The e-book has been long in coming. Way back in the 1980's, when the personal computer was still in its infancy, we were told that the logic is inescapable: Now that ordinary people, the text could be reading on a screen, then the days of the printed page were numbered. There was a better way. After all, the Personal Computer-assured us – will soon be in every office, in every home, and it would give everyone access to the largest library in the world, in digital form. In the future, if history is gone, do you move into a new house and the most striking is that there will be no shelves. There would be no need of everything! All data will be stored on disks, out of sight.
The first myth is the easiest to treat. People are still rays, but they are not necessarily groaning under the weight of books, no. But they probably contain other media, such as CDs, DVDs, videotapes (because people have not yet passed all), and even, against all odds, that throwback to the 1970's, the cassette. Well, the tapes are regarded as a bit outdated today, and many recreational centers in the home does not include a way to read them, as they were. But people like tapes. They are small, convenient, easy to carry in a pocket, and can be played anywhere-at home, office and car. Yes, but the CDs are better, we are told. A better sound quality, better-Wait, they are not better. Like many a computer nerd knows, a series of plastic disc is not more practical than a small plastic box. The disc is released on desk or table, it is scratched, it slid on its side of things and can not be recovered. Also, it is not clear what the people really want. In the days when vinyl tapes were invented, ordinary residents found an excellent use of the tape. You could borrow your friend recording, tape at home, it makes it viable and have a copy. No, that's not the case now: the CD did not do so well. Even without “borrowing” your pal to music, and use Internet access and download sites, the problem is that some CD players refuse to play 'homemade' ; disks, for whatever reason. So you can not slide your favorite songs in your pocket and carry them and play them anywhere round, ah, but that's why someone invented the i-Pod, you say. Yes, it makes the case for storing music from anywhere you have the chance to find on the Web, your friends, someone gave you something for Christmas but it adds another layer of technology, the computer. If you look at a nice old tape recorder now, the most important thing was how easy it is to use, how few controls. Compare this to the laptop. Ouch, there is no comparison. Saving and storing music is now more flexible, people will tell you. Yes, but nothing like frankly simple!
Back to the books. I can load up text on my laptop. If I have access to the Internet on my laptop or desktop computer, I download almost all books that have not been written yesterday, but there is one problem: screen & l # 39; computer. A screen is not as easy to carry in my pocket, like a book. Compare the situation on a crowded commuter train early in the morning. People with pocket books can be read in any place, whether it be pressed against the door or hanging on dangling from support. The person with the laptop needs a table, or even a seat, but room to move their elbows. Ah, but that's why someone invented the PDA, what you say. You can download the text on your little handheld and scanning the words into any tight corner. But when you start to the list of attributes of a PDA, you come to the conclusion very strange. The device is portable, handy, will fit in your pocket and can be carried around. Can be accessed anywhere and shared with friends. It is small, friendly and human scale. In fact, it's exactly like a book! There are only two differences, one good, one bad. The first is that you can store more of a book on him at any given time. Wow, you say that with a device the size of a paperback can store dozens of pocket books inside himself. It's almost like a fairy tale: imagine a book that had blank pages and every day you could wish for a new story and it does show you. Then he empty his pages until tomorrow, when a new, undiscovered history seems. What could be better than that? Well, something that was actually readable. Printers have been working for years to find the fonts that are pleasing to the eye and readable in any light. The PDA is an attempt to duplicate the sheer joy of writing in black on a white background, something that may fail in poor light conditions or when the batteries are low. In fact, the problem for portable devices is exactly the same thing. They can not provide a printed page, it's just a nice copy of an average. It is their weakness.
Nevertheless, the market is growing each year and “the e-book”, we are told that we have and it is finally delivered to our specifications. Unfortunately, this means that if you go to the Web and look for e-books to read-can be downloaded in a variety of formats confusing as machines want to become the new universal standard. Maybe it will happen. Perhaps, even today, the device is currently under development, which will become the new, acceptable alternative for the novel-shaped pocket. But the test is back here in the real world, not in the laboratory. Like the “paperless office” is a promise that has not delivered, a vision that has not become a reality. For some reason, some boring, illogical, all too human reason – people who enjoy reading are, as always, addicted to touch, feel, and maybe even the smell of the page print. These things pounds in their pockets in the morning, and read books printed in their spare moments and lunch hours. Not yet go out of their pocket electronic their boyfriends in order to engage in stories, important witnesses and inventions. Why not? We can only speculate. It is frustrating for the marketing manager, but it is interesting to the sociologist. The e-book is here, they cry, then why not just people together and start using them?
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