*as before my list of references will be at the end.
Books
VS. Electronic Readers
Television didn't cancel out the radio; Electronic
Readers (E-Readers) won’t trump books. People need books in their lives.
Although popularity for these devices has risen in the last four years many
people are still not convinced. E-Readers may be convenient but they cannot
replace the feeling of holding a book or looking at one’s collection of
literature proudly displayed on a shelf. In short books have been around so
long that it’s going to take more than a few plastic gadgets to get people to
change their ways.
E-Readers are devices that allow one to read newspapers,
books, magazines and other “printed material” on them in “digital format”
(Cancio, par. 3). Examples of these
readers are Amazon’s Kindle, Barns and Noble’s Nook, and the Apple iPad. Some
of these have internet capabilities, as well as games and movies, and some even
add hyperlinks into the reading material to take the reader to similar articles.
Although it sounds wonderful these devices have some downfalls. Besides not
being a “real” book they have a few other negatives as well. Some of these are: having a hard time skipping
through pages, trouble reading in direct sunlight, and, in the Kindle’s case,
only having a display in black and white. These are just a few of the problems
one may have with an e-reader.
Although e-readers seem popular right now, a 2010 poll actually
showed that many people, 80 percent in fact, do not even plan on buying an
e-reader any time soon (p. 3, pie graph). They may be convenient little gadgets
but they have cons just as much as they have positives. While they hold many
books at a time, e-readers are unreliable: imagine being in the middle of the
best part, about to find out whom the killer is, and all of a sudden… black
screen. The batteries have failed and now the reader has to wait until their
e-reader charges before finding out the climax. No one wants to go through
that, at least not if they’re an avid reader. Besides the batteries dying, an
e-reader can succumb to other things such as a crash, just like a computer or
an iPod, of course then one has to go out and purchase a new four hundred
dollar e-reader, or hope the warranty covers it Books are way more resilient
than e-readers, they “never run out of power and survive drops, spills, and
being run over” (Pogue, par. 5). A person spills one soda on their e-reader and
that’s it, time for a new one, books usually live to be read another day
regardless of spills and stains.
While most people are saying e-readers “could become the
iPod of books”, dedicated readers and fans of books are not convinced (p. 4). E-readers
are great, if a person only wants to choose from a certain number of books.
Take the Amazon Kindle for example, a person can only buy books from the
devices online bookshop, while this collection is vast, it is still limited. If
the store does not have a book the reader is looking for, they would not be
able to purchase it unless they went out and found the book in a store. Book
sharing is another problem; most people love to share their collection with
other avid readers. While e-readers have a program for book sharing it still
has some limitations such as “time constraints” on how long you can lend out a
book to someone (Cancio, par. 9). Another thing that deters a reader from
purchasing one of these gadgets is plain old cost: for a decent e-reader one
may pay up to five hundred dollars, not including warranty costs, and the price
of books. Most books only cost about nine dollars but recently authors have
been trying to up the price so they can keep their profits up without the cost
of hardbacks and paperback editions. So when one adds in the total cost, is it
really worth it? Not really. For people who love to visit secondhand book
stores, go to the library and borrow books from friends, it would be a waste of
money, that people in this economy, just don’t have.
One of the other major downfalls to e-readers is the loss
of jobs, and maybe even public libraries. Tons of people are employed in the
publishing industry, with all books going digital those people would be out of
jobs. Not to mention, if everyone switched over to digital, there would be no
more secondhand bookshops or chain bookstores. People would lose out on the
whole social side of books. Many people don’t just visit bookstores to find a
certain book; they sit down, discuss, and sometimes even argue with other
people over their favorite books. These are things people like to do and
without bookstores we would all be missing out. The same goes for libraries,
many people love to browse library shelves looking for nothing in particular,
it has a relaxing effect on us. Unfortunately many people “say books are passé
and should be removed from libraries to make way for the ‘future’ that
technology brings” (McLaren, par. 8). While technology is great we cannot
forget staples in our lives, libraries are places of learning, fun, or just a
nice place to read a good book.” Libraries would not be the same without
physical books, [they] would not be able to fulfill their traditional role as
[houses] of knowledge” and their very essence and atmosphere would be gone (p.
7). In short we need small bookstores and libraries; they are a part of our
culture and our happiness.
The one good thing about e-readers though are the
capabilities for students. Students are able to download their textbooks right
to an e-reader. This not only saves money but also saves a student’s back from
the weight of many textbooks. Although there are still problems with this, such
as some textbooks might not be available and students also seem to have a hard
time jumping “to specific pages during classroom discussions” (Reitan and
Jawaid, par. 6). With this is mind, students still prefer hard copies of text
as opposed to an expensive device that might not hold up through a student’s
college years. This aside, people opposed to e-readers argue that hyperlinks, games
and music that are on most e-readers are distracting to students and children
learning to read. Children will get distracted with all the “extras” and forget
to go deeper into the text if they even finish reading it at all.
In the end it all still comes down to personal
preference. We must all weigh the pros and cons individually and come to our
own conclusions. “E-book reading, like
online shopping, requires a trade-off. The customer must give up tactile and
visual pleasures in return for convenience” (Grafton, p. 7). Although these
little gadgets are gaining popularity, it’s safe to say book are likely not
going anywhere. No matter how big technology gets, books will never be outdated
because “there is an aura to books that is irreplaceable” (Bloom, p. 6) Books,
like the radio, are something that will last. Books are special and comforting,
something that can’t be replaced, and anyone who has ever curled up on a rainy
afternoon with a good paperback, knows that.
Works
Cited
Cancio, Colleen. “Are
E-readers Making Books Obsolete?” 24 Feb. 2011.
electronics.howstuffworks.com. Web.
McLaren, Bruce.
“Libraries without Books? Never?” Factivia. San Angelo Standard-Times.
2011. 15, June 2011.
Pogue, David, et al.
“How Will E-Books Affect Reading Habits?” Facts on File New Services.
2008. 19, Sept. 2008.
Reitan, Cheryl and
Fatima Jawaid. “E-Books on Campus: Gaining in Popularity.” SIRS
Knowledge Source. 2011. 26, Apr. 2011.
“E-Books.” Editorial.
Facts on File News Services. 2010. 12, Apr. 2010
No comments:
Post a Comment