Physical Books Successfully Coexisting With Ebooks

An anonymous reader writes: When ebooks experienced their meteoric rise a few years ago, many were predicting the death of physical books. Early sales figures seemed to bear that out — ebooks kept getting more popular, and physical books were on the decline. But over the past couple of years, sales for both types leveled off. Rather than simple additive or deleterious effects, we're now seeing how technology has altered the literary landscape in more complex ways. Serials are returning, authors are able to more directly keep in contact with readers, and networks are developing to keep independent bookstores afloat. Libraries are being supplemented by companies who offer free access to ebooks at certain Wi-Fi hotspots. So, given that the changes so far have been less dramatic and more interesting than predicted, where do you think the ebook/physical-book situation will be in another 10 years?

Comments

As a library patron, i dont see much change.

[nimbius]

E-Books are rentable from the library. even the hardware is rentable, so aside from a slight learning curve and different constraints on the total number of titles i can check out, the disruption proposed by e-books is minimal. things like library reservations or intra-library requests are also processed much more quickly, given the nature of the book being digital.

Call me old fashioned, but there just isnt a valid replacement in my world for a physical book. If its a title i truly love, (hitchhikers guide, tolkien, etc...) I'll give sincere consideration to purchasing a copy for my personal bookshelf, but reaching for an e-reader on a rainy day still has no emotional context for me like a real book would. Ereaders are simultaneously more convenient and less convenient...leave one on a plane and its inexorably more expensive than buying a used copy online, but try taking your bookshelf with you everywhere you go. Theres no clear winner.

Physical books are better

[gurps_npc]

There are only a few cases when ebooks make sense.

Where space is limited - such as on a long vacation.

Where the book is really big and heavy.

But when there are diagrams/maps in a book, the ebooks fail miserably.

When I want to read in the tub, ebooks fail.

When I want something that can fit in my pants pocket, ebooks fail - but paperbacks deliver.

When I want to borrow/lend a book, ebooks make it too much trouble, but a paperback is easy.

When I want to throw a book in a backpack, paperback wins.

Re:Physical books are better

[swillden]

When I want to read in the tub, ebooks fail.

To be fair, if you drop your physical book in the tub, it won't fare much better than the eBook. Actually, the eBook would fare better in a sense since you would be able to view it from another device.

Put the eBook reader in a big ziploc baggie. You can read in the tub without fear of damage. You can't do this with a dead tree book; too hard to turn the pages without opening the baggie.

Re:Physical books are better

[Anonymous Coward]

There are only a few cases when a physical book makes sense.

Where you want a really good copy you can be proud of.
When you're going to be without power for weeks.
When you can't carry your tablet/phone/ereader for some reason.
If you're old and set in your ways and don't like"'them newfangled gadgets."

When there are diagrams/maps in the book, ebooks are just fine, unless you have a lousy reader.

When you want to read in the tub, a paperback is just as fragile as an ebook reader. I will concede, however, that if you drop your paperback in the tub, you're out the cost of one paperback, whereas if you drop your tablet/ebook reader in the tub, you're out potentially hundreds of dollars.

When you want something that fits in your pants pocket, carry your smartphone and read on that.

When you want to borrow/lend a book, I have two words for you. Apprentice Alf. (But you didn't hear it from me)

When you want to throw a book in a backpack, carry your tablet instead.

In addition:

I can carry my entire ebook library on my tablet, so if I'm going on vacation I don't have to pick and choose which to bring with me. Try carrying your entire physical library.

My tablet has a back light, so I can read in low light without needing a flashlight.

My ebooks are all on my hard drive and get backed up regularly. What device I choose to read them on is irrelevant, so even if my tablet gets lost or stolen, I get to keep my library. Try backing up your physical library.

I can even back up my library in the cloud, so if I forget to bring my "book" with me, all I need is a computer with internet access and I can download my library. Try downloading one of your physical books that you left at home.

I can run my ebooks through a text-to-speech program and listen to them instead of reading them, if I so choose. Granted, the quality isn't all that great, but try "listening" to your physical books.

If the font is too small for my eyes, both my ebook reader and my tablet will allow me to increase the size. If you want to increase the font size on a paper book, you're going to need to carry an extra device: a magnifying glass.

My ebooks have full text search. Some, but not all, physical books have an index, but you're limited to just the terms the author/publisher thought were relevant, plus the search takes much longer.

I use Calibre to organize my ebook library, so it's trivial to find books I want. I can sort on author, title, series, tag, or whatever other piece of data I feel like. With physical books, you're limited to one sort. Try changing the sort order on your physical library. Go ahead. I dare you.

Reading a paperback book requires you to hold the page open. It's admittedly not a lot of work, but that nearly constant exertion over possibly hours can get really annoying, especially for an activity that's supposed to be relaxing. And if your hands slip, you've lost your place. With an ebook reader, you can just sit the thing in your lap or on a desk. Hands-free except when turning the page.

When I'm having conversations with my friends about books we've read and we want to check something from the book, I can pull out my tablet (which I always keep with me) and look it up right there. Try doing that with your physical books, assuming you don't know ahead of time which book you're going to discuss.

And those are just the advantages I can think of off the top of my head.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of areas where physical books excel. I just think it's disingenous to so flippantly dismiss ebooks simply because they don't align with the way you read books. For some people, paper books are the clear winner. For others (like me), ebooks are the clear winner. And you know what? That's okay. There's nothing wrong with them coexisting.

Re:No change

[Applehu Akbar]

The obvious first market for ebooks has been anything you read sequentially, like novels. Ebook adoption climbs a hill for works you need to jump around in. That grease-thumbed reference book you keep beside your workbench will be the physical book's last stand.

As the application interface improves for ebooks, some advantages of the medium will open up, such as the ability to search fast and to display complex, interactive charts. In a few years you will be able to have your reference ebook standing up on the workbench so that you can say, "Hey Siri! Play me the install sequence for the right front wheel motor starting from Step 4!"

While we wait for that halcyon day, can we at least have the Kindle app give us a straight count of 'pages left in chapter' rather than trying to compute some mythical reading time?