In “Of Two Minds About Books”, by Richtel and Miller in The New York Times report an interesting comparison between E-books and paper books. E-books have become more popular in the past year. It is estimated that 10.3 million people are expected to own e-readers in the United States by the end of this year and the market research company Forrester predicts that 100 million e-books will be purchased. This reflects an increased from 3.7 million e-readers and 30 million e-books sold last year. Despite a rapid growth in e-books business, readers still have different preferences in their reading medium even in the same house. A few publishers and bookstores are testing the bundling of print books with e-books at a discount to accommodate couples who prefer different methods of reading.
E-books have been around for a long time but they were not popular in the past. Initially, it was inconvenient to read e-books from the computer screen. After the development of newer technology such as Kindle and ipad, readers are now able to enjoy an easier and modern way to read that are similar to a real book. E-books are normally cheaper and environmental friendly.
In Thailand, E-books business might not grow rapidly because E-books are downloaded from computer files and can be easily duplicated illegally. Violation of copyright remains a big problem in Thailand.
I agree, E-book business in Thailand shouldn't grow very much.
ReplyDeleteYet again, after I read many blogs, it seems very rarely for somebody to praise our country. Thailand does not the worst country in violation on intellectual properties, China does.
For me, E-Book is interesting way to read, BUT old stylish books are easier to read and I like the touch of the book, the smell of ink, and the way I can fold the corner of the page. Moreover, books don't require electric power.
ReplyDeleteMany Thai don't like to read a book anyway so it might work to encourage young to read a book much as Western. I hope its price will be cheaper and cheaper soon. Bless for next generation.
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of books, and I love the look and feel, but I can't wait for e-books to get just a little better, and the new Sony range with touch screens might just about be teh tipping point.
ReplyDeleteI always thought I would prefer books, but then I started subscribing to magazines online, and soon cancelled the print subscriptions to cut out the piles of increasingly untouched paper versions. Now, I don't get any paper versions of magazines.
And then the OED went online. I loved it from day one. ANd in a few months, it will be augmented by the Historical Thesaurus of the OED (HTOED), the ultimate English thesaurus, fully integrated with the online OED. I can't wait.
I rather like the idea of having lots of books, all searchable, in a convenient package with a touch screen.
I agree with Math, and I also love feeling when I read the book page by page, the feeling when I use my index finger open to next page is indescribable, it likes new experiences is waiting me to learn it. However, in life, I'm still looking for convenient things so sometime I prefer to read it online such as dictionary more than paper book.
ReplyDeleteSpecially, when i'm in abroad, i love to read e-book. we can get English books around the world. But for other languages, it's not easy to get!
ReplyDeleteI even don't like to keep many stuff in my own room in korea. If i have got manythings, i might don't want to move.. So i love e-book
Yu nil's comment (@ September 4, 2010 12:13 PM) reminded me of an article on the BBC a couple of weeks ago that I emailed to myself.
ReplyDeleteIn "Cult of less: Living out of a hard drive", Matthew Danzico discusses the new life style choice of getting rid of physical goods that can be digitized. He describes the case of Kelly Sutton, who has gotten rid of most of his physical possessions after deciding that digital versions were at least as good, and in many cases better than hard copies. Danzico ends by pointing out that the logical conclusion of this process: that it might soon be possible to get rid of our bodies as well by digitizing the mind into a form that can run on a computer rather than a human brain.
I have to admit, I quite like the idea. A few years ago now, I scanned scanned about 1,000 rolls of film that I've taken over the previous 20 years or so, up loaded it all to my Google account (I pay for extra storage - 200 GB at the moment), and then ditched teh film and most of the hard prints. Now, my thousands of photos are available to me anywhere at any time in a much more useful format, and they're much easier to share. And you already know how much I prefer online reference works to massively weighty and cumbersome paper versions.
But I'm not ditching my clothes just yet, or my body, to which I remain fairly attached.
References
Danzico, M. (2010, August 16). Cult of less: Living out of a hard drive. BBC News. Retrieved September 5, 2010 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10928032
I think it is many comfortable about E-book such as less stroge space, easy to carry with your and does not cut forest to make paper ,but I still like paper book because it make me fell it is real when I read it, I fell weight of book, touch of paper when I read but in E-book, I feel only air when I read it and it make I depress.
ReplyDelete