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According to a report made by CNN, physical books will be a thing of the past in a mere five years. In an interview with CNN’s Howard Kurtz, tech mogul Nicholas Negroponte, founder of One Laptop per Child, said the physical book’s days are numbered. This story coincides with another article in The Wall Street Journal which reported that electronic book sales have now overtaken sales of hardcover books.
With hardcover books down, can paperback be far behind? Are you prepared to curl up with a good Kindle or iPad on a winter’s night?
One has to admit that you can carry more books in a Kindle than you can in a book bag. And since ebooks are marginally cheaper than physical books, your Kindle will eventually pay for itself – after the purchase of a mere (!!?!) 40 books or so. Maybe, the time of the ebook has finally come and the time of the actual book has finally gone…
On the other hand… the increase in sales of ebooks has *not* corresponded with a similar drop in sales in hardcover books. In fact, hardcover book sales haven’t dropped at all. This means that there has been no indication that the physical book has lost its appeal. Real books are still very economical while the Kindle is still quite expensive (and don’t get me started on the over-priced iPad). And although one may make the case that using ebooks saves a lot of trees, one must consider the coal-fired electricity need to view and transmit an ebook, along with the lead, lithium, and Lord know what else goes into the construction of a Kindle. Keep in mind, that book will remain readable long after your Kindle or iPad has been dumped in a landfill.
I don’t know about you, but I think real books are going to be around for a while yet.
Related articles
- E-Book Sales Continue to Surge (nytimes.com)
- Will physical books be gone in five years? (cnn.com)
- Nicholas Negroponte: The Physical Book Is Dead In 5 Years (techcrunch.com)
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The idea of this scares and saddens me. I love my son’s Kindle but I still love the feel of a book in my hands.
I sure hope not. I cant think of anything more relaxing than reading a book. I will definitely vote no!
Some twenty years ago, when I was in the printing industry, we were told to begin training for new careers because the world was soon going paperless; now there is more material being printed than ever, even though the technology to go paperless is so readily accessible.
I just saw this post and thought it was interesting. I have began reading magazines on the Ipad, and I think it’s great. Haven’t started on the Books yet. However, a plus with the paperless idea is the cheapness of it. Magazines on the Ipad are a lot more cost effective then getting actual paper magazines. I got a 10 issue subscribtion and another 30 issue subscription for 13 dollars. Normally, the 2 magazine and that manysubscriptions would cost me over 100bucks!!!!