E-readers Versus Print: What are the Problems?

When e-readers began to hit the market, a bunch of my fellow English majors began groaning. “This is wrong” became the battle cry. Even friends who read heavily refuse to purchase or consider purchasing an e-reader. But why so much animosity towards something that makes literature more attainable and at lower costs? I have an e-reader and I still enjoy reading printed books, so lately I’ve been trying to figure out why so many people are against harmony.

Conservatism

Watching the printed newspaper industry dwindling in the age of the internet, writers and editors are quick to hold onto what is left of the industry. Even my school newspaper is considering switching to magazine production instead of news, because the rate of… everything is slower than ever before. I think e-readers are suffering because of the reputation technology has in the writing industry, and that is, utter destruction to previously esteemed formats.

E-readers make everything more available at cheap prices. Printers no longer make profits. An entire part of the industry collapses. Artist no longer have to go through large industry to print-published, but can instead work with Amazon to publish their own material and still receive a large percentage (for a writer). Print is flailing in that way, not that it will die out, but it will definitely downsize. People fear that movement, and rightfully so at this point.

“That old book smell” and “fate”

This point goes along with a type of literary serendipity. When you walk into a used book store, paw through shelves until you find all the novels you might ever want to read. It is something that many avid fans of reading bask in regularly (or as regularly as they can afford). That smell comes from different volatile organic compounds (depending on materials of book) becoming gaseous. It is the smell of a slow decay.

I do understand, and I still buy print books (never new, too expensive still). There is something in finding a book at a specific time that really seems to mean something. I was in an emotional place not long ago, when at a flea market I stumbled upon Yasunari Kawabata’s Thousand Cranes. It really helped me, more than I think any other book at the time could. I may have found it someday online, as he is Nobel laureate, but it would not have been the same.

So I admit, books in person have a place, and will have a place, in an educated society. But that does not justify burning all e-readers in a pile in the center of town. Soon after finishing Thousand Cranes (twice), I went online and cheaply downloaded as many of his other works as I could. It allowed me to access foreign literature in English translations that may have otherwise been hard to come by!

“I can’t read that”

Here is something marvelous about e-reader technology. Just because it is a screen does not mean it is the same as every other screen you’ve seen. A special technology is used referred to as “e-ink”, meaning the text on the screen looks almost identical to that of a page. It is scary at first, for some, but it offers new alternatives to people previously held back.

I have an eye problem where I can’t see well or read small print for more than twenty minutes. It makes it difficult to read anything for school and to get work done. So when something that can change font size on any text (that wasn’t a clunky magnifying glass), I jumped at the chance to purchase one.

There are people with disabilities of any sort that can benefit from e-readers, and for that reason I will selfishly support them into my dying breaths.

Price

Is a book on screen worth less than a book in hand?

It always sucks to put $100-400 out on anything, especially something you just use to read. When you pay $10-20 on a book, you see all the work that went into printing it, and feel a bit more justified than buying a thin slab of metal and plastic. It makes sense, in that way. Books cost money because they cost money to make, but if you have an e-reader, you are paying for information after paying for that solid product. It is a weird thought, but a problem facing future literature nonetheless.

I like to think it is like paying an instructor. The author, distantly and vicariously, will be receiving a sum of compensation for the information he has given to me. It feels odd, instead of saying I bought a tangible item, but it also highlights the real matter of a book. The knowledge of the author is what we should all look for in books.

Don’t forget the public domain, either! Go online and you can find almost any classic for free!

Size

Books are heavy as any forth grade student can tell you. They are bulky. Some people enjoy having walls of books in their home like insulation, while others read and sell or hop from library to store. There is an entire system of getting and getting rid of books in place. The e-reader takes that away. That again, takes the serendipity out of the picture a well. E-readers are extremely portable and lightweight. They can hold entire collections in what would have taken shelves of space before.

Many people hold that as a positive side of e-readers, but others see it as a fault. “There is nothing to this,” people say, laughing as the set my pocket reader carefully down. I usually laugh and say something along the lines of “There are infinite potential ideas in to it right now.”

I will remain an avid reader of both print and e-text. There is merit to both, and although conflicting, they can live in a kind of intellectual harmony. So if you’ve been afraid to spend your money on an e-reader, or against it because of your own reasons, hopefully I’ve given you something to think about! There is nothing wrong with innovation, and there is nothing wrong with conservatism as long as the two can peacefully find resolution!