[WEB4LIB] Re: "As TV didn't destroy radio, eBooks can exist with

[Daniel Messer]

    You have a point, sir and one that I don't totally disagree with. Where I
think a problem might lie is in your analogy of the horseless carriage. Sure, we
all drive cars now. But why do you drive a car? Because they are relatively easy
to get, fuel is readily available and relatively well priced, and because your
car goes faster than a horse. You have to remember that horseless carriages
didn't get into popular use until they (and here's the biggie) offered something
far better than a horse did. For a horseless carriage required things that just
weren't around or weren't quite ready at the time.
    There wasn't a gas station on every corner, but everyone had access to hay
for the horse. Horses were expensive, sure. But they cost far less than the
carriage. If your carriage broke down, you'd have to have it fixed. Like today
that means ordering and paying for parts and labor. Your horse gets old, well it
could still be used to produce another horse. You just can't mate horseless
carriages. :) On top of that, horseless carriages preferred paved roads.
Something that wasn't at all common at the time. The tech was there, but the
world wasn't ready to give up something that truly worked better at the time.
    Now take an e-book. They're expensive. If you go for the device alone it's
expensive just to get that. I just don't think people are willing to pay a
premium to get a device or some software and then have to pay the same price for
the digital book as they would for the print. That kind of thing works well for
console video games, but not for literature. Then there's the little matter of
loss. I take an e-book reader, drop it on the floor and chances are it's going
to break. Now I can take a book, drop it on the floor, climb up on my desk and
deliver a flying elbow drop on top of the book, pick the book up and it's still
100% usable. If I lose my book, I'll be angry and I'll be out $25 or so. If I
lose my e-book reader, I'm out at least $100 on the reader alone. Never mind the
book that was on it.
    I think the technology is a good idea. I truly like the idea that, when I go
on a trip, my bag weighs 30 to 40 pounds lighter because I have a small e-book
reader and assorted books instead of hefty print. Also, like the horseless
carriage, people have to be convinced to learn something new to do something
basic. In the early 20th century, lots of people knew how to ride horses and
were content to do so. Only a few wanted to learn how to drive. Now in the early
21st century, most everyone knows how to operate a book and don't see much
reason to learn how to operate a device just so they can read using that device.

    Which is simpler? That's what it boils down to. What is the easiest
solution? After many years, cars became an easy solution for getting around. But
how long between the invention of the horseless carriage and Ford Motor did it
take for the car to become accepted? I figure you're looking at a similar span
of time here, if not longer.
    In the end, books have been around in one form or another for thousands of
years. People who think humanity is just going to dump something that's been
around for thousands of years because some guy in a suit told them it was a good
idea are deluding themselves. Something that's thousands of years old does not
go away over night, or over a year, or over a decade.

Dan

Larry Campbell wrote:

> As someone who both loves the printed book, but believes we're likely at
> the end of its era, I'm sometimes unable to resist the temptation to
> respond to these kinds of dismissals. The simple fact of the matter is
> that these are early days. It may be, of course, that my hunch is wrong,
> and the appropriate analogy for the ebook as a device IS the 8-track tape;
> or, it may be that a better analogy would be the horseless carriage around
> the turn of the century. Then too many people no doubt felt there was
> nothing it could do that a horse couldn't do better. And they would have
> had justification -- just not foresight.
>

--
Mondai wa
The subject in question...
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Daniel Messer, Technologies Instructor
Yakima Valley Regional Library
102 N 3rd St Yakima, WA 98901
(509) 452-8541 x712
dmesser at yvrls.lib.wa.us
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When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
                     -Hunter S. Thompson