“When it happens, this uptick in reading will be about as salient a behavioral change as we’ve ever ascribed to a technological device — especially if you remember back to the 1980s and 1990s, when common knowledge held the opposite: that we were all quite slowly becoming soporific, TV-guzzling stooges,” Dannen writes. “And it will happen because, for the first time in 600 years, reading will have finally gotten easier.”
Here is why e-book readers will increase reading:
• Tons of choices
• Beauty
• Faster and more fluid
• More comprehensive
• No spam
• They read to you
Dannon writes, “Reading hasn’t kept pace with the improvements of our other human pastimes: listening (to music), talking (by phone) and watching (movies and TV). Unlike with other other media, books have hardly changed. It’s as if they’re mired in roughly the same time period as the daguerrotype, the record, and the telegraph. Paper books aren’t searchable, can’t be easily excerpted, don’t have links to footnotes and can’t backup your notes. They can can show pictures, but not video; they can be released yearly, but can’t be updated every 24 hours. (This isn’t to say I dislike paper books — it’s simply that not every book needs to exist in print.)”
“There are still obstacles, of course: e-book pricing could still end up over-inflated, and e-magazine prices will need to reach approximate parity with their paper counterparts, despite more production cost — but at least we have a good array of devices emerging, and the comfort of knowing that in 20 years, we may be more literate than ever,” Dannon writes.
Read more in the full article here.
“Me Talk Pretty One Day” – David Sedaris
“…e-magazine prices will need to reach approximate parity with their paper counterparts, despite more production cost..”
I could see increased costs if the emags content is enhanced with videos and expanded content using hyperlinks. But I wouldn’t think that it would cost much to export an electronic magazine layout in ebook format. Plus, they would save printing and mailing costs. In addition, supply inherently equals demand in the ebook world as long as your servers and the internet connections are up to the task. You can add readership at basically no additional cost.
I like this. We all know Apple users have been more educated. At least the stats indicate it.
Now Apple will be working the magic on a broader range of people and maybe changing millions to the Mac.
Ballmer should just buy a chair factory and get some excercise so he can be lean for a new job.
It’s quite simple maybe production cost could be slightly higher but you can’t lend someone a ebook or magazine so if you want there content you will have to pay for it. So volume should mire than compensate the extra proction costs
>>We all know Apple users have been more educate<<
One would think, until you read the post from Kitch.
Maybe some will even learn to spell.
Yay for reading. It is fantastic to think that millions of people will be able to easily increase their intake of information.
iPads in schools is very exciting.
Another great tool and one I will continue to use when I start using the iPad is the simple rss reader.
Rss is one of the greatest ideas for massively increasing and maintaining information intake.
It is my #1 Internet activity and has been for years.
I do however find apple lacking in the rss reader dept with their offerings. Would really love to see them do an overhaul on this.
but, but, but… His highness SJ said people don’t read books anymore?!?!
Guess you have to be a Mac hypocrite to be all juiced up about this stuff.
This writer says that iPads may encourage more people to read. Don’t see how that contradicts what SJ said. Try again.
@MadMac
It’s nothing to do with hypocracy. It’s is mis-direction plain and simple. Just like the best magicians.
Compared with TV, reading is becoming more appealing to me every year as the quality of offerings declines.
Real News coverage, from real journalists, with in depth analysis is most likely to be found in print, not from the talking heads on TV or from Radio. Video and audio are great for conveying drama, not so good for understanding the context of what you see or hear outside the moment of the “sound bite”, or “video shot”.
Having news in print form with the WWWW&H;available, and delivered to my iPad, as the news happens or soon after will be wonderful, and a huge opportunity for traditional news organizations to grow and evolve.
I am actualy reading this article, as I sit in a library and wait to meet with a friend. Nearly everyone in the building is taking advantage of the computers, rather than reading a book. We’ve become an age that is more comfortable with interactive screens instead of paper. Devices like the iPad and Kindle should bring over the knowledge and wonder of books into a format that we all crave.
E-books are the future. They will not substitute paper text books a 100% but our children will carry much less books in their bags to school, they will carry ebooks’ readers.
Wow. All the reasons why we have books and magazines. Don’t forget, books don’t break when you drop then falling asleep or when your fingers are slightly damp in the bath. Books don’t have to be switched off when the plane takes off. And best of all the story does NOT update every day so you can skip a day of reading without being afraid you missed something.
Therefore nice article for a total BS story.
@Jafo…do you have kids? Kids that prefer to read the story lines in their PS3 or Xbox video games than actual books?
I realize the advantages that a paper book can have BUT, whatever works. If my kids start reading more because of the iPad, I will gladly sell all the paper books that I own and convert it to digital.
Therefore careful of what you call BS, you may be accused of having tunnel vision.
Hype. Silly. A real stretch to make the device something it is not.
Don’t think anyone has mentioned a real benefit with the iPad will be less eye strain than conventional books or even the ipod…
Yeah, but just don’t make Hop on Pop interactive.
Or “The Veldt” from Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man.
” . . . you may be accused of having tunnel vision.”
Yeah. Like Albert Mathieu.
@Jafo
You forgot to tell us that horses are better than automobiles because because they don’t require gas or oil.
Their is nothing worse than a “How To Book” that is frequently updated with the latest info.
It’s great for students to have to lug 30 lbs of books to from and around school.
Reading in total darkness is much better with a book.
Surfing the web while on a plane is much better on a book.
Cramming 5 books into your carryon luggage, to read on vacation, makes it more fun as you run through the airport.
Don’t forget to start a fire so you can cook dinner tonight after you catch it!
+1 for SJ redirecting, but not in the way any of us imagined.
SJ was right when he said people don’t read books. The iPad is not a book. SJ reinvented what reading is with the iPad.
THAT was unexpected.
I’ve been reading e-books on my iPhone for months. It is a far better experience then paper books. If I come across a word I don’t know, I can just select it and get a definition right in the app. I also don’t have to hold the book open, which can be very annoying on new books. Also the production value on new paper back books can really suck and they fall apart more easily.
“Oh brave new world that has such people in it.” This really is the beginning of a new age. I expect that it will take about 5 years for things to begin to settle out!
@Jafo:
My 12 year old son has to carry 30 lbs of books in his backpack because schools don’t have lockers anymore. How much better would it be for him to carry an iPad, and he can also do research in school for projects, type his papers, find current events, give presentations, etc.
Now add in the possibilities for science books where the book can have an animation of the solar system, or the ability to dissect a frog without actually dissecting a frog, or watching Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech or Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (a recreation, of course). A student could tap on a word he didn’t know and get an instant definition. Can’t do that with a paper book.
Sorry, it’s time for books to move into the digital age.
“but, but, but… His highness SJ said people don’t read books anymore?!?!
Guess you have to be a Mac hypocrite to be all juiced up about this stuff.”
I know you know this, but I’ll say it anyway. That was a conversation about the Kindle (which looks to be on death’s door, so…) and SJ said people don’t read enough books to justify a device that only does one thing. How many books would you have to read per year to make a Kindle device (and its cheaper eBooks) make sense as a purchase?
Remember, it started around 400-500 bucks.