Caveat emptor

[vr_trakowski]

I figured out what bugs me about the e-reader craze. 

Now, I do think they're a good idea in general.  Having practically unlimited titles at the tips of my fingers, literally in the palm of one hand?  Superb.  Perfect for so many circumstances.  I'm all for it, especially if the e-reader in question can enlarge print and/or read aloud. 

But--aside from the fact that many of my most beloved books are not available as e-files, and won't be for years if ever (They Stand Together, anyone?  Holding Wonder?  The Name on the Glass, with illustrations?)--I get stuck on the format issue.  Not whatever tug-of-war is going on between formats at the moment, that'll probably shake itself out like the video formats, but the evolution of file formats themselves.  

How many upgrades will e-reader software programs go through in the next ten years?  How about the next twenty?  Sure, for a while, a new iteration of a particular application can read the older stuff, but sooner or later the files are just too old.  Maybe the publishers of e-books think that readers aren't going to want to re-read a given title more than a few times, or hang onto it for long, but I still have books I was given as a child and I know there are plenty of others out there who are the same.  

If I'm going to pay more than a few dollars for an e-book, I mean for it to be something I can keep.  Not something that has a shelf (hah) life that can be measured in years rather than decades.  I have books that are older than my great-grandparents, and yet I can open them and read them with no trouble at all.*  I hardly think today's e-book is going to be available to any reader one hundred twenty-five years in the future. 

Now, if purchasing a regular, physical book included an e-file, I'd be enthusiastic.  Heck, for some books I'd be willing to pay a certain premium for such an addition.  That way I could enjoy the title wherever I wanted, and for as long as the paper held together. 

A book isn't meant to be a one-off.  Stories are meant to last, to be retold and handed on.  A good book read only once is hardly read at all; as the reader changes, so does the story.  Dragonflight is a different story to me now than it was when I first read it, or a decade later, or before the death of the fellow fan who said "Here, you'll like these."  Mary Russell changes each time another book in her series is published, and to not go back and re-read the earlier books would be to miss the nuances.  

So don't put a time limit on the stories.  Only the reader should choose when to put the book down. 


* Yes, some of them I must handle carefully, but the argument stands.  

Comments

[spockside]

Not to mention the fact that you can't stuff an e-reader into an overstuffed backpack, like you do with your favorite paperback, just to read on the subway, then cram it back in a hurry when you realize this is your stop.

[katrinb.livejournal.com]

Um, why not? I've done it. If anything, it's easier since my e-reader is slimmer.
I like both, personally, and since I'm reliant on the library for books lately, have been leaning to the Paper side of the force. But the reader has its advantages, particularly for travel.

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

It can be a bit awkward, yeah!

[phdelicious.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much exactly what I've been doing with mine when I wasn't reading it on a plane.

[cluesby4.livejournal.com]

Definitely I would hope and pray that books are not a thing of the past. Which I don't think they will be. But I have become a fast fan of ereaders.

My mother whose arthritis prevents her from holding a book and turning pages for long periods of time can now easily read with her kindle. With my ipad I can now carry my 'books' with me as I travel through various doctor appointments.

For someone who will never give up my collection of Alice in Wonderland books, I see the relationship of ebooks and tomes like netfiction and zines. I will probably want that hard copy if it is a favorite story. However, it is great to read a thick book, like The Passage, and not worry about weight and size. And if frees up my limited bookcase for those favorite books.

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

I think they make great assistive devices, as it were. I just don't like the sell-by date. :D I had one bookstore employee assure me that the e-reader format would NEVER go out of date, and I think she believed it. *sigh*

Have you ever read the Annotated Alice? :D

[cluesby4.livejournal.com]

Have you ever read the Annotated Alice? :D

Indeed! I also enjoyed More Annotated Alice by Martin Gardner.
My prized copy is the book illustrated by Hildebrandt. Lovely!

[snowydragon1776.livejournal.com]

A book isn't meant to be a one-off. Stories are meant to last, to be retold and handed on. A good book read only once is hardly read at all; as the reader changes, so does the story. *claps* This is reminding me why I love you.

Being an archivist, this was actually my first thought with e-books and e-readers, the same goes for downloadable music and videos. Format issues are a huge problem and will be for all digital materials until the fall of the republic (when the national archives no longer have to keep materials). A lot of people don't realize how serious an issue this is.

Paper has proven to be the most stable format. Digital formats are the most delicate and unstable. It is also the most expensive to keep and the hardest to preserve.


That said. I personally am not a fan of e-readers, although I can fully understand why people want them. I have played with them a lot. My dad let me borrow his for a few months to try and convince me...and no go.
Yes, you have everything at your finger tips, but I like to savor my books and re-read them. So really at any given moment I only need one book - I give it all my attention. In addition, the object is important to me and it always will be. The same goes for music.
I know this makes me odd, but to each there own.

Furthermore, there are some books I don't want to own even in an e-book format. I read a lot of mystery books, but I check them out from the library.
On the flip side, if I love a book I am going to re-read it (I am actually re-reading a series right now) so at that point I want the physical copy.

Like you, there are a ton of books I own and love that will probably never be in e-book format. I would say at least half the books I own will not ever be in e-book format.

People like to argue with me that well you finish a book and have nothing to read on the train...well I generally carry two books with me at all times. If I finish both I can always look out the window and take in the view.

For me, the only time I would would want to use an e-reader is if I went to England for a month. But a lot of libraries let you check out e-readers for periods of time now.

All this said, I can see how some people need e-readers and why other want them. I think they appeal most to people who read 'popular' books and don't really care about what they are reading. Other need them because of physical disability.
I just hope these people can respect why other people don't need or want them. I don't want the book to be a thing of the past. It changed the world and it is an important thing to me. I will keep my books until my last breath.

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

I love the physicality of books, and while I think an e-reader would be a fun toy, I wouldn't use it to replace any. I didn't know one could check them out, though! Intriguing.

[aspidites.livejournal.com]

While I like the idea of being able to get and read a book quickly, on a whim, and to carry a library's worth of reading choices with me, I don't own an e-reader (yet).

Why? Because beyond loving to read, I love *books* - the heft of them, the textures of paper and cardstock or leather or cloth, the SMELL of books. Walking into a good old, crammed-to-the-gills used bookstore is practically an orgasmic experience for me.

One thing you don't mention, that I think of only because I'm paranoid, is that if all books, all *information*, were only digital, how would we know or prove that it had been changed or edited? Who controls the master copies? All paranoia aside, if I pick up the e-book to re-read Heinlein, or Henderson, or Norton, or E.E "Doc" Smith, I don't expect the story to have been edited to modernize the language, or make it more politically correct... I don't WANT to see unequivocally that Greedo shoots first (especially since he *didn't*, first time 'round). You just *know* somebody out in the publishing world (or, god help us, the political arena) is going to think this is a great idea.

So e-books only? A resounding "no" from me... E-books as convenient addition to real books? A fine idea (I especially like your notion of e-books being an extra included in the price of the print edition).

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

A very good point indeed. Hadn't occurred to me. I remember reading some of the re-issued Chronicles of Narnia some years back and realizing with horror that they had changes. Legitimate ones, I found out later, but since there was no such notification anywhere in the book, I was incensed.

I'm ambivalent on the correction issue for some things, myself; for instance, I have a relatively recent Doctor Dolittle book from which some of the more blatantly racist drawings were removed. Mr. Lofting's heirs explained in the introduction that they didn't undertake it lightly, and noted that while his attitude was mainly a product of his time, some things were still inappropriate for a children's book. *shrug* If one must, that may be the way to do it.

[phdelicious.livejournal.com]

As you know, I bought an eReader recently, after some significant debate and consideration of the fact that I'd be spending upwards of a day on planes this summer. That same day I also bought 2 paperbacks while I was in the store, so clearly I don't intend to give up that habit. ;-)

I do enjoy being able to hold my books and agree that many printed formats have a stability and life time that ebooks lack. However, given the quality of many mass market publications, which I assume makes up a significant portion of book sales, I'd say that comparison might actually be in question.

I got my nook, not to replace my books, but to allow me to carry them with me (even if its not all my favorites) when I go places where large stacks of books are impractical.

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

I don't know...I have mass-markets that are older than I am. Though of course they may not make 'em like they used to.

The other problem with an e-reader, for me, is that I don't want to lay out the considerable amount it would take to get my favorites (those I re-read a LOT) in e-book form. But that's a personal thing.