Literanista
June 4, 2009
My best friend recently asked me my opinion on eReaders and which I thought was best… It turned out to be a long conversation that I ended by saying that I had yet to be impressed and was tired of lugging around a purse containing my cell, my camera, Flip, ipod, [insert gadget/item here]…
Even the cheapest ereader costs a couple of hundred dollars but that is par for the course with most new tech items. I just read that one of my favorite authors, Sherman Alexie, considers ereaders elitist. That’s an interesting perspective.
As someone, who grew up incredibly poor – I never had the luxury of going to a bookstore to pick out books as a child. The only new books I got where selected from the Scholastic school brochure, which I awaited very enthusiastically and those weren’t always offered. All my other books were flea market finds. Books were prized treasures to me (and still are). In the larger spectrum of things and more so then, 500 years ago, printed books were elitist items, go further back in history and the divide widens more and more by gender, class and monasticism.
In an age, where almost everyone regardless of income level has a cell phone or an ipod, I wonder if down the line at some point in the future everyone will be able to afford an ereader or have access to one for free. Will the textbooks of the future come on an ereader?
Lastly, I wondered what is your take on this question: Do you think ereaders are elitist? Do you think that will change?
Author
Literanista
Just wanted to say.. that I am against the E-Reader for widespread use.
I will never want one. My eyes get enough strain with the computer and the TV. I don't care how GOOD a Kindle is. I don't care if I get it for free. I like picking up a book, lugging it around. I don't care if my book gets scratched or gets spilled coffee on it. (Most of the time.) I was reading somewhere else that the author is the one who gets reamed in the e-reader process, such as at a price of 9.99 per e-book,that gets swallowed up with the overhead and the only one making money would be the publishers. Nothing against the publisher.. but it just is not a win-win situation, especially given the way the piracy issues would undoubtedly occur.
Some people are more tech savvy and enjoy the feel of a shiny new electronic device. That is not me, and I hope my children don't contradict me either.
I will prefer the shiny $25 book in an old musty bookstore over the E-book any day.
Lately I've been thinking that printed-and-bound books will at some point return to elitist status. When digital takes over and physical print runs shrink, a beautifully bound hardcover book may be a very rare thing.
That's a really intriguing idea.
I will not buy an item that is dedicated to one thing. Therefore, I do not foresee owning a Kindle or Sony Reader. I am an ereader and I do it all on my Palm Centro, which is my phone, camera, appointment book, address book, music player (not so much), and it has internet access so I can check my internet mail, twitter and fb. I travel a lot and need to carry light. Though nothing really beats holding a book.
I think that ereaders are elitist in the sense that those who buy them wish to appear elite. However, I agree with Ann's comment that in the future the situation will flip. To a true book lover an ebook can never be the same as real paper and ink. Digital texts lack the wonderful, freshly-bound smell…
Nice post.
The silver lining of the app-ification of books is that it has expanded the potential audience for eBooks.Presently,everybody with a smartphone can download and read any e-book from any publisher with a couple taps.The bad news is that,if current trends hold,less and less individuals will have a device that is entirely to read.Books are turning out to be simply one more app, and the publishing industry's glorious e-reader future is by all accounts blurring from perspective.
@Jessica Glenn.
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