% of the male readers were reading these manga on the trains every day. Manga sales were very big business.

Leaving for 10 years and returning, the first thing I noticed was that very few people are reading manga now! I might only see 3 or 4 a week instead of 20-30 every day. Instead, people are reading their cell phones and PDA's! Everyone, men and women alike are staring into their phone screens, scrolling down as they read. Some are reading books, others reading the Internet, others text messages with friends. But the point is, very few are reading manga these days. I'd venture to say that in a few more years we won't even see manga for sale.

Several large bookstores have closed while I was away. Understandably, with the economy in decline people are spending less on books, but for such large bookstores to shut their doors, combined with the readily available e-books, there is certainly a decline in the number of books being sold in Japan.

Stitchawl

[dmaul1114]

I think what you're seeing there is just a continued decline of reading of Manga, novels etc.

As people get more into smart phones, iPods etc. reading has declined. People always have their noses in the internet, their e-mail, constantly texting people or updating facebook from their phone etc. etc.

Paper use for books, magazines, newspapers etc. will go down irrespective of eBooks simply because fewer people are reading them since they can take the internet, music and videos everywhere they go and those media are better for the shortening attention span or modern society.

[igorsk]

They might be reading manga on the phones too.

[primbs]

Paper books won't really fade away because in many ways they are superior to the ebook version for the following reasons.

Paper has better mobility and accessibility because you are not limited by network access, electricity or battery power.

Paper can go and be used anywhere.

One can write on paper books and take better notes.

There is no application lock in, no haggling with data export and import, no operating system compatibility problems and no software installation and configuration problems.

[Stringer]

Originally Posted by primbs

Paper has better mobility and accessibility because you are not limited by network access, electricity or battery power.

Even while not true for today standards, there is no reason why future devices couldn't take the electricity from solar power or from shaking if it comes to that. Network access shouldn't be needed even today, unless you count in the one time you buy the book. But then what, your precious pbooks are tied to the shops too (now there is the hassle number one).

Paper can go and be used anywhere.

The truth is, it is possible to make device that can handle pretty much anything you can throw at it. Such devices might not exist yet, unless we can count heavy military notebooks as such, but they probably will some day. However, your pbook will be suffering significant damage if you take it to water or even rain. It doesn't like even snow and there is nothing you can do about it.

One can write on paper books and take better notes.

"Better" is heavily dependable on the person doing the notes. The ability to make such notes at all is restricted or allowed per device and software, so it is not really a reason why pbooks shouldn't die.

[mmaimon]

Originally Posted by carld

Eventually yes, paper books will be largely replaced by some form of ebooks. It won't be any time real soon, and it won't be the current models that do it, but ebooks just make too much sense.

The process has begun and it probably won't stop.
I guess it is a matter of quantities. Books will remain for the near future until eBooks will make them not worthwhile to publish. The format will be published books for a fixed quantity for matters of collections and so.

As we grow into using more and more technology and as the youngsters of today consume more and more technology they will use eBooks without a doubt.

I guess publisher's interest is to still keep paper books running, since eBooks will diminish the necessity of them. We shall use websites promoting eBooks created by their authors (probably designed and edited by a specialist) and then published and promoted through the web. The cost will be diminished (advertising will be at hand as well as costumed ads per book) and we will be able to read allot and at low cost.

The revolution will begin as universities (first) and schools (to follow) will subsidize eBook readers or just oblige students and pupils to purchase an eBook reader and using their textbooks with this format. From here on the path is clear to the abolishment of paper books.

It will take a while but the revolution has commenced.
And...Hey we will be able to say that we at mobileread were here when the engines have started...

[dmaul1114]

There will be no agreement here.

You're going to have people who are HUGE fans/fanboys of eReader technology and/or are diehard environmentalists who are going to ceaselessly argue that paper books will die off ASAP and some that paper period will die off completely at some point.

And you'll have others who like eReaders (or they wouldn't be here) but prefer paperbooks for somethings (something they'll read repeatedly over the years) and prefer paper for tasks like note taking, reading something they want to highlight and annotate etc.

As for what will really happen, it will be somewhere in the middle. Paper use will gradually decline, but paperbooks and paper in general will probably never go totally away. There will always be enough people who prefer paper for certain tasks to keep it around, but technology will improve in the future where most everyone owns something that can read ebooks etc. (not dedicated readers, some kind of multifunction devices) and paper use will greatly decline. But paper will never disappear.

[primbs]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

As long as there are those outside of Corporate or Government (one and the same to me) control who keep copies of the books in a digital format, I'm glad to say that the Orwell nightmare doesn't stand a chance. With these digital copies archived by individuals, any flaw or 'correction' after the fact, will be revealed. In a way the digital affords a greater ease of dissemination, something a physical book can never match. A digital file can cross continents in the blink of an eye, be shared instantaneously, and has none of the phsyical requirements of a paper book.

On the other hand I don't doubt that soon enough we're going to start seeing 'unofficial' edits of works, like the fan-edits of popular films. These will transform the original intention into something quite different. Imagine, if you will, a fan edit of the The Stand or War and Peace or any other long novel, according to the whims of the individuals who edit them. Who knows we might end up with a culture of edits that are better than the originals (in the case of Star Wars this has already been proven to be true).

Looks like Amazon has struck quicker than I thought. Apparently, amazon can erase what is on your kindle e book reader.

http://www.gottabemobile.com/2009/07...lways-have-it/

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/te...azon.html?_r=2

[primbs]

How many activists will we need to keep track of missing information?

The July 24 vote on AB23 (28 yes, 43 no, 8 not voting) has been officially expunged - erased as if it never happened.


"The whole thing seems to me rather Orwellian," Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, author of the oil-drilling bill, said Friday in a phone interview. "It does strike me as trying to take an inconvenient historical fact and shoving it down the memory hole."

The erasure of recorded votes is not unheard of in the Assembly, but it's most common during late-night sessions, when fewer journalists and activists are paying attention. This vote occurred in midafternoon, and was broadcast live on the California Channel, where anyone could follow the red and green lights next to members' names during the roll call.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...#ixzz0N7vYWZRU

[hansl]

Originally Posted by primbs

One can write on paper books and take better notes.

Would you do this to a book of mine it would not be the paper book going extinct either.

hansl hood

[hansl]

I think paper books will stay if only for the joy of dealing with them (not the mass market paperbacks, of course).
Flipping through real pages is much more satisfying than using the ebook readers' navigation widgets.

For mass market pbs at least you don't need to worry about your device on the beach, be it stolen or wrecked by UV-rays, sand and salt water.

Acid free paper books are more durable than any digital medium. You do not need to follow new hardware media generations because no disk, tape or whatever drives are needed.

An analogous copy of really important documents will always be an indispensable backup.

Paper books don't need electricity, even if the Sun stops shining

Paper books which show some craftsmanship like a beautifully bound and printed 15'' artbook touch my soul. It's not the content alone.

I cannot imagine to read graphic novels or French B.D. style comic books on a screen.

And finally, because I don't want that paper books disappear.

hansl

[Robertb]

Dear All:

My two cents is based on the COST to obey environmental constraints. ALL paper for hardcover and paperback books is bleached paper... giving it that white we prize. That bleaching releases what is known as PaperMill Sludge. PaperMill sludge contains 32 known carcinogens and so far cannot be remedied. You cannot burn it, bury it, or crush it to where it will not get into the groundwater. You can only contain it and containment, so far, is a disaster.

My point is that new regulations for PaperMill Sludge are enormously costly. Guess who pays, folks? Now, when you can buy a new eBook for $7.99 (coming soon) or buy a paperback for $24.99 (within two years)... which one are you going to do??

THAT is why the clock is ticking on paperbacks and hard covers. The sun is just rising on the Dawn of the eBook!!

[cvkemp]

That was the main reason that I got my EZreader. We need to save the trees and our environment so we can really save our health and we being.
I read so much about pirating ebooks and music. By the way I do not believe in pirating. Authors have to make a living like the rest of us. But we need to look at what is fair to all. there is to much of what is good for me in the world and not enough of what is good for all of us and also this world we live on.
Just my two cents

chuck