The Impact of Digital Reading Devices on Traditional Books, Essay Example

When the printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg in 1440, it revolutionized society, making the cumbersome task of copying books by hand obsolete and making it possible for billions of people to have access to information that were once only available for the wealthy (Eisenstein, 1980). Traditional publishing flourished, and its key element: the printing of content on paper, continues to exist today. However, just as the printing press replaced oral tradition as a means to transfer information during the 15^th century, there are some that contend that the printing press itself is currently on the brink of being replaced by gadgets of the digital age (Combs, 2010). Devices such as the Kindle, the iPad, the Sony Reader, and Barnes and Nobles’ Nook all aim to enable readers to enjoy volumes upon volumes of reading materials without ever having to carry a single book (Pepitone, 2010). This essay delves into this technological development, and infers upon the impact that these devices of the digital age can have on traditional hardback and paperback publishing. In the following paragraphs, the new technology us described and its advantages and disadvantages from the perceptions of different groups and individuals are expounded on.

Devices such as the Kindle allow readers to download content from a provider, such as Amazon.com in the case of the Kindle, and read the content from their device. Some of the devices use a new display technology that make the screen of the device appear more like ordinary paper and the text display appear to written with actual ink. This makes these devices more suitable for extended reading than the typical CRT or LCD screens of computer monitors. These devices can hold several thousands of books, and new titles are made available to the reader at the touch of a button through wireless internet connections. According to Auletta (2010), the traditional publishing business has been failing for decades now, with annual sales having grown by only as little as 1.6% from 2002 to 2008. This has led publishers to cut more and more on costs as less and less people read books (Auletta, 2010). The Kindle and other devices like it are hoped to bring people’s interests back to reading, although some people, such as Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of One Laptop per Child, believe that these digital age developments mean the end for hardback and paperback books (Combs, 2010). Just as the advent of the iPod and other mp3 players made cassette tapes and compact discs obsolete, so is it expected that these digital reading devices that are no thicker than a pencil and no wider than a hardback page, with their ability to hold hundreds of times more books than one can put in a large piece of luggage, will be what people will bring with them to their classes or on their trips abroad, in place of textbooks and pocketbooks respectively. Amazon.com, a leading retailer of books, reported that the sales of e-books for their Kindle have already outpaced hardback sales although the company has yet to release the actual numbers (Pepitone, 2010). However, there are others who are skeptical about the supposed impact that devices like the Kindle can have on books. As reported by Rock (2010), librarians from the Somerset County Library believe that the device is too expensive and fragile to replace books. Research has shown that the cheapest electronic reader is still well over $100 (Miller, 2010), and while downloaded books cost less than hardback counterparts, they can cost even more than new paperback books (Rock, 2010). This cost hindrance seems to be a considerable barrier to the impact that digital reading devices can have on traditional publishing. Another barrier is that many publishers are not happy with the prices that the books which they have rights to are being sold by e-book providers like Amazon.com (Auletta, 2010). They believe that prices should be more variable and should generally be higher, and that conditioning the minds of consumers that any book costs only $10 to read will be detrimental to the publishing industry in the long-term (Auletta, 2010).

Clearly, devices such as the Kindle offer various conveniences in reading and transporting books that make them more desirable than traditional hardbacks or paperbacks. These devices are very light and thin, can contain thousands of books, and can acquire new books easily, without the need to actually go to a bookstore and buy them. Furthermore, they present a novelty that can potentially reinvigorate people’s motivation to read books. However, these devices are expensive, and the books that are bought to be read in them cost more than paperbacks despite there not being any actual material on which the content is printed on. Thus, for as long as the prices of these devices and of e-books remain to be out of reach for the typical consumer, their impact on traditional reading and on the sales of traditional books can be expected to be minimal.

References

Auletta, K. (2010). “Publish or Perish: Can the iPad topple the Kindle, and save the book business?” The New Yorker. Retrieved January 26, 2011 from: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/04/26/100426fa_fact_auletta#ixzz1CIx9TwUp

Combs, C. (2010). “Will physical books be gone in five years?” CNN. Retrieved January 26, 2011 from: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/10/17/negroponte.ebooks/index.html?hpt=C2

Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. (1980), The Printing Press as an Agent of Change. Cambridge University Press

Miller, C. (2010). “In Price War, New Kindle Sells for $139.” New York Times. Retrieved January 26, 2011 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/29/technology/29kindle.html?_r=1

Pepitone, J. (2010). “Is Kindle 3 a game-ender for e-reader wars?” CNN. Retrieved January 26, 2011 from: http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/29/technology/kindle_3/index.htm

Rock, V. (2009). “Librarians doubt Kindle will replace books.” Daily American. Retrieved January 26, 2011 from: http://www.dailyamerican.com/articles/2009/02/25/news/news/news718.txt