Digital Books Start A New Chapter
Digital Books Start A New Chapter
Morning commuters often read the newspaper, a magazine, or a book while riding the train to work in the morning. A recent technological advance that allows the batteries of palm pilots to run for a much longer time period will soon change this common early morning scene.
The new technology works likes this: “A small company called E Ink has created a method for arranging tiny black and white capsules into words and images with an electronic charge. Because no power is used unless the reader changes the page, devices with the technology could go as long as 20 books between battery charges. The text also looks just as sharp as ink on a printed page, since each capsule is the size and pigment of a grain of laser-jet toner. This is changing the way people read books and the online book selling industry is starting to catch on.
Mirroring Apple’s website for selling itunes, Sony now offers over 10,000 book titles on its website. Sony is also selling a product called “The Reader” for about $400 dollars which is approxiamately the size and weight of a regular sized novel which buyers can download books to and read in the same fashion. The publisher random house has followed suit offereing 25,000 books for sale online. They, as will Sony, charge a price per page downloading fee for all categories of books.
What has happened to personal libraries? These new ways for reading for entertainment seems kind of odd to me, but I guess it’s the convenience of buying online that has changed the book industry forever. Recently, a professor of my said that she had bought and ipod for the sole purpose of listening to books on it. What is this world coming to?.....As you can see; I am having trouble finding articles to write about, leave some awsome feedback.
3 Comments:
The concept of e-books is unusual to me. I understand the convenience of downloading books from a website; however the whole experience of reading a book is lost. You don't have pages to turn, and to me, it would seem like I'm reading off a computer screen, which can start to hurt some people's eyes. Plus, what happens if you lose all your data? Then you're screwed and you paid a bunch of money for these books that you don't have. I think the idea is better for short term reading like the daily news, or to store research. This is another tactic to try and create new products and differentiate brands. I could never read a book off a screen...but that's just me!
What a world we live in. How much longer before Apple begins to offer something similar to this on iTunes? The next generation of iPod's coming out will be all screen, so it is only a matter of time before they create a larger version of it to compete with Sony. I personally think this a really cool idea for busy people who love to shop online and don't want the hassle of having stacks of books lying around their house. I guess this is the beginning of the end for book shelves. However, I believe it will be a very long time before something like this actually catches on, if it ever does. It will take awhile for people to get accustomed to reading books off a screen instead of a page. Sony should also have a feature allowing people to make notes on the pages, as many people I know, especially professors, love to make all kinds of notes in their books as they read.
I think this is a pretty cool idea. I mean for one thing its saving a hell of a lot of paper. I think people might have trouble adjusting to the whole concept though. Theres something about curling up with a good book that might not be the same with an electronic device. Maybe thats just because we know the difference. I think by the time my kids are grown thats how they will have always done it. It's funny you mention what will happen to personal libraries...I think it'll just be that much more of a status symbol to have a room full of books when no one even sells paper books anymore.
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