A tale of two mediums: Despite the iPad, traditional books aren't going anywhere.Filed under: iPad
It was the newest of technologies, it was the oldest of technologies. A while back I wrote an opinion piece on my lament over Penguin Books' John Makinson trying to reinvent books on the iPad. In response to the article, I received emails that ranged from people calling me a Luddite to readers asking me to petition Penguin to keep books from becoming audio, video, and streaming monstrosities. What people on both sides the debate misunderstood was that I am not against ebooks. I'm against turning an ebook into a multimedia experience that detracts from the work of literature.
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http://www.tuaw.com/2010/05/06/a-tale-of-two-mediums-despite-the-ipad-traditional-books-aren/';tweetmeme_source='tuaw';A few days ago I was in London having drinks with a novelist and a literary agent. We discussed the pros and cons of the iPad as a book reader and how the iPad as a medium and its iBookstore affects the reading public. The novelist and agent gave me their impressions of the device and how it will, if at all, change the way readers consume books. We also spoke about Penguin's ideas to reinvent books as apps and discussed my previous article on the subject along with the notion that some people in the tech world think that the iPad and iBookstore will kill traditional books.
Our conversation got me thinking: I normally read about 50-60 books a year in paperback format, but I had owned my iPad for a week already and had yet to try my favorite pastime on it. So I decided to compare how reading the same book in paperback would compare with reading it on the iPad. In order not to bias the medium I was reading it on by already having discovered the story on another device (and thus being a little bored with it on a second reading that so closely followed the first), I decided to read one novel -- every other of its chapters on the iPad and then in paperback.TUAWA tale of two mediums: Despite the iPad, traditional books aren't going anywhere. originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 08 May 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments
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