Funny article about the future of paper books

[Jaime_Astorga]

Heh, my chemistry teacher talked about slide rules and extrapolating numbers and how we had it all made. I am young enough to never have had to use one; cheap calculators have been available since I was born.

Originally Posted by Format C:

Wait.
Typewriter is an instrument to get a job done.
A novel is not.

Maybe there are a few typemaniacs who type gibberish for hours for the fun of it, I don't know.
But you can't compare it.
Every person I know who loves to ride horses uses cars or trains to commute. No one of them uses buses for fun, they ride horses.
And yes, cars have replaced horses and saddlecoaches as means of transportation.

I'm not talking about the better way to have a job done: no matter how much you like the sound of it, a Waterman is better than a plume.

A physical book is also a way to get a job done. It is a way to deliver information (specifically, words) to you so you can read it. And eBooks do a better job of it.

It's not like devices which are used purely for entertainment have been spared the march of progress. After all, digital downloads and CDs replaced LP discs and tapes.

[maxbookworm]

This discussion compels me to quote from my favorite e-reading article: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/...ure-e-book.ars

Horses for courses

If you remain unconvinced, here's one final exercise, in the grand tradition of a particular family of Internet analogies. Take all of your arguments against the inevitability of e-books and substitute the word "horse" for "book" and the word "car" for "e-book." Here are a few examples to whet your appetite for the (really) inevitable debate in the discussion section at the end of this article.

"Books will never go away." True! Horses have not gone away either.

"Books have advantages over e-books that will never be overcome." True! Horses can travel over rough terrain that no car can navigate. Paved roads don't go everywhere, nor should they.

"Books provide sensory/sentimental/sensual experiences that e-books can't match." True! Cars just can't match the experience of caring for and riding a horse: the smells, the textures, the sensations, the companionship with another living being.

Lather, rinse, repeat. Did you ride a horse to work today? I didn't. I'm sure plenty of people swore they would never ride in or operate a "horseless carriage"—and they never did! And then they died.

[Jaime_Astorga]

Originally Posted by maxbookworm

I'm sure plenty of people swore they would never ride in or operate a "horseless carriage"—and they never did! And then they died.

I really love the nonchalantness of this sentence - it drives home the point that, in the long run, the holdouts are irrelevant. When the world is made up of people who have since birth read most of their words on a digital screen, it won't matter what supposed advantages physical books have over eBooks.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Jaime_Astorga

I really love the nonchalantness of this sentence - it drives home the point that, in the long run, the holdouts are irrelevant. When the world is made up of people who have since birth read most of their words on a digital screen, it won't matter what supposed advantages physical books have over eBooks.

Word.

[cfrizz]

Originally Posted by maxbookworm

This discussion compels me to quote from my favorite e-reading article: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/...ure-e-book.ars

"I'm sure plenty of people swore they would never ride in or operate a "horseless carriage"—and they never did! And then they died."

Outstanding line & SO true!!

Originally Posted by Jaime_Astorga

I really love the nonchalantness of this sentence - it drives home the point that, in the long run, the holdouts are irrelevant. When the world is made up of people who have since birth read most of their words on a digital screen, it won't matter what supposed advantages physical books have over eBooks.

I totally agree. This pretty much all boils down to people who don't/won't accept change. They are free to do so. Me personally, I'm a lot more flexible than that.

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Word.

AMEN.

[Iphinome]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

I totally agree. This pretty much all boils down to people who don't/won't accept change. They are free to do so. Me personally, I'm a lot more flexible than that.

Cue Bob Dylan... Hey where'd my dot matrix printer go? Damn kids and their inkjets now where was I? oh yes, the times they are a changing...

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by omk3

Actually, I did kind of like tearing off the perforated hole punches
Ahh, the fun we had in the old days!

Dot Matrix printers still get used, though. You can print on a bunch of things which other printers choke on (no heat...), and in some applications a cheap printer with a continuous paper feed is useful.

They're still loud, slow and annoying. Sorry for shattering the nostalgia trip

[rogue_librarian]

But that's precisely the point: the have been relegated to use in very special situations and circumstances...

[Format C:]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

The point is: It's not that much of a pleasure... it's just something they're used to. And once they've gone without for a while, and discover the benefits of buying instantaneously, choosing readers, controlling displays, and storing entire collections in their palm, the vast majority of them won't even remember what the big deal was about touching, feeling and smelling paper, and more than car drivers reminisce about hand-cranking their cars. They'll get over it, as people continue to demonstrate in other areas of development and technological advancement... this will be no different.

Ah, now I understand, thanks.

Still, I'm talking about people who read mostly for pleasure. And a large percentage of them enjoys the experience of feeling a book.
I'm not guessing: I've met them by the hundreds in forums and blogs. And they're all saying the same thing: words are not enough.

That's why I thing present ebook technology cannot replace printed books.



Typewriting, calculus, transportation and those areas where technology is nothing more than an aid to reach a goal are a completely different thing.

Other analogy: did engines completely replace sails in boats? No. Sailboats are still used for leisure, albeit we won't ever see a galleon used as an oil tanker....

[Format C:]

Originally Posted by Jaime_Astorga

Heh, my chemistry teacher talked about slide rules and extrapolating numbers and how we had it all made. I am young enough to never have had to use one; cheap calculators have been available since I was born.


A physical book is also a way to get a job done. It is a way to deliver information (specifically, words) to you so you can read it. And eBooks do a better job of it.

It's not like devices which are used purely for entertainment have been spared the march of progress. After all, digital downloads and CDs replaced LP discs and tapes.

I think you're mixing up things a little.
I try to explain better those analogies.

Music:
No recording will ever replace a real orchestra in an auditorium.
No audio only file will ever replace music videoclips.
But, different recordings will always replace one another (78rpm were replaced bay 45 and 33, some of them were replaced by CDs, SACDs, DAT tapes, mp2, mp3, AAC, APE, FLAC, whatever...).
Different videoclips will replace each other (VHS, laser disc, DVD, Blu Ray....)
And even younger musicians will replace the older in the orchestra.

Books:
Deliver information is the writer's act, not the reader's.
Hypertext will replace paper completely when it's up to find information or lookup a word in a dictionary. It's just a matter of time.
Ebooks will replace pbooks for visual people. Audiobooks have for some auditive people. None of them won't for tactile and olfattive people.



What I'm saying is: there is at least a 33% of readers who won't ever be completely satisfied by ebooks as they're now.

[rogue_librarian]

Originally Posted by Format C:

I'm not guessing: I've met them by the hundreds in forums and blogs. And they're all saying the same thing: words are not enough.

Well, I meet dozens of people on a regular basis for whom they are. Words are, in fact, all they're interested in. The rest is nice to have at times, perhaps, but not considered essential. Pair that with other advantages of digital formats (hooray for full text search!) and you can imagine where the future's headed.

That's why I thing present ebook technology cannot replace printed books.

Not today, or tomorrow. Not even next year, but eventually it will. Printed books will become a niche market for bibliophile collectors and connoisseurs. The mass market will be almost entirely digital.

Other analogy: did engines completely replace sails in boats? No.

Of course not. People still sail for fun. But how large a percentage of the world's shipping is done on sailing ships? How many commercial passengers moved?

Sailboats are still used for leisure, albeit we won't ever see a galleon used as an oil tanker....

Exactly. Books will be around, no worries, the way LPs and analog photography still are. Niche markets, as I've said.

[Format C:]

I'm sure plenty of people swore they would never ride in or operate a "horseless carriage"—and they never did! And then they died.

And Ascot is the most famous british car race.
Varenne and Ribot are Renault models.
And everybody can go to the restaurant and have a car beef steak.

[Format C:]

Originally Posted by rogue_librarian

Well, I meet dozens of people on a regular basis for whom they are. Words are, in fact, all they're interested in. The rest is nice to have at times, perhaps, but not considered essential. Pair that with other advantages of digital formats (hooray for full text search!) and you can imagine where the future's headed.

Are you saying that people who enjoy the physical feeling of books do not exist?
I can easily proof you're wrong.


Not today, or tomorrow. Not even next year, but eventually it will. Printed books will become a niche market for bibliophile collectors and connoisseurs. The mass market will be almost entirely digital.

That's what I'm saying.
When ebooks will give the tactile, olfattive and auditive feeling that books do, they'll completely replace printed books.
Not now.
Not in the next decade.

Originally Posted by rogue_librarian

Of course not. People still sail for fun. But how large a percentage of the world's shipping is done on sailing ships? How many commercial passengers moved?

Again you're just repeating what I said.
I0m talking about people who read for fun, which is the vast majority of non schooltext book market today.

Originally Posted by rogue_librarian

Exactly. Books will be around, no worries, the way LPs and analog photography still are. Niche markets, as I've said.

I bet that "niche" market will be one third of the whole at least.
Until ebooks give a complete and a better experience for a lower price.

[Format C:]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

I totally agree. This pretty much all boils down to people who don't/won't accept change. They are free to do so. Me personally, I'm a lot more flexible than that.

So am I.
But I'n not talking about people who don't accept changes. I'm talking about people who love reading books and don't want to give up on that.

When all the births will be in vitro, we will still enjoy sex.
We won't do it for reproduction, maybe, but I'm sure we will still have fun from a good intercourse.

[omk3]

What is a "complete and better experience" in your mind?
Do you want ebooks or ebook readers to smell of paper? To become yellow and musty with age? Do you want them to play a sound when you turn a page? Do you want to be able to rip them apart? To change their weight according to the size of the book? To make it easy to accidentally turn two pages at once (I do it with paper books all the time, and wonder why the continuity suddenly doesn't make sense). To give you paper-cuts on demand? To be awkward to hold open when you reach the middle of a thick book?

Yes paper books will always exist, as do vinyl records. Some people will love them, some more than others, and will collect them. Even people who buy vinyl records actually listen to the mp3 versions more often - I know, I live with one of them!

I really don't understand what you're trying to prove.