“The digital book is a strange beast. It’s intangible and yet wholly mutable. Everywhere and nowhere. We own it, but yet, don’t. Its qualities mimic physical books only on a meta-level.”
This is such an interesting concept that I feel stumps a lot of writers and readers alike. Writers sell their book and walk into a Starbucks with 4 out of the 20 people in there reading it. That must make them feel good. It reassures them that not only did they sell their book, but also people are enjoying and reading their book. Think of the same situation with 6 kindle fires in Starbucks. The writer has no idea what they are reading. The earlier situation was confirmed with the book cover and maybe thickness or color of the physical book. But with the second scenario all of that is lost. The same thing could occur with the consumer. If someone goes to a book store and buys 75 books, they are able to not only read all of those books whenever they want, but they can also look at them and design their bookshelves with them when they aren’t being read. If the same person buys 75 ebooks, they aren’t able to show their guests their library with their amazing books, but rather they could say “Look at my kindle’s library, see anything you like?” These are two very different scenarios as the dominance from print to digital takes place. Personally I prefer the hard copy of a book that I am able to write on and look at when they aren’t being read.
the quality of the paper, the pixel density of the display;
the cloth used on covers, the interface for highlighting;
location by page, location by paragraph.
This is another interesting statement that is a big difference between digital and print worlds. I feel as though this is an argument that will be continuing for quite some time. It is about personal preference.
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