EBooks – Friend or Foe?

Bound Books – Soon to be obsolete?

If there’s one thing any University student can bet they’ll have to pay money for at the start of each term, it’s a pile of new books. Not only do you have to try and find the things to begin with, but then you spend your time hauling great piles of them to lectures and seminars. In today’s cyber culture however, how long will it be before bound books become a thing of the past?

Typing ‘E-Books’ into Google will get you in excess of over 17 million hits, each website promoting these electronic wonders. Scholars are already beginning to dispute the pros and cons of the Electronic Book. The question is, however, how do they compare with good, old fashioned paper?

Well, to begin with they’re cheaper. Sort of. Well, once you buy the equipment to download them onto of course. You can either opt for a laptop, or buy a specially made ‘reader device’ for around £80 or so second hand. Then there’s a fee for each book you download. Hmm…So perhaps not a great deal cheaper after all.

But at least you don’t have to carry five or six big books around with you all the time. Granted, you have to remember to keep the device well charged up to ensure you have long enough to actually get to read the things you need to. Oh, and don’t forget to take a rest every twenty minutes or so. You are, after all, going to be looking at a screen for a good deal of time.

Perhaps I’m being a little too cynical towards these pieces of technological advancement. With all due respect, EBooks already have their place in student culture. Take online journals for example, at some point every student will have pressed ‘ctrl+f’ on their keyboard in order to find a phrase or a paragraph they can use as a reference source. In essence, it seems as though EBooks are used mainly for that purpose within student life. They’re not so much used to read, per say, as to quickly skim through in order to find the information that’s directly needed.

So will there continue to be room for both types of written format in the future? Well, as long as we’re not all plugged into our separate computers via a cable and downloading things straight into our mind – alright, alright…I ought to stop reading so much SF – I believe that fiction at least, will remain as strongly paperbound as ever. With regards to reference books however…who knows? I suppose it’s up to personal preference as to what each individual will want to use as a medium for reading in the future.

One thing’s for certain however, whichever way we look at it; whether electronically downloaded or taken from the library shelf, books will always remain to be readily available for those who require them. Thankfully.

7 Responses to “EBooks – Friend or Foe?”

1. Polprav says:

   October 16, 2009 at 2:39 am

   Hello from Russia!
   Can I quote a post in your blog with the link to you?
2. Sara Slack says:

   October 16, 2009 at 12:26 pm

   You can indeed, go right ahead. ^_^
3. J.Park says:

   December 7, 2009 at 3:16 pm

   I bought a refurbished Kindle 2 few days back. I have no words to describe this product. First of all you must know I am a voracious reader and read more than 4 books a month. The problem I always faced was what to do with those books after I am done. Don’t get me wrong I would like to have them all in my collection but I have a job which takes me places and I can not carry all my books with me which is actually a lot. With Kindle I found a solution to the problem. Now I have a digital library instead of having a physical one.

   Secondly, I take public transport from my home to office and it takes me more than an hour and a half one side. I would like to read on the way but my eyes get strained if I read on a bus. Along came Kindle…. now when I am on a bus I start text to speech and listen all the way to the office. This increased my reading time and I have started finishing a lot more books than before. This feature uses a lot of battery and the battery lasts for maximum 2-3 days but it is worth it.

   Thirdly, I love the way it looks. Its sleek design and the way I can hold in one hand(any one) and keep reading.

   Also there are a few books which are available on Kindle only by Amazon and believe me it is a great collection and don’t forget the free kindle books Amazon give as a promotion every few days. Its awesome.

   Now the problems… Kindle is good for reading but not for browsing through the book. I like to quickly browse through a book before a start reading it but it is not possible here. Also when using the table of contents etc the 5 way stick is not very comfortable a way to go. Browsing web becomes problematic for the same reason.

   If anybody likes to read books like I do, Kindle is worth every penny. The Nice to have and Great to have features of this device far far outweigh the problem with the 5 way stick. A must have device for every reader.
4. Boudica says:

   December 12, 2009 at 12:10 am

   What a really well thought out review! Very good and informative. I especially like the mention of the text to speech part and the use of the batteries.

   I know quite a few reviewers on Amazon who have a Kindle, and they rave about it. I never thought about a refurbished model to cut the price down. I will have to look into this.

   Thank you for a very good review.

   Boudica
5. Inell Trainum says:

   April 20, 2010 at 9:55 am

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6. GMT says:

   April 21, 2010 at 2:16 pm

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7. Will Casario says:

   May 26, 2010 at 8:14 am

   I wish more people would write blogs like this that are actually fun to read. With all the fluff floating around on the net, it is rare to read a blog like yours instead.