Are E-Readers as Good as the ‘Real Thing’?
Posted by Adam | Posted in Books and Technology, Industry | Posted on 05-07-2011
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Well, it’s official. Earlier this year, Amazon US sales of e-books outstripped the number of paperbacks sold for the first time. The on-going rise of the e-reader seems unlikely to be stopped, especially now older people – who typically read more books – are embracing them (interestingly, 6% of people over 55 own an e-book reader while only 5% of 18-24 year olds do).
This suggests that there is definitely something in the e-reader and it’s not just a passing fad. This has led to a lot of articles being written about the ‘death of the book’ and a ‘crisis in publishing’, among other doom-laden topics of woe. All of this raises the question – how do e-readers compare to the ‘real thing’? Are they as good as regular, old-fashioned books?
To me, most of this seems to be a matter of taste. Some people prefer the weight of a book in their hand and the ability to turn the pages manually. Others prefer the ease of technology and love the fact that e-readers are so light and convenient – a whole library! On one little thing! It practically fits in your pocket! All of this is great and, yes, e-book readers can fit a fantastic array of stuff on them, but a tiny part of me does have to wonder… what if it got lost? Losing a single paperback would be unfortunate, but to lose a whole library’s worth of books, even if you could somehow get them replaced, would be hugely inconvenient.
There’s also the question of practicalities to consider. Sometimes, it’s convenient to have tons of books at your disposal on your Kindle, iPad or Sony Reader. Other times, it might not matter too much at all. Either way, neither regular books nor e-readers are that great in the bath, so it all seems a bit close to call.
Whichever way you look at it, e-readers seem set to stay and grow in use over the coming months and years. Is this a crisis for the book? I don’t think so. They’ve survived this long and people still love them madly – including people who are avid fans of e-readers – so it seems unlikely that they’re on the way out. E-readers, though, do offer a new type of reading experience that will inevitably appeal to a lot of people.
And, if they make reading even the slightest bit more popular or ‘cool’, well… they can only be a good thing, can’t they?
