E-readers could be the future of books...so: BEWARE!
By Juwi / Spinebreakers Crew
E-Readers and Books
E-Readers could be the future of books...so: BEWARE!
Those of you who are unfamiliar with E-Readers should know that they're kind of a big deal in the Book World. I love books of course, and some of the greatest things you can do with books are feeling the fatness of a book in your hands, turning the pages (so what if you get a paper cut...at least it was a good book!), inhaling the yummy book smell, lending them to people, using cool bookmarks and the list is pretty much endless.
With an E-Reader, yes you can read a book but can you feel the pages? No. Can you smell the book? No. Can you lend them to people? No. Can you use cool bookmarks? No. Can you get a paper cut? No...
Advantages of the E-Reader:
They are excellent for travelling as they are light and you can have about 1500 to 3500 books in its memory (this depends on the type you get), books are immediately available so no need to wait in a queue or get out of bed to go to the book store, you can change the text size and obviously it's convenient when you're up at 1am finishing a book and your parents don't know because you don't need a torch for the E-Reader and it's easier to be discrete so your parents don't suspect a thing!
Some E-Readers such as the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes and Noble E-Reader have built in dictionaries so if you don't know what a word means then you just click on the word and the definition will appear. Finally, it's ecological- less deforestation.
Also, you've all heard about the latest, fanciest and most expensive E-Reader...the iPad...yes, it's very snazzy and cool and all the applications are designed for it...the Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble applications are FREE...all you have to do is just buy the books and then you can read them. Turning the pages is paper cut free and you can go back to the start or skip to the end (not that you'd want to...) easily...it's all touch screen and technological. And the battery life is 10 hours.
Researching the E-Reader has perhaps changed my opinion on them...they may not be so horrific after all!
Disadvantages of the E-reader:
It's not a book is it? Really...think about it...books are universally known to be printed on paper...so if it's not on paper and it is electronic then is it really a book? I suppose so...but you can't really feel it in your hands can you? Or happily hit your friend with it (I wouldn't advise you to do this but books are surprisingly versatile). Also, since it's electronic it uses electricity so you're still harming the planet, plus would you really like the battery to run out when you've just turned the page and the suspense is killing you but then your battery is dead...then what? (recharge it? Yes, but that takes time when a NORMAL book doesn't require such things) Buy the actual book? Oh and it's also quite costly so you'd have to save up quite a but in order to buy the E-Reader then buy the actual books. Why not just buy MORE books with the E-Reader money? And no one can say 'there's no space' because there will ALWAYS be space for books. The iPad also has Internet so it's not JUST for books, however it has a built in battery so if that gets messed up then...well, Apple are saying that they shall replace the battery...for free...but still...also, the iPad is incredibly expensive; the cheapest one is £429 and the most expensive is £699...frankly I'd rather spend that amount of money buying books of amazon.co.uk.
My verdict:
I am slightly more convinced that e-readers are cool HOWEVER, I am still adamant that I do not get one...unless someone just offers me one for free...of course I shall try and resist the temptation of getting an E-Reader and currently I don't know anyone who owns one but I do see the possibility of it becoming very successful in the future. Especially in schools...imagine having NO TEXTBOOKS!!! my dad happens to be an Apple Addict so he has the iPad...it is slightly cool...but really it's just a big iPod Touch...and it doesn't even have a camera!!!
I simply LOVE books and I don't think I can share the love of reading with an E-Reader...it would be like cheating on books...and that is something I hope never to do: Neglect Books.
E-readers are quite demanding as they require you to charge it whereas traditional books only ask for you to read them and love and appreciate them..
I don't know if the E-Reader is here to replace traditional paper books or if they're trying to tempt gadget lovers into the Book World; but I do know that no matter what happens in the future, I will have many books and traditional books are good enough for me. Some say I'm stubborn but I don't think I'm resisting technology, I may not exactly be embracing it but they couldn't just leave the Book World alone could they? Sigh.
Happy Reading.
PEACE. LOVE. BOOKS. =D
"If you are a student you should always get a good nights sleep unless you have come to the good part of your book, and then you should stay up all night and let your schoolwork fall by the wayside, a phrase which means 'flunk'."
Lemony Snicket
Note On This Quote: I cannot be hypocritical and say i haven't done this but i have to say that there is no need to flunk...it is possible to stay up late reading a book AND to pass your subejcts. However it is not guranteed that you'll be able to stay awake...