It weighs less than a hardback, can store all your favourite novels and is tipped by some to do for books what the iPod did for music.
This week’s British launch of the Sony “Reader“, a gadget that holds up to 160 electronic books, has stoked a fierce debate over whether the publishing industry could finally go digital.
Amazon boss Jeff Bezos has described books as “the last bastion of analogue” in a world of digital films, music and cameras.
Fans of e-books question why anyone would want to pack a bag full of holiday books when they could instead slip a neat gadget into their pocket.
They say the screens are carefully designed to avoid flicker and have muted greys, blacks and whites to make them easy on the eye.
Users can download thousands of titles from the Internet, flick through pages at the touch of a button and keep their place with an electronic bookmark. Amazon’s own e-reader, Kindle, has enjoyed better than expected sales.
Not everyone wants one, however.
Who would want to curl up on the sofa with an e-book? And who would risk reading one in the bath?
Real books don’t cost 199 pounds and don’t need batteries. They have a distinctive smell and feel. They can be dropped on the floor or loaned to a friend. They have a tactile quality that is a central part of reading.
Early reviews of Sony’s new gadget have been mixed.
“Navigation is a laborious process. You can’t flick back and forth with the ease that a physical book allows,” says Paul Gent, of the Daily Telegraph. “An e-reader, like all gadgets, is shiny, plastic, artificial. A book is pliable, organic, warm.”
The Evening Standard’s literary editor David Sexton said the device will probably appeal more to gadget lovers than book lovers.
“I still think paperbacks are a better deal,” he wrote. “You never have to plug them in and you don’t burst into tears if you drop them in the bath.”
Despite initial misgivings, people soon won’t be able to resist electronic books, writes John Sutherland in the Guardian.
“In 20 years, we won’t know how we lived without the thing,” he says. “ It’s not a storage device but a portal, a Lewisian wardrobe, opening into new worlds.”
Where do you stand in the debate? Will we see the death of traditional books or are digital readers doomed to go the way of the MiniDisc and Betamax video player?
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16 comments so far
I find I have to wear my glasses or contact lenses when using a computer screen, but I can happily read a conventional book without them, and doing so is definitely a more relaxing experience. Digital books therefore raise readability issues for me. Also, “real” boooks are a pleasure to own, and are so flexible in the way they can be used and referred to - I agree with Paul Gent of the Telegraph. Another thought that occurs to me is that I frequently start a book, and then leave it for months if not years unread, before its physical presence reminds me that it’s on my “list” and I go back to it. The idea of laboriously setting up reminders (it probably could be done!) on a digital book does not appeal to me at all.
- Posted by MatthewI have never read so much rubbish in my life. iPod will never replace books - least not for a long time yet.
This article is something I’d expect from the BBC or the Sun.
- Posted by Mike IvesWhenever I move house, the house doesn’t become home until I have all my books around me. I can happily spend hours browsing, flicking through them and re-reading them. Nothing beats the feel and the smell of a new book. A gadget will never bring me this pleasure. Gadgets have a shelf life and books last for hundreds of years.
- Posted by DeannaI dislike reading from a screen as it is.I would echo the comments above though.I love my books.I normally have about three on the go at any one time.The idea of this gadget just leaves me cold.
Sometimes an invention appears just for inventings sake
- Posted by L.S HarrisonI purchased the Sony E-Reader recently and have loaded it with 211 books in electronic format. That number was achieved by using the SD card slot built into the device. While I understand a lot of people will be reluctant to purchase a device that costs more than a single book, as a person who cruises and has to deal with surcharges based on weight, the e-reader is a godsend.
Reading books in broad daylight with no eye strain is wonderful. And for those individuals who require spectacles or contacts to read, the e-reader comes with ability to resize the text to make it much easier to enjoy the books.
Yes, I am a techno-weenie (and 54 years of age - so I know the difference between technology and something physical like a book) and work extensively with technology. The e-reader is NOT a computer, so it isn’t designed for rapid searching through text for a specific passage or phrase. It is designed purely and simply to fulfill the niche of reading books. I am more than pleased with my purchase and would recommend the device to anyone who reads extensively but doesn’t want to have a collection of books that may be referenced only occasionally.
- Posted by Francois van HeerdenI can see the benefit of this for students or academics who need to access large numbers of books that they otherwise would not like to own. But for the majority of the book reading public I cannot see the appeal as having the actual physical book in your hand and the ability to pick it off the shelf, browse and reread is part of the pleasure.
- Posted by David CoxAge 48 this year - been in IT since 1981; prefer a book that will never run out of battery power - its called PAPER
- Posted by MuzzThe electronic book has arrived and so appear the Luddites always there to denounce new technology.Of course there will always be a market for the paper version but I bet in years to come we will look back when sales are high and say “what a great idea it was”.I for one will purchase one but not until the price falls.
- Posted by david fosterI’ve had one of these devices for a month now, and must say it’s excellent. readability is great, no eye strain whatsoever. sounds like a lot of lp/cd type arguments are commonplace in regards to this device. try it, you might like it. i knew it was great when i tried to turn the page!; totally sold ever since. if the book is good enough you will become as immersed as ever. and it supports pdf files, rss feeds, and there are so many freely and legally available books to read, especially the classics. it’s opened up my mind to all the books i feel i should have read. i started with Orwell, and havent looked back.
- Posted by sam lee‘Papper backs’ and ‘ipod of books’ both have unique individual existences and respective values in their own segments.Eor the new generations forthcoming included,would prefer the electronic gadget as well, to acquire- the thrilled experience -at a lots of different books - at a time - within the control of finger tips.Multipurpose achievements would be possible in such magical ‘ipod od books’.
But paper back on the other hand appears to be the animated works of the author or writer,where a passionate touch or tangible involvement of his/her activtity is experienced moreover in fulfill our purposes.As we are,traditionally accustomed with the reading of ‘paper back’,always get easy and delighted with having it unquestionably.A studyroom arrayed with many kinds of paper backs,is spectacularly acceptable as well as appreciable. Without of sufficient ‘paperbacks’,a reading can not be pleasant. by sniffing the smell of a new paperback,initiates our reading attitude and invites us to get into it as well.’Paperback’ does possess and carry the sense of original version of author’s or writer’s creation.
- Posted by PRANAB HAZRAI have bought one and it is excellent, better than I thought. “ebooks” have existed for a long time and websites have thousands of books available. The problem is finding a common format. If Waterstones get up to 15000 titles and release all new narrative books with ebook as an option it will be a great success. The only reason that ebooks have not taken off is the need for screen technology. The current versions with “e-ink” solve the glare problem. I have already read my first book easily and you quickly forget you are using a device. The benefits in terms of storage and portability are wonderful. However, this is a product for people who wish to read books rather than smell them!
- Posted by AdamI’ve seen the Sony reader, and own an Amazon Kindle. Personally, I prefer the screen and balance of the kindle, though both seem to be fine products.
The two arenas where this technology ought to have the most profound effect are in:
1) self-publishing allowing fledgling authors to take off
2) school textbooks no longer being prohibitively expensive
- Posted by da6dI doubt this evolution could replace books. It’s only usable for books needing no illustration or colours as many reference books require. The other problems are batteries, is it drop-proof? and does it have authors I’m likely to read? In answer to the last two, seems not. And it doesn’t allow flipping between pages.
As I recall, Sony brought out an electronic book about 15 years ago. It went down like a lead balloon. Maybe today’s gadget-crazed community will receive it better.
- Posted by DaneBut it won’t replace books for a long while yet.
There are a couple of other questions?
Can you back up what you’ve bought (in case you drop the thing or have it stolen)?
How long is it billed to last? 3 years? 5?
- Posted by DaneBooks are just a form of communicating words, no one created as much bile about audiobooks as they do about ebooks. I bought an Sony because I travel, I’m not throwing my book collection into the bin - hell a good chunk will never be converted to an electronic format.
The sony reader is excellent but you do need some internet skills to find ebooks that are being sold cheaper than the paper kind - bit of marketing stupidity there (if we’ll pay that much for a reader then they think we’ll pay more for the books too!)
If you don’t travel far from your books then it’s probably not worth bothering though.
- Posted by DaveIf they could incorporate the new book smell into the device that would be great. just think about it. you download a new book and the side of the screen releases that pleasant odor everyone remembers from books you first started reading in fourth grade. it would eventually wear off as it does with books though. so as not to make a person sick of the nostalgic scent.
- Posted by Joshua