In the past few years one question has been hanging unanswered in the air; will the Kindle/e-book make the hard copy editions obsolete?
The question is reasonable enough. After all, sales on e-books have risen and the Kindle seems to grow smarter and more evolved each year – featuring a variety of applications like your ordinary tablet.
So how do we find the answer? I took matters in to my own hands and performed a small survey – asking 150 people on the streets of London the same single question:
Which do you prefer; a Kindle or a book?
Everyone questioned was made aware that it wasn’t only the Kindle I was referring to but all e-book readers including I-pads and smartphones.
The question in itself may seem simple enough but it is in simplicity we often manage to find answers.
Out of the 150 people only a mere 28 preferred reading their books on a Kindle or tablet. A surprisingly low number, I would say, considering the slight panic!
But surely, if as many as 122 of 150 people prefer the real book it is far from threatened by the Kindle, right? Unfortunately in this obvious simplicity, we find it getting slightly more complicated. Because although the “general public” may prefer to physically flip each page of the enthralling novel of their choice, the reality is that it is often more convenient to click to the next page on a Kindle.
Be it on a holiday or the London underground, a Kindle is by far more travel-friendly – not to say a regular book isn’t but they do often take up slightly more space in a bag (not to nitpick).
And then there’s the argument that the Kindle is superior to the hard copies when it comes to the environment. According to one article, ‘using an Amazon Kindle to full storage capacity claims you can offset the emissions caused by its manufacture in a year. Keep it longer and you save 168kg of CO2 per year – the same amount produced by 22.5 hard copies.’ Eco-friends rejoice everywhere!
It sounds amazing but considering that you would need around 3.500 books on your Amazon Kindle to take advantage of its full storage capacity one has to wonder; how often does that happen? Or perhaps more adequately; do I really need that many books all at once?
Then there’s also the small matter of price. If you are a true bookworm, chewing through a book or two per week, it can quickly become a very expensive affair. With novels being sold as cheap as 99p per book on a Kindle and some of the old classics even being free of charge completely, it’s easy to understand how some people may think the Kindle is a cheaper solution.
In this article by Toby Walne, we learn that e-books aren’t always as cheap as we may think. Newer more popular titles and authors are usually sold at prices similar to the ones you will find in your regular bookshop.
Also, with all the different e-book providers on tablets and readers, if you don’t do your research or shop around first, you may pay more for a book on one site than you would have on another. On top of that, if you only buy books on a Kindle you are also more likely to miss out on sales and offers on hard copies in the shops- offers which sometimes could make a real difference in your pocket in the long run.
One of the things which many of the people in my survey made a point of was the convenience of the Kindle. “I prefer a book but sometimes a Kindle is easier to deal with.” It’s an understandable argument. After all, technology is usually made to make things less complicated for the consumers, hence the Kindle’s popularity and ability to convert unbelievers. But at home curled up in front of the fire (because we all have one, don’t we?) or enjoying a hot bath, the coldness of a Kindle is just not good enough!
So although new technology is emerging and creating other ways for readers to enjoy a good book, I believe it is easy to conclude; the Kindle/e-reader or tablet will never eliminate the existence of a hard copy book.
The ones of us who perversely smell a book before we read it or enjoy the feel of the pages of a new book between our fingers can sleep comfortably at night. Our fetish will still be there tomorrow!
Source:
http://introducingzahra.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/book-vs-kindle/