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Books

No, the Internet Has Not Killed the Printed Book - Most People Still Prefer Them (nytimes.com) 140

Posted by msmash from the books-v-ebooks dept.
Daniel Victor, writing for The New York Times: Even with Facebook, Netflix and other digital distractions increasingly vying for time, Americans' appetite for reading books -- the ones you actually hold in your hands -- has not slowed in recent years (Editor's note: the link could be paywalled; alternate source), according to a study by the Pew Research Center. Sixty-five percent of adults in the United States said they had read a printed book in the past year, the same percentage that said so in 2012. When you add in ebooks and audiobooks, the number that said they had read a book in printed or electronic format in the past 12 months rose to 73 percent, compared with 74 percent in 2012. Twenty-eight percent said they had opted for an ebook in the past year, while 14 percent said they had listened to an audiobook. Lee Rainie, the director of internet, science and technology research for Pew Research, said the study demonstrated the staying power of physical books. "I think if you looked back a decade ago, certainly five or six years ago when ebooks were taking off, there were folks who thought the days of the printed book were numbered, and it's just not so in our data," he said. The 28 percent who said they had read an ebook in the past year has remained relatively steady in the past two years, but the way they are consuming ebooks is changing.
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No, the Internet Has Not Killed the Printed Book - Most People Still Prefer Them More

No, the Internet Has Not Killed the Printed Book - Most People Still Prefer Them

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  • Let me make this easy for you. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by H3lldr0p ( 40304 ) on Friday September 02, 2016 @12:38PM (#52816219) Homepage

    Form-factor. Form-factor. Form-factor.

    Books are still around because we understand and have crafted them to exist in a particular, easy to transport, easy to trade form factor. Mass printed books have been around for almost 600 years at this point. We have thoroughly explored the technology.

    Electronic format, on the other hand, has not been as thoroughly explored. It's still finding itself. There's going to be a good while before everyone becomes happy with it. Until such time, the printed book is not going to be replaced.

    • plus the fact is having an actual prepared skin of a critter with pulped dried and bleached wood Tome is a good crash proof way of storing data (and OCR friendly glyphs can solve the data density issue).

      plus all else failing to read a book in a cave you need a chunk of wood, rags, oil, flint and stone (and a rock to sit on if you have a long book).

    • nonsense, my e-reader has better form factor than any book. weighs less, is much thinner, and holds thousands of books with adjustable font & brightness

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by rossdee ( 243626 )

        " with adjustable font & brightness"

        That is the important part for those of us that have poor vision

        I prefer to read white text on a black background, and of course you can easily enlarge the font.

      • Yes and your e-reader's display is crap compared to a printed page.

        • The contrast is better, the text is sharper, it provides its own light, it weighs less, it doesn't lose my place when I drop it, it's less fragile.

          Nope. The paper book is in every way inferior.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by rtb61 ( 674572 )

          The internet killed the printed book for me and what is this e-reader thing you talk off? Reality is, the article is hugely misleading. I read books a lot and that stupid statement "Sixty-five percent of adults in the United States said they had read a printed book in the past year", makes not sense what so ever to me, read one, just one book in a year, when I was an active book reader, read one book in a day and a couple in a week, was more like it. The internet has killed the printed book for me because

      • I'm not re-writing a previous comment that says exactly what I want to say to you, so read this comment. [slashdot.org]

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by mark-t ( 151149 )

          I don't disagree with your premise, but not all works on an ereader must necessarily be DRM laden.

          While DRM is a large disadvantage of ebook vs printed on the readers that utilize it, because DRM is not a hard and fast requirement for ebooks in general, I wouldn't say it's the biggest one.

          Probably the biggest disadvantage that active display technology readers have over the printed page is that they are simply harder on the eyes to read for extended periods. This is mitigated by using a passive displa

    • Have you tried E-Ink (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I was a long-time believer in printed books, but I was comparing them to computers, tablets and phones. In this case, books are indeed superior for reasons I'm sure others will point out. But now I'm convinced that when e-ink exits its current patent-encumbered status, large swaths of the current paper publishing industry will die. Not all, but lots.

      Earlier this year I got a cheap e-ink ebook reader from Kobo for my birthday. I read a book on it to make the giver (my wife) happy, thinking it would go in t

      • I don't think e-ink will supplant paper books entirely; there are whole classes of books that it doesn't really work for. Things that need maps suck on an ebook reader (historical, fantasy); manuals are much better on paper;

        I think this is simply because e-book formats are immature. There's no technical reason an e-book / reader combo couldn't present you with fabulous, full color maps and illustrations, plus links to more, etc. It's just that the current formats are crippled, and also, that some conversion

        • Exactly. The first eBook reader (according to Wikipedia) was released in 2004 - twelve years ago. The Amazon Kindle (the most popular eBook reader right now) was first released in 2007 - only 9 years ago. Think about where computers were when they were nine years old. We didn't go from the first consumer model of a personal computer to smartphones in a decade or two. The first personal computer was released in 1981. (There were similar devices earlier, but the IBM Personal Computer coined the term.) That

        • Until e-books are 100% DRM free and you truly own the copy you pay for (can't be changed or deleted buy anyone but you) and can always access it (no DRM to fail or to be denied by someone so you can't use it anymore) then e-books are a total FAIL and I'll NEVER pay even $0.01 for them. That being said: It will NEVER happen. There will always be some bullshit DRM or the ability for them to remove the copy you PAID for -- so you never own it, you're just RENTING it. I'll stick to printed books.

      • I'm sorry, e-ink sucks. LCD or OLED is the way to go, e-ink gives me a massive headache and it's FAR harder to read.

    • Better tool than a book, yet I love books (Score:5, Insightful)

      by goombah99 ( 560566 ) on Friday September 02, 2016 @02:49PM (#52817153)

      I thought I would hate the kindle both for it's form factor and because I have a sort of photographic memory for page layouts when recalling information in text books. Since I don't read textbooks often anymore--most things are now searchable on the internet, what I found was the convenience of the kindle in being able to take a lot of books on travel, even pick them up at the airport, and also to make the fonts larger are killer reasons it's better than print. I personally use it to the exclusion of books for all new books. I still buy used books because the price is better.

      What kills me about the kindle is two things. One is when I read great book the first thing I want to do is give it to a friend. And you can't. The second thing is you can't put it on your trophy shelf. I like looking at the books I've loved on my shelf as they recall bits of the story I liked at a glance. It tells others about me in a way I want to tell, and it's lets you pick one out and give it to a friend.

      So I love books and hate the kindle, except that it's a far better tool than a book. It's just that books are more than tools, they have identities and you want to share them.

      • Easy solution: Buy a physical copy and a Kindle copy!

        (I'm not just saying that because my first book is being published soon and I'd love to get double-royalties. Not at all!)

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Rexdude ( 747457 )

        when I read great book the first thing I want to do is give it to a friend. And you can't

        Or else switch to a device that's not locked down in this manner. I use the Kobo Glo [wikipedia.org] - it natively supports EPUB unlike the Kindle, and also has a nice backlight for night reading.

    • Form-factor. Form-factor. Form-factor.

      Books are still around because we understand and have crafted them to exist in a particular, easy to transport, easy to trade form factor. Mass printed books have been around for almost 600 years at this point. We have thoroughly explored the technology.

      Electronic format, on the other hand, has not been as thoroughly explored. It's still finding itself. There's going to be a good while before everyone becomes happy with it. Until such time, the printed book is not going to be replaced.

      I find the form factor of eBooks a lot more convenient. For one, no more requirement of bookshelves, or books gathering dust. All the books that I will buy would be on Amazon/B&N/whatever, where I can read them from my iPad or Ellipsis. Also, I've picked the white typeface on black background, which makes it easier on my eyes to read. Reading books has been a lot better since the Kindle app came around

  • Displays are my main problem. You simply can't read on a screen as easily as on real paper. As for e-paper screens: they are nice in theory, but there are almost no books available outside of piracy or DRM restricted places which add spyware to your device.

    • Displays are my main problem.

      I used to have the same issue. However, in recent years I have upgraded to a much larger LED backlit display and soon discovered that it's easier and more comfortable to read at the computer desk than any other way. Some of it has to do with the rendering software as well. If it's a bad app, it makes for a bad reading experience. I am picky about the software. Kindle, for instance, is not very good, but I can live with it.

      • Since 2011, most of my reading is done in a Galaxy S. I read before I sleep, so I use amber text over a black background, with the dimmest light intensity available. I haven't found any better alternative to an AMOLED display, it is just excellent. I have a newer Acer smartphone, but its display sucks in comparison, at least in low light settings.

        And for software, I can't recommend enough the Moon+ Reader app for Android, it has everything you need and the UI is perfect, imo. If any dev reads this, congrats

      • Doesn't the backlight hurt your eyes in low-light situations?

        • No, not at all. I am a stereotypical programmer with the lights out in my office, so I have the backlight set for low light all the time.

    • Spyware? Turn off WiFi if you think that is the case, battery lasts longer. Most sci-fi/fantasy/computer books can be bought DRM free and put on any e-reader.

    • but there are almost no books available outside of piracy or DRM restricted places which add spyware to your device.

      I think in a backhanded sort of way you may highlight why eBooks don't rule the world. I don't care about DRM so much as the fact that Amazon (for example) gets to decide which products that I paid for I can still use.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mark-t ( 151149 )
      Does watermarking count as intrusive DRM when it doesn't create any technical limitations on your ability to read or use the work on whatever device you put the file on? Most of the PDF's that I've bought are watermarked, but all I've seen is that they have my name and a number that I assume is an invoice or purchase ID at the very bottom or top of each page... right near the page numbers. It doesn't interfere with the reading of the work, so it's not a problem.

      • No, watermarking is no issue for me. Its an intellectual property protection mechanism that is not DRM.

  • I have about 40-50 books on knindle and nook, but I used my price fixing settlement to buy a real books.

  • Paper can still be good (Score:4, Insightful)

    by tripleevenfall ( 1990004 ) on Friday September 02, 2016 @12:40PM (#52816235)

    I can't get a kindle book from a friend, read it, then pass it on to another friend.

    I can't shop around a used kindle book store.

    You can't display kindle books, which is an aesthetic that many people love in a home, a shelf full of interesting books.

    Ebooks are a more convenient form of something, not a replacement for the thing. It's a portable version of real thing, not a new real thing.

    • Huh.

      Some of my Nook books have a "loan" option which allows me to share the book with a friend. Of course, it probably requires the other person to be a Nook user... I have never used the feature myself.

      I prefer my e-ink Nook to traditional books for these reasons:

      - Easier to hold
      - Easier to bookmark
      - Easier to carry
      - No outside light source required
      - Page synching between devices (in case I want to read on my phone instead)

      I do, however, still prefer paper books for technical manuals and programming books

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Dunbal ( 464142 ) *

      I can't get a kindle book from a friend, read it, then pass it on to another friend.

      I can't lend a kindle book to a friend and have him never return it, even after I remind him twice. Hey there are plus sides.

    • I amassed a huge library of dead trees. They were a storage problem, and a real pain when it was time to move. Then I discovered Project Gutenberg. Goodbye, Harvard Classics.

      Bookshelves are clutter. They don't look good, IMO.
    • There's also a lot of print material that just doesn't work on an e-reader's screen. Books of photography for example.
  • you don't have to keep it charged. I tried doing the whole ebook thing, but how often I (don't) read, when I wanted to finally sit down to read something I realized I had to charge my bloody nook, so I leave it to charge, resulting in me forgetting and not reading.

    • I have left my Nook e-ink tablet off the charger for months and come back to it without having lost much charge at all. It eventually just shuts itself off completely, requiring me to go through the boot up process again.

      Even if I use it actively, it will last for weeks on a single charge.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Dunbal ( 464142 ) *
      Yes I have to admit, plugging in my kindle for 30 mins every week or two is a real pain.
      • Exactly... it's annoying when you just want to sit down and read.

        • get a nice long USB cable; problem mostly solved

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Dunbal ( 464142 ) *
          Actually I read a few hours every day. The battery life on the old kindle e-ink devices is amazing. No, pretty much every time I want to read there's plenty of charge left.
          • I read once in a blue moon, and the old nook had an lcd touch portion that drained the battery like crazy. I kid you not, I used to read about once every 6 months (though read a lot in a short period with a new book), and the battery was long dead.

  • as a stand for my laptop to watch netflix on.

  • Although I still buy printed books, I am buying and using audio books most. I can listen to a book while I'm doing other things, listen to them in the car or watching the game on tv ( I rarely have the sound on anyway.) I just wish I didn't have to put up with iTunes to do it.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PCM2 ( 4486 )

      I just wish I didn't have to put up with iTunes to do it.

      Last I heard (no pun intended), Audible works on just about every device imaginable.

    • I can read five times faster than a person can talk. And that is just when I need to retain it all. Audio books are very frustrating to me, like listening to music played at too slow a speed.

      And when I am working, I don't like distractions. I work in what the psychologists call a "state of flow" (which anyone can do if they know how). The only thing I would want to play is noise, to cover up outside sounds.

  • Sixty-five percent of adults in the United States said they had read a printed book in the past year, the same percentage that said so in 2012

    That's a terrible question. Considering that most people who bother to read books even when they're not being forced to generally read much much more than one book per year, it's not really giving a very accurate picture. I got my first e-reader in 2012, and have hundreds of ebooks in my library now (all of them read). Despite all of that, I can still say I've read at least one physical book per year. It's just that the percentage of my reading done on physical books has dropped from 100% to 1%.

  • Usually the ebooks cost roughly the same as the paperback. In that case, I'd rather own a physical object.

    • I buy most of my ebooks from Google Play or Kobo, and in both cases I can easily decrypt the epubs, so I have a nice little library that can fit on my phone and tablet.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PCM2 ( 4486 )

      Usually the ebooks cost roughly the same as the paperback. In that case, I'd rather own a physical object.

      I hear this complaint a lot. But I'm betting you leave the house with your phone way more often than you leave the house with that physical book. Ever ride the bus? Ever go to the DMV? Ever show up early for a movie? Ever have a friend text you that they're going to be late? In those instances, would you rather fish around on the floor for a copy of yesterday's sports section or pick any book you like from your entire library?

  • Interesting study, but it begs the question of what happened to bookstores? Most communities have seen a huge contraction in brick and mortar bookstores.

    The most common explanation is that many people buy from Amazon rather than go to a bookstore.

    So the general conclusion may be that physical books are far from dead, but physical bookstores could be another matter.

    Here on O`ahu, we're down to one Barnes and Noble and one independent bookseller, plus a few of those "Book-off" mini-stores that have some used

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by PCM2 ( 4486 )

      Believe it or not, in downtown San Francisco -- San Francisco, now -- I know of two small independent bookstores. There is no Barnes & Noble in the entire City, no Borders, no large bookstores of any kind. If you were to say to yourself, "I'm going to head downtown and do my Christmas shopping," books are a gift you probably would not buy, because you would not see any.

    • Interesting study, but it begs the question of what happened to bookstores? Most communities have seen a huge contraction in brick and mortar bookstores.

      The most common explanation is that many people buy from Amazon rather than go to a bookstore.

      The other explanation is that the study is total BS. Asking if someone has read a single physical book in the space of a year is a terrible question to gauge the question of physical books vs ebooks. I generally read somewhere between 20 and 30 books a year, and since the advent of ebooks at least 90% of those haven't been physical copies. Despite that, my answer to the survey would could towards physical books still being in high demand, nevermind that I'm only buying them at a 10th of the rate I was befo

  • Comment removed (Score:3)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Friday September 02, 2016 @01:03PM (#52816415)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Why would you expect something the size of a paperback to be useful to display something that is shipped in a book four plus tubes larger?
    • To read technical books and papers you need a large screen. 6 inches won't do. I've a 9.7 inches eink reader and it's much better for that kind of content. Not as good as real paper and ereaders of that size are uncommon and expensive but I wouldn't trade mine for anything.
  • "I love this paperless society - I've never been busier"

  • Write-up vs. headline (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mi ( 197448 ) <slashdot-2017q4@virtual-estates.net> on Friday September 02, 2016 @01:03PM (#52816427) Homepage Journal
    Write-up:

    Sixty-five percent of adults in the United States said they had read a printed book in the past year, the same percentage that said so in 2012

    Headline:

    Most People Still Prefer Them

    A person, who read one paper book in 2016, but 10 such books in 2012 would not make a difference to the cited survey. And, of course, there is no evidence as to what people's preference is — are we reading paper-books, because we prefer it, or for other reasons?

    My family brought a substantial library with us, when we immigrated. Our bookcases hold the cherished old friends.

    But I would not expect my children to share the sentimental attachment. Because I myself would not be persuaded to go to bed with a papyrus or a box of clay tablets.

    • I'm not sure what you're talking about. Nothing beats falling asleep underneath hundreds of pounds of The Epic of Gilgamesh. It's a real page-turner (by which I mean I have to send the kids into the study to drag the next box of pages in to me).

  • I made the transition to e-books in the late '90s, starting with a huge download from Project Gutenberg onto my Palm Pilot. These days I almost entirely read books on an electronic device; for the most part, I find it far more convenient than hard-copy. It's usually lighter, easier to carry around (just slip it in the pocket!), the book stays open to the page you want whenever you put it down, and I can carry an entire library with me. The latter is extremely useful since I can finish a good book in just a

    • 1. There's the Web.

      2. For everything else, I'm working on a program to store notes and links in a very relational database, almost like an editable hypertext. I think of it as my extended mind.

      • It's been done. [github.com]

        I discovered vimwiki a year or so back and today I really don't know how I ever managed to live without it.

        I keep everything from notes on books (ahem) to system administration and programming notes to a to-do list for my electrician that I will print out and give him the next time he's here.

        • Well, I was feeling bad because I'd prototyped in Perl/Tk. But text mode?

          This does look very much along the lines of what I'm doing. Why isn't there a generic name for this sort of thing, so we can find them?

  • For page-turners, I prefer paper.

    For reference books and other books I rarely use but may need at any time, I prefer electronic.

    Some books are both: I'll read a novel, technical manual, or other page-turner on paper, then go back and use the electronic version (or a Google book search) to refresh my memory later.

    When space is at a premium, such as on airplanes, I almost always use electronic versions.

  • There is just something amazing about holding a physical book compared to a ebook reader. I think it has to do with there being so much information today, that having a limited amount is actually satisfying.
  • Kindle for entertainment, dead trees for business. Either for textbooks or anything technical paper is the way to go. You can get paper dirty and wet and not have to worry about it not working, but if I'm on the toilet or on the train I prefer to use my Kindle (not for wiping).

  • Reason enough to cheer this development.

    (oh for the people that will leap to nuclear war, think coronal mass ejection)

  • book printing gets tinier with age (Score:4, Interesting)

    by rubycodez ( 864176 ) on Friday September 02, 2016 @01:26PM (#52816603)

    e-readers have adjustable font size.

    Glad I don't have to read books with a large magnifier like my parents did

    I still have my paper books but its hard to read them

    • Glad I don't have to read books with a large magnifier like my parents did

      Back when I was a teenager, my mom had this giant page-sized clear plastic magnifier she'd use while reading. I remember one evening hearing a yelp from her room, so we ran in. Turns out an earwig had walked across her book, and for a split second she thought there was this ginormous armored creature of some sort crawling onto her lap!

  • I read a lot, both on the kindle E-reader, the paper white is nice, and paperbacks, but I have several family members that read paperbacks only and we share them about freely. While on Amazon I can get a used paperback for $.01 regularly plus 3.99 shipping the kindle versions are almost always the same or more expensive as a new paperback. The kindle version doesn't smell right and in the end I can't donate it to charity or sell it back to the half priced book house in town. Just like the promise of digital

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Quirkz ( 1206400 )

      While on Amazon I can get a used paperback for $.01 regularly plus 3.99 shipping the kindle versions are almost always the same or more expensive as a new paperback. The kindle version doesn't smell right and in the end I can't donate it to charity or sell it back to the half priced book house in town. Just like the promise of digital music downloads, the much hyped cost savings never really materialized for the end users, just a cut in production cost for the publishers resulting in more profit. I doubt if the author's even see any of it.

      I guarantee an author would get more from your digital purchase than from the used physical book, if that's a genuine part of your decision making process.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Archfeld ( 6757 )

        I do feel bad that the authors are getting screwed by the eBook process, but not enough to pay $9.00 for an eBook vs $4.00 for the used paperback. ($1 +2.99 shipping). I WISH that the authors got the difference in production cost from an EBook vs a new paperback though. If I could get a DRM free eBook for $5.00 I'd go that route, knowing the authors got their deserved share of a new purchase vs my used repurchase, knowing I could share the EBook with my cousin and niece. The amount I get from selling back t

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Quirkz ( 1206400 )

          I don't fault your logic at all on the price. I buy used print quite a bit for the same reasons. Only commented because you transitioned from the price considerations to arguments about author rewards in a way that didn't make sense to me.

          I do think a lot of indie ebook authors and publishers understand the economics the same way you do, but the big publishers for the most part haven't caught on yet. Still hoping they eventually do, rather than pursuing heavier DRM and more legal restrictions to try to prot

  • With e-books, there's a barrier to entry (Score:3)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Friday September 02, 2016 @02:45PM (#52817121)

    I do wonder if there's some percentage of the population which won't consider e-books simply because of the cost of the initial outlay for the device? While technically you can read on your phone, even the phablets have rather small screens from that perspective... so for comfortable reading you're looking at buying an e-reader of some sort (e.g. Kindle) or a tablet.

    On a side note... here on Slashdot, I have sworn many times I would never, ever spend large amounts of money to upgrade my old third-generation dog-chewed Kindle Keyboard. But, alas, on the most recent Prime Day the lure of the Voyage was too strong. Between the Prime Day discount, and buying a refurbished unit, the cost came down by about 40 percent... and I bit. I have to say it's a really nice device - having a built-in light is great, and the haptic "buttons" work pretty darn well. But I'm sorry, guys, I was weak... I didn't hold the line I swore to hold.

  • That's your scary headline.

  • I love having .pdf files lying around that I can print out. For ebooks, when I can be bothered, I have a script on my Linux box (and rotate the screen 90 degrees for the form factor) to xdotool key Right, sleep 1, screenshot, sleep 1, repeat, then magick it together into a pdf. Not brilliant, but with enough resolution you can get something worth printing out and reading (approx. 180 dpi).

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