With the launch of Amazon’s electronic wireless reading device Kindle making the news, will digitization of books mean this industry will also go the music industry way? Will revenues be killed as books get exchanged freely (think Napster?) once they are available in e-formats? Or the experience of feeling and smelling ink on paper never fade away?
Technology has changed a lot of things, even as nay-sayers in the earlier years would proclaim “This can never happen.” So it seems for books – general opinion seems to be all for books as we have always known them. I will stick my neck out and say paper will never die for me – and I seem to have enough people for company in saying this.
Given below are some very interesting perspectives I have gathered from people globally. Add your opinion to it too:
Music is ‘softer’ than books, but younger generation could adopt faster
I think music is ‘softer’ than books. You can listen to music but there isn’t a physical form that you would strongly associate music to. Therefore, replacing the good old LP records with cassettes, then with CDs and now with digital music was relatively easy.
When it comes to reading, a book is not only ‘soft’ because of the content it carries but it also has a ‘hard’ physical form that you can touch, feel and associate with.
If I were to replace my entire library of books with their digital equivalents, all stored in Kindle, the end result is the same (in fact better) - I get the same content - possibly in an easier to access form. However, the feel is gone!
I also believe these changes will happen faster with the younger generation. Possibly, they will be less ‘emotionally’ attached to the hard form of books and will be increasingly comfortable using (and showing off) the digital book. - Rakesh Vajpai, Director, Prosares Solutions, India
Books are one at a time, so physical portability not a big advantage
There are two major differences between music and books that make me believe that th adoption will be lower: (1) A lot of people listen to music while running or even working - which you obviously can’t do with books (2) With music, you need a lot of variety - carry a lot of tracks/ albums because the average track is ~3 min and the average album may have 10-12 tracks; but with books, people tend to read one at a time . . . so the physical portability is not a big advantage.
The key advantage - which Amazon seems to be playing up - is cost and convenience. Getting bestsellers “beamed” to your device instantly and for a fraction of the cost of a tree-destroying-chemically-infused package that we call a “book”. - Avneet Jolly, Entrepreneur at Insightory.com & Management Consultant, USA
The LP did not die, neither will the book
As with every new media, people expect the old one to die and pass away quietly into the night. Books are seen as a physical repository of mankind’s knowledge. Holding a book and turning the pages is all part of deepening the experience of reading. Putting hundreds of books on an e-book device will never fully replace the experience of reading a book.
The business of audiophile recordings on vinyl still thrives in the age of digital downloads. I had originally collected something like 400 vinyl records, and recently started recording my vinyl LPs onto my computer as MP3s. I sat there and cleaned the record, put it on the turntable, started the album, listened to each side while reading the album cover and had a great time. It really enriched and deepened my enjoyment of the music making it more visceral. Putting thousands of songs on an iPod is not as enjoyable. - Ray Miller, award winning sculptor, energy expert, educator, USA
Authors stand to win
Book publishing certainly will be easier than ever before. And just as musicians need record labels a whole lot less than they used to, the publishers stand to lose while the authors win. But smart publishers will still find a way to step in, take on the tasks that are difficult for the author, and make their money on marketing and promotion — in every medium. - Tom Field, Editorial Director at BankInfoSecurity.com, USA
Conditions for e-reading improving, but don’t we still print on paper just to read it?
One of the big obstacles of digital books is the performance of the display. We still prefer to read a book instead of reading a document from a display. Look for yourself how often we print a paper, just to read it. However, with the Philips E-ink display this obstacle is gone. It’s just as reading a book.
Another obstacle was the power supply. But the power supply needed for displaying content on an E-ink is remarkable low. The content is more or less programmed in the display (by switching the E-ink), so you don’t need to refresh the display and there is no backlight.
To put in other words, the conditions for reading online books are getting much more improved. - Mark Vorage, Vision Engineer at Philips Technologie GmbH, Germany
E-books finally a reality
I think the biggest revolution with Kindle might be that publishing an e-book becomes more real. That is only on digital form and not in paper. Those publishers that will fight against Kindle will lose, those who adapt and see and seize the opportunities it opens will grow.
I can see Kindle rule the textbook market, all those books you don’t really want but have to read. It will also be popular for books you need to read for other reasons, dictionaries, encyclopedias, business books and practical books of all sort.
But isn’t saying that this will kill the printed book like saying McDonalds would kill home cooked food. It’s fast, cheap and easy but we are still going to want “gourmet” books that have the smell of ink, the feel of paper and that have this weight when you hold them in your hand because they contain some heavy thoughts.
They also make a much better gift than the other one. I definitely see the practical side of having something like Kindle, but as a book lover and collector, I will never give up reading books the good old way. - Hjörtur Smárason, Internet marketing and place branding consultant, columnist, speaker, owner Scope Comm, Iceland (You can read a post on this topic by Hjörtur here.)
Book content will not be enhanced by devices
No, I don’t think books will go the way of music, and second, I do believe the industry will gain in the process.
We have to recognize the differences between the two industries. In music almost all works break up into ‘pieces’ nicely. While this is true for some books, it is certainly not the majority.
Next, music players have evolved for almost 40 years now, since the LP and reel-to-reel. Going digital did not happen overnight; books are just 10 years into that 40 year cycle. Reading devices are still in their infancy, and it’s unlikely that a device that is dedicated exclusively to reading will ever really prevail, the market just doesn’t want that many gadgets.
In music, with each new ‘device’ something improved for the end user - usually it was the quality of the audio sound. That really helped the adoption of new technologies. Books -as we know them today - will not have this advantage. Until books start getting written differently - with links to other places and incorporating social networking opportunities - the content will not be enhanced by the device.
The reason that I think the industry will prosper under -as you say - the inevitablity of a digital world of books is that the pool of readers is going to grow. Book reading has been declining for some time (and music listening hasn’t). As online reading of validated, published materials becomes more prevalent, more people will read books.
I also expect that the whole writing process will change, and that other written forms, such as essays (is that what we call blogs now?), short stories, and even poetry will find new markets. - Fran Toolan, President at Quality Solutions, Inc., USA
November 28th, 2007 at 5:28 am
In my view Books will get digitized and everyone will read online books. The book (hard copy book) industry will reduce and slowly be outdated.
We are moving to an age where every nation (India included) in getting into paperless culture, more and more Indians are buying computers, and everyone wants to read online (some start off with this as a fad). - Vivek Dixit
November 28th, 2007 at 5:29 am
Compare the situation with newspapers. With the internet hype everybody believed the paper newspaper would disappear. In fact, the contrary is true. Every newspaper has an online edition which only strengthens the position of the paper edition. People still prefer to hold something tangible in their hands when reading.
Imagine reading a book on a pc. What if you run out of batteries? Will you start reading your e-book in an open air bus stop? ?ill you read a book on your pc on the beach, ….No, because your pc will get damaged, stolen.
The simplicity of the concept of a paper book can not be replaced by digital books. Flipping through pages on a digital is also not that easy…
I think the two options will peacefully co-exist next to each other.
November 28th, 2007 at 5:31 am
The problem is that quite some published material, certainly if refering to technical issues, is outdated before it is available. Of a publication of 500 pages, sometimes only 50 are somewhat relevant, and only for a short period of time. This implies that lots of books ( not the BIG literature of course) are being used in a different way than they used to be, just reading what is interesting. The success of electronic books etc will depend on the way the Amazons and publishers take this evolution into account.
November 28th, 2007 at 5:32 am
Books will never die. The Kindle probably has a lifespan of a few years (version 1 probably less). You have to charge the Kindle and it costs a hell lot of money. The Kindle is … rekindling … the interest in digital book reader but unlike music, this is a completely different user ecosystem.
For music, it’s only the mode of distribution that is changing and that’s thanks to users - think napster. The mode of consumption - i.e. how it is played, hasn’t changed.. We still use earphones and speakers to listen to music.
For books, the whole chain, from production to consumption is changed and that’s being shoved down our throat by producers like Amazon or Sony. More fundamentally though, the Kindle experience is radically different from reading a book. It’s not ink on paper, it’s electrons flowing in a polymer.
My uneducate/safe guess : digital reading will co-exist with traditional paper reading.
November 28th, 2007 at 5:33 am
There would be growing demand for e books as users get accustomed to interactive and convenient entertainment that allows users immediate access to desired content. User convenience in terms of accessing rare books from libraries and carrying numerous digital versions of classics makes e books attractive.
However the joy of reading out a nice picture book to kids cant be replicated. A book is more than just words on paper, especially to a child. The touch, feel, and even the smell to a two year old, makes a book unique. These children will continue to love printed books as long as they are alive. Can this joy be replicated in the digital formats?
Both formats would thrive and help increase the market…
November 28th, 2007 at 5:34 am
I think too many people love books. I go into the books stores near where I live and they are always crowded. I’ve been working with computers for years, yet I still love books and buy them. Besides, books are easier on the eyes, don’t need batteries, and can be used anywhere at anytime. For instance, I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t read on the airplane when they make you turn off all electronic devices! And a book is never going to break. It might wear out or fade, but it will be useful for years. So in summary, I think books are going to be around for a long time.
November 28th, 2007 at 5:35 am
I do believe that people still prefer the hard copies when reading. So I cannot see the end of an era here. The situation may be compared with the newspapers. Every big newspaper has an internet version that completes the hard copy one, however the internet never replaces it!
November 28th, 2007 at 5:36 am
All the Kindle buzz has me in serious cogitation regarding this very issue. “Thanks” to Fran who posted the Michael Hyatt link. Interesting stuff. On one hand I see Michael’s point about the gross inefficiencies in publishing, but one the other hand I have to admit, I almost feel a bit betrayed by the “book is dead” talk. I find that I react in a very emotional way to any suggestion that the newest electronic gizmo will replace my beloved paper and ink.
November 28th, 2007 at 5:37 am
I think Kindle will still need to undergo several version revision. For starters, the hard lock-in with Amazon sucks. A vendor-neutral option is most desirable. I should be able to purchase my digital books from any vendor but store it my device. Also, the price is a tad too high. Hopefully, it will come down with scale and technology upgrades.
November 28th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
The music industry did not lose out from internet distribution. Several large record labels lost a cornered market of young adults who were under-served by the increasingly low quality, high cost offerings available to them.
What these music labels did in response to growing competition from smaller and more targeted labels was to go on a mass buyout spree financed by steep increases in album pricing. That business model became prohibitively expensive enough for some customers to explore alternate delivery methods via the internet. Sales to independent labels by contrast has skyrocketed, and many of the larger labels still quietly reap the benefits of those sales.
Books are an emotional purchase much like other retail products that deal with symbolic rewards. But the book publishing industry will have a very positive opportunity to practice Long Tail Theory servicing of the exploding niche market demographics that have up until this point had to fight for shelf space and any increased public awareness. Since the nineties consumers armed with the internet at their fingertips have been able to slowly drive distribution in a linear pattern from author to reader via forums and better tracking of online buying patterns.
Modern books currently have an incredibly limited life span. Each printing is a struggle in the current business model for all but a few high profile store-stocked titles. Semantic web applications and demographic smart matching now increasingly have the ability to broaden the social appetite for new subjects and by proxy the driving interest in even more broad categories of niche subject matter. It can only be a good thing once the dust clears and production costs all but disappear.
This is precisely what the writer’s strike is all about -not fear of the coming digital revolution, but rejoicing that nonexistent reproduction costs will mean more stable profits and exponentially more convenient delivery to newer audiences.
November 28th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
From Toby Younis at B2B Marketing Pro dot com
People who read books are a unique, and I believe, diminishing demographic. And, I think if you were to ask them, they’d tell you that there is nothing digital that could replace the sensual experience of looking for, buying, handling, reading, notating and aging a book well constructed of quality materials.
Will I ever open the cover of a digital book?
I suppose it’s possible. But, to put a broad-nibbed fountain pen to the tooth of a thick, blank frontispiece and write “This book belongs to Toby Younis,” can never, in my mind, be replaced with chalkboard-screeching experience of putting a fiberglass stylus to a piece of plexiglass.
The demise of the book publishing industry will not be a byproduct of digitization, but of the demise of the evidently irreplaceable readers of those books.
November 29th, 2007 at 7:05 am
Other than Melody, I don’t think anyone here has tackled the core question. Will free sharing of electronic files - piracy - disrupt the publishing industry?
On the one hand, piracy of electronic texts has been around longer than piracy of any other media on the Internet. Take a drive around Usenet and marvel at the multi-Gb collections of texts that people are sharing. However, even though it has always been available, loss from piracy for text publishing has never been significant.
On the other hand, the core demographics of music listeners are very different from readers. I would assert that the latter group tends to be older, more law-abiding (at least IP law), and wealthier. Let’s face it, the real reason that college kids pirate music is because they have no disposable income. If their free time were worth more, they wouldn’t do it. Core book buyers value their time more and won’t actively pirate.
Let’s also make the distinction that in the developed world in the modern age, a wide selection of books is available to the public via libraries. They allow individuals with neither the means nor the desire to spend on books access to works in an on-demand fashion. There was no free outlet for music in an on-demand model; radio was always push, and people were stuck with crappy corporate music. As digital distribution of books spreads, piracy for the economic underclass will increase, simply because they won’t have to visit the local library. But they were never big book buyers to begin with. (I actually look forward to this increase in piracy - perhaps the poor will start reading more.)
I don’t think advanced in electronic distribution will lead to greater losses from piracy for booksellers.
November 29th, 2007 at 7:06 am
Two quick, important distinctions should be made to clarify this question.
First, answers will be very different if we’re talking about trade books (fiction, biographies, history books, photography collections, etc.) and non-trade books (computer reference, how-to guides, dictionaries, etc.). The latter lend themselves to electronic formats more than the former.
Second, if we’re just talking about trade books, the industry as a whole will come out fine, but we should look at publishers and agents separately. Publishers could fare terribly over the next decade as agents now work directly with book-buyers, designers, promoters.
Aside from that issue, higher-ed publishers already have it the worst: the cost of production is skyrocketing, but professors’ and students’ options for cheaper, alternative sources for the same information are expanding.
November 30th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
In developed and affluent countries yes, In others liek developing and Third World countries No.
http://tekno-world.blogspot.com
November 30th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
I guess the shift will happen. How fast and how soon will depend on the digital readers and what they bring to the table.
Digital music made music more portable than what it was. E.g. a cd with mp3 songs or a digital music player stores at least 10 times more songs than a recorded cd. That meant more music for more time. Also the fact that you could choose the songs you wanted to listen to than the entire album made digital music so popular.
Similarly digital readers will need to offer that advantage. One is of course being able to carry multiple books at the same time. But that need will have to develop. Then the readers viewing capability – books can be read at all odd angles while the readers may not immediately offer this flexibility. So one will have to wait for that big need or convenience for these readers to offer. Which they will – when and how soon is the only grey area.
November 30th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
Interesting question, and pertinent, since I’ve just ordered my Kindle from Amazon (and am anxiously awaiting delivery).
I agree that the promise of a paperless society is unlikely to be fulfilled any time soon. I heard the death knell for paper repeatedly during my career, and I think I’ve only marginally reduced my paper usage.
We have to consider how people use paper. Each face of a piece of paper is a view. On an average sized desk, we can have as many “views” as we have room for paper to sit. Conversely, on your average PC screen, you are limited by the size of the screen for how many views you can have simultaneously. So, although for single-view or double-view tasks, PC or digital usages are ideal, it’s difficult to imagine writing a complex report without having at lease SOME of your source material printed out so that you can see it and the document you are working on on the PC at the same time.
Book reading can fall into single view or multiple view usages as well. When reading for pleasure, most people are only holding the book they are reading in their hand. A digital reader simply replaces the book object with a reader object. When you are finished with the book, you close it and have to find a place for it until (if at all) you use it again. With a digital reader, you close the book and it resides in storage on your device (or in the case of the Kindle, in Amazon’s Media Library online).
I don’t have publishing statistics handy, but I’m guessing that the academic book market is safe from being supplanted by digital media anytime soon. Multiple views and frequent use make a physical book more practical for use. Besides, can you imagine trying to highlight a digital line of text while reading your average textbook on a digital device — select the beginning and end of the selection. Tell the device to highlight it. Pffft. Time-waster.
For the pleasure book market, I think that digital devices are a significant threat to the current paradigm. For most people, a one-read use is enough for pleasure, and a digital device allows you to minimze your storage needs without significantly compromising the reading experience (at least, that’s the promise of the Kindle).
I fall into this interesting group of having purchased a number of online books over the years, reading them on my Palm device (a horrendous experience) and on my Mac (a less than satisfying experience as well). I really enjoy having the books I’ve read around in the event I read them again (which I rarely do), and like other “completists,” I enjoy seeing all of a trilogy, series or favorite author’s works lining the shelf.
The bell tolling for paper is really the cash register ringing. Both will continue to coexist nicely until the paradigm for reading shifts.
November 30th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Well, I read lots of technical books and articles related to my work online, without flipping a single page. But I would never read a novel on my computer, I still love holding the book..! It’s a totally different feeling, that is neither bad for my eyes nor giving me headaches
December 5th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
Ajay,
Books industry will have to go digital sooner or later, like music industry. Lets take music industry: until few years music industry was all around record sales. They would hardly make any money on tours or merchandise. Today, due to digital effect music industry is in process of re-inventing itself. Today monies comes from business like tours, endorsements etc. Record sales don’t contribute to bottom line. There are bands who give out music in MP3 format to be downloaded free from their official website.
If we take publishing industry, with gadgets like tablet PC’s, mobile phone having more power, I don’t see a reason why a person will not be reading his book on his tablet? With electronic age and text becoming more digital it has its own advantages. Research being the key. Our time to research has reduced. How many time do we now go to a library to do our research. I firmly believe that publishing industry will have to reinvent itself.
Like music industry they will have to get innovative and go more digital. As all industries are created for bottomline, publishing industry will have to find its next source of revenue before its too late.
December 5th, 2007 at 11:54 pm
I like to read a book for a bedtimes story. If it’s digital, might as well just watch a movie with the kids.
Ever take your laptop to the beach or the side of the swimming pool?
Actually, I know one guy who reads his books at church on a PDA. Irritating as can be. You don’t know if he’s reading along with the Sunday School lesson, or sending emails.
He might take his PDA to the beach too, or perhaps he just goes into a sunbed and has a widescreen display of waves on the side when he reads.
Books are tangible. People don’t buy them just to read them, but to hold them, to share them, to give them as presents.
Books are so different from pop-music and other “passive” media. And they’re different from newspapers and television as well.
Just as cinema didn’t destroy the theatre, and tv didn’t stop kids going on dates to the cinema, and how digital photography hasn’t destroyed the market for posters, I don’t see how computers will get rid of books.
Speaking of music, I also don’t see the digital world as a big threat to the opera houses.
I’ve known about the Guttenburg project (which writes out of copyright books for free) for… it must be over ten years now. However, I still like having a hard copy of Macbeth and Tom Sawyer.
I know people who’ve photocopied books a bit too much (or scanned entire books). Book piracy isn’t new. And free sharing of books… well, that’s very, very old.
I think the bigger question is where will the digital world leave public libraries. Some of us try to read, but there are always idiots on social networking sites giggling about who they’re “linked to”.
I mean, it’s much more irritating that the homeless guy who used to laugh a bit too loudly at Mad Magazine, at least Mad is really funny. Bring back the litterate homeless guy, and send the silly rich deliquants home. Get the computers out of the library.
I also still have tangible board games like Monopoly and Risk… I’m not going to pay 50 quid or whatever it is for the priveledge of having a game crash.
Text went digital a long time ago. But a long text fits better with a book. Short texts, like encyclopedia articles and newspaper articles, actually adapt quite well digitally.
December 15th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Books cannot be compared to music as one can listen or enjoy music even when one is driving a car or is relaxing and does not
want to put any sort of strain on brain but for reading a book one needs to concentrate on what the book or the author wants
the reader to interpret.
I am a software engineer and have a habit of flipping few pages of a book or a newspaper just before sleeping
so that I can sleep well and for that I feel physical form is the best, the reason is
obvious I donot want to strain my eyes more as my job is more than sufficient to put strain on my eyes.
One can also consider another example of software engineers who need to read lot of documents for their daily
work and I do not think that everyone stick to their computer screens to read. Most of the people
take print outs of the document to have a feel and proper understanding of what they are reading.
So, I feel it is very difficult to replace PHYSICAL and Tangible form of a book with the DIGITAL one.
December 31st, 2007 at 2:18 am
I have a Kindle. I have not read any paperback books since I have received my Kindle. When I was reading e-books on my Palm I read both e-books and paperbacks. Now I am not reading paperbacks. The reason? I get the book in 6 different size fonts. Some paperbacks I have to return to the library because the print is just too small. I find it much easier to read on the Kindle because it is easier to hold in one hand, can turn pages with one hand, can do this with either hand, can see it anywhere I used to be able to see a book, including reading in bed or in my car at night by wearing a headlight, the same headlight I bought for the paperbacks when my vision was better. If you don’t think variable font size is a feature, look for your favorite books in LARGE PRINT sizes in your book store. You may not need it now, but you probably will later in life. Once and avid book reader, always an avid book reader.
Al in Benson, AZ
January 7th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Books, my friend, are a bloody good form of insulation!
Five inches of paper in-between the wall and the rest of the room…
- It keeps the cold out!
And hey, when a professionally clever person wants to appear on TV…
is there any better way to prove that (s)he’s as thinker
than to sit in front of a great big wall of books?
“How can I not be serious?
- Check out this lot!”
You’ll never do that with an electronic book reader.
Nice article…
Best wishes…
Ian Rogers
Manchester
England
October 29th, 2008 at 2:37 am
Hm I wished I had one, is it available in India. I know the diffculty in carrying tech books with me when I travel.