Is a first edition of Robinson Crusoe a precious object? Of course. It's also (I'm guessing) quite rare and extremely expensive. Yet anyone with a Kindle or Nook (or even a computer) can get Robinson Crusoe from Project Gutenberg for free. Most of the PG audience isn't going to be able to afford a library full of fine leather-bound books. The choice isn't between the fine leather-bound book and the etext. It's between the etext and not being able to read the book at all.
We've seen this play out in many other areas. Mass-produced clothing is another example -- is it as nice as individually-tailored clothing? Nope. But most of us can't afford a wardrobe full of custom-tailored stuff (and historically, people didn't; most folks had a set of "work clothes" and maybe one set of "Sunday clothes", if that).
For that matter, exactly the same scenario played out when the printing press was introduced. Esthetes decried the loss of the hand-written medieval volumes, lovingly calligraphed and illuminated by highly skilled scribe/artists. They were breathtakingly beautiful. One book also cost somewhere around a year's wages for a skilled worker.
I'm not talking about rare books and antiquities, though. I'm talking about something far more common and mundane, and (to me at least) far more special.
The books I've inherited from my grandfather are not precious or valuable to anyone but me. They're precious because I know I'm touching the pages he touched, and when I come across the notes he's made in the margins, they're in his hand, written with the pen I remember watching him use when I was a child.
Most of us can't afford to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on rare books. But most of us can afford a couple dollars for a paperback at the used book store—even those of us who can't spend the $80-$200 that the OP calls "cheap" for a Kindle.
This is one of the reasons I like ebooks for their convenience and ability to be widely distributed, but I would be devastated to see them replace bound books as the only choice.
We're seeing the way that movie and music companies are eager to trample over consumers in the name of protecting their copyrights. Do we really want to turn books into something that can only be read if you have the right device to display them? I don't trust Amazon, Apple, or anyone else to be the gatekeeper of my books. I want the ability to turn my back on them if they start editing, deleting, or censoring books. I want to be able to say "fine, then, I'll just go to the store and get a real book, and your Kindle can suck it."
Some of my worries seem almost silly today, but we've seen too many things go from far-fetched to reality in a generation or less.
I have to say, I'm still pessimistic about bound books however. Perhaps future generations will be reading old books on their grandfather's Kindle and looking at old notes recorded on it -- interesting thought -- kind of bizarre to think about, even in this age.
This one aspect of the lack of ownership that I find problematic, but you don't see discussed as much. The way things are going, you won't even be able to inherit someone's kitchen table because they'd bought a $500 license for their immediate family to eat off of it. Died? Factory repossesses it.
Reading on a tablet type device meanwhile is a dream. Thin, lightweight. I hold the device the same for every page at both the start and end of the book. I can comfortably hold it with one hand even.
Being able to look up definitions is wonderfully useful. If you're on an ipad a quick internet search can be incredibly useful. I just read a Clash of Kings (sequel to Game of Thrones). I regularly looked up characters to refresh my memory on what they did or what they looked like (from the TV series).
When it comes to novels I would be quite happy to never hold a dead tree again. I much prefer burning dead dinosaurs.
I actually prefer the iPhone4 to the kindle for long reading sessions as it's even lighter.
ebook: $31.99
print + ebook: $32.99
print: $29.99
> print: $29.99
The fact the ebook costs more than the print book is just laughable. It reminds me of Ticketmaster's "delivery fee" that they charge when you print tickets at home.
Plus, think of the lock-in that the stores are missing out on. As a Kindle owner, if Amazon offered me bundles, I would probably never buy another book at Barnes & Noble.
One of my fears is that digital books will change people's reading habits, by having too much choice available instantly it seems too tempting to start many at once and not finish any. With time this could result in books & stories becoming shorter and this can't be a good thing.
I do however realise that these feelings of mine do not make much sense and that one day, when the book I want to read isn't available in a physical form, I will have to surrender and get the digital version. I agree that that day will be a sad one, but many people felt (and still feel) that way about vinyls, and it hasn't prevented the mass from evolving and embracing the new capabilities of the new formats.
I can imagine a future where the books as we know them now are just one specific (and old fashioned) way to tell a story, in a world full of other formats and possibilities. I believe that change must not be feared and as long as the whole world doesn't go crazy, we should be fine :-)
Not ebooks in their current state, of course, but by a hypothetical electronic book that has more capability. I suspect paper books will become like vinyl, hobbyists and retro obsessed will still have a lot, but most people will only keep a few for sentimental reasons (e.g. your grandfather).
There are some great ideas here for anyone who wants to take advantage of them:
- Add drawing support and overdrawing/highlighting to the ereader (this should be there now, lord knows why it isn't).
- Put a display on the back of the ereader so people can see the title of what you're reading. This sounds terribly egotistical, but so is twitter, and it's not doing too bad :-)
- Use a (very: e.g. 8'x4') large picture frame/bookcase display to show all the books (and media and art and whatever else) you currently have in your living room or study or whatnot. The technology is not quite up to doing this at scale, but I can see it happening. I do think a human friendly way to browse media not tied to a remote control or sitting down in front of a rectangle or peering through the aperture of a handheld device will be a majorly successful consumer electronic device in the future.
I also don't think that ebooks will somehow demote text-only to secondary status. After all, what do you think you're reading now? :-) Even if you look at the web in general, the best sites (for reading) have text as the backbone, and if they have other media, it's more about supporting the text with a diagram or an example -- not a stage or a soundtrack.
EDIT: Oh! and for battery life -- go solar :-)
There are kindle covers that look and feel like a hardback book
http://www.amazon.com/Verso-Prologue-Cover-Kindle-Fire/dp/B0...
Pure information like a book has to go the digital route--there are too many advantages, practically, economically, environmentally. And many would cite the lack of chrome and physical presence of a Kindle an aesthetic advantage over books.
Were you ever in highschool?
Lending it to other people.
It doesn't matter how many fucking awful Facebook plugins you write, there is nothing as convenient as "Have you read [X]? I have a copy, here, let me get it."
Until I can lend my Kindle books to people - with no restrictions, I will continue buying physical books.
If the future is one of ebooks and real books coexisting, I'm all for it.
But if the more likely scenario plays out, where publishers use the higher profit margins and control that come from cutting out the printers and stores, and books die as physical objects, then I can't begin to express the sadness and loss I feel.
The joy that comes from holding a book in my hands that I know was read and held by my grandfather years ago is irreplaceable. So is the beauty of a well-designed book, from the paper choices to the typography to the feel of the spine in my hand. And of course, the conversations that flow from seeing the title of a book someone's reading, or browsing their bookshelves at home.
The very lack of technology in a book preserves their integrity against the strong temptations of adding sounds, animations, interactivity, advertising, even video. It's easy to imagine a world in the not so distant future where the idea of reading just words alone is sneered at as primitive and boring.
Is there anyone that can offer any optimism?