The article, Barnes & Noble Expects $1B in Digital Book Sales By 2013 , caught my eye because I recently saw a Nook in Barnes and Nobles and wandered how it differed from Amazon's Kindle. Although this article wasn't really about that, I was surprised how much e-book sales are surpassing hard cover book sales. I have read a few books on a Kindle and I really liked it; however I don't think I like the idea of an e-textbook as they talk about in the article. In textbooks I like to underline, highlight and make margin notes because it helps me study, so I don't know how I would do that if all I had was an e-textbook. But it would probably be a whole lot cheaper for us to buy our books online instead of going to Co-Op every semester and spending $200+ on textbooks!
Overall, what I got out of this article is that there is a major shift toward e-books as opposed to physical books, which is not surprising; however does that mean that soon there will no longer be physical book stores? To me, that's a sad thought.
This particular article caught my eye as well because I did a report on ebooks in undergrad. We found that ebook sales were growing every year and with devices such as the iPad and other handheld PC devices, the use of digital textbooks is only going to increase. And with more technology, programs in the iPad will probably allow you to underline, highlight, and make notes in the text. The main underlyer for the ebooks breakthrough is the publishers however, who hold exclusive rights to most of the textbooks.
ReplyDeleteI for one do not like the increasing trend of e-books and e-textbooks. Like Amanda I also like to highlight and dog-ear pages. In previous classes teachers have claimed that the reduced price is a benefit to the student and we should thank them for allowing an e-book for their class. In reality I rarely ever read the online pages because like many others it strains my eyes to stare at a computer screen for hours at a time.Also, I honestly just prefer the weight of a good book and the feeling of accomplishment when I finish it.
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