Thus, I like the fact that ReadWriteWeb posted two almost back to back articles, both written by Richard MacManus.
5 Ways That eBooks Are Better Than Paper Books
Sure, I can sum up this article, but you're best to click the above and check it out. MacManus lists things such as social highlighting, notes, immediately look-up of words (ie, built-in dictionary), as well as search.
This article was retweeted 505 times and liked by 135 people on Facebook and had 29 comments from both sides of the paper/ebook fence) at the time I'm writing this post.
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| Photo Credit: "1984...meet DRM" (edited by Mike Vroegop & Joshua Bonnain) |
5 Ways That Paper Books Are Better Than eBooks
In this article, MacManus sums up things such as the feel of a book in your hands, the actual packaging (harking to the loss of the feel of the "art" put into a book's full cover), and the ability to share, resell or actually KEEP the physical object.
This article was retweeted 85 times, wasn't liked by anybody on Facebook (until I clicked the Like button that is), and the first comment mentions that books don't run out of batteries. (To be fair, this post is only 4 hours old so likely hasn't been seen by many people in their RSS readers, etc)
I'm a believer that new technologies have a definite and welcome place in our culture, but that they ADD TO the existing technologies and cultural artifacts rather than completely replace them. So I'm very pleased to see MacManus, though he heads up a technology blog, recognizing the fact that there are benefits to both, depending on what's important to the consumer.
In my ideal book world, eBooks and printed books will both prosper and live in harmony together, each offering customers the things that are most important to THEM in their reading experience.
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