Re: Is The Printed Book Dead?

[Doug Johnson <johnsd9@MAIL.MANKATO.MSUS.EDU>]

Hi folks,

Being the pragmatist that I am, I wonder why we don't hear more about the
current cost advantages of cellulose-based books as opposed to
silicon-based books? (Yeah, I know King's latest was only $2.50 - still
greater than its true literary value - but you gotta have a $X00 machine to
read it on.)

When it becomes cheaper, more convenient, and easier on the eyes for me to
use the ebook than the printed book, I am sure that I, along with most
folks, will gladly switch. And who should care? Reading and learning won't
be going away, only a delivery method will be changing. As a library
whether you select, maintain, and teach folks to access information on
shelves of paper or information on servers of files shouldn't make much of
a diff.

I don't hear anybody grouching about no longer having hornbooks, vellum,
scrolls or clay tablets, and when the ebook comes of age few will miss the
weight of multiple print volumes, unchangeable font size, out-of-print
lists, or having to leave the house on a -10 degree Minnesota morning to
travel to the bookstore or library to get the latest and greatest potboiler.

As much as love paper books and reading, I can't wait for a usable ebook!

Late on Monday after a long day,

Doug

Doug Johnson, Director of Media and Technology
I.S.D. 77, Mankato Public Schools
Box 8713, Mankato MN 56002-8713
Voice: 507-387-7698, Fax: 507-387-2496
E-mail: johnsd9@mail.mankato.msus.edu
or:     djohns1@mail.isd77.k12.mn.us
http://www.isd77.k12.mn.us/staffdir/staff2/Johnson_Doug.html
**********************
The way to do research is to attack the facts at
the point of greatest astonishment. Celia Green

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