Rooney ponders e-readers
March 6, 2011 5:00 PM
Are e-readers better than books? Andy Rooney doesn't seem to think so!
Andy Rooney Ponders E-Books
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See all 30 CommentsMoby Dick: makes for a great e-book.
The Rainbow Goblins: needs to be paper.
An e-book has a fixed size. This works for a lot of books: Asimov and Robbins and Dante and Shakespeare. But there are different kinds of books. Show me a good e-reader for coffee table books. Show me an e-reader that can give me the full experience of the Audubon's Baby Elephant portfolio.
When I need a dictionary, I use an online dictionary. Would I have the same respect for that book if I had never seen the Webster's Unabridged Dictionary as a child? Its onion-skin pages, its mass equal to mine, its reliance on its own podium to hold it--all this gave it an authority that some e-reader could never impart.
I don't think Andy's a Luddite, even though he comes off that way sometimes. I think he's saying, in his own way, that books will never become completely obsolete. There will always be a place for pulp.
William J. Kelleher, Ph.D.
It's the same words, the same messages, the same truths, the same great art delivered in a different form -- far less expensive, far easy to use and carry around and store.
In fact the ebook revolution is leading to a huge increase in reading -- especially reading of the the great classics, and the excellent forgotten books of the past that had been "out of print", in some cases for centuries. Ebooks don't go "out of print". Once created there is virtually no cost for making additional copies. The economics are totally different than for printed books.
Many people your age (and mine) are considering moving to assisted living and are faced with the prospect of not being able to take along with them the printed book libraries that they built over a lifetime and cheris. Fortunately, most of those tomes can be relicated on a single Kindle or Nook, at relatively low cost. And as eye strain becomes an increasing issue, with a flip of a switch you can change the type size. And in the case of the Kindle, you can even choose to listen to those same books.
Give it a try.
Best wishes.
Richard Seltzer, B&R Samizdat Express, http://www.samizdat.com/kindle/
Legal transferability. You don't "buy" an e-book, only license it.
With a real book I can buy/resell/lend/borrow/trade however I wish.
I can buy a used copy for a small amount or I can sell a collectible
first edition for a large one. Guess what a first edition Harry Potter
goes for? Close to $20,000. Guess what a first edition e-book goes for?
Oops, that's right, you can't legally resell it and it has zero value.
Not to mention that with some devices they can remove an e-book you paid
for w/o permission, possibly replace it or censor it. Don't believe me?
Look up references to Kindle and an unauthorized copy of 1984. Yes, I know it was ironic.
They are sort of lying when they say the e-book is more popular.
They are including all of the free books as if they were real sales.
Of course they want to push us to e-books since they no longer need
to pay to ship, store or recycle the extras. That and they get to
stop the reselling of the books (see above comments).
I don't think real books will ever completely go away, and some books
just need to be in different formats to work. You can share a big
real book with lots of children. Books with coated pages that cost
relatively little so that when it gets dropped does not cost you your
entire library, etc.
If they ever do solve the e-book legally transferable issues I'd likely
actually be interested. I keep hundreds of paperbacks that I might read again one day and frankly I could use the space. Some books I know I will never let go of, regardless, and the e-reader will likely never replace the tactile feel, but I do think they have a place for some literature and anything that promotes reading is a good thing.
Books, unlike yourself, will be around forever, at least they will be around as long as man is on the planet. Books will not die or become obsolete. You are not dead today but you are showing your obsolescence. If the propagation of your ideas are as important to you as you want other to think then you would welcome the advent of a new form in which the book will continue. If you aren't making any money -- which is, after all the dross is drained off your tired rhetoric perhaps your real issue -- the problem isn't with the e-book but with your publisher or agent. However, now that I know your first book is available for free on my e-reader I'll be sure and take a pass.
P.S. Just for the record, I am not a young person.
I have been enjoying your columns for a long time....
I am 100 percent behind you, here !
REAL paper books are still what counts... Whether it's handcover or paperback, we don't care. Except that hardcover books, though more expensive, will last longer, while softcover books eventually fall apart after copious usage.
I am not that old, either, but after years of internet gazing and cruising, my eyesight is getting disturbingly worse and I blame THAT on the internet and on computer screens, especially those screens of 15 years ago that weren't that sharp, compared with today's.
One of the joys of owning REAL books is that, like PEOPLE, they wear down ! In other words, they are fallible... But, if they are kept in good condition, they will last forever.
e-books. on the other hand, are plastic man-made devices that cannot wear down easily, unless you throw it against a wall or hit it with a hammer.
The feel and smell of paper in a real book contains energy from the tree and thus, it is a reminder to the reader, of nature itself...
The putrid smell of plastic and glass in an ebook. along with the harmful radiation that it emits, makes me want to gulp down a few potassium iodine tablet prior to usage...
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