E-Readers
A press release from Amazon said "On Christmas Day, for the first time ever, customers purchased more Kindle books than physical books" http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1369429&highlight= What does this mean for libraries? Should we have books to download to the kindle or other e-reader? Is something else going to pop up this year that will even create more changes for libraries? Lots of questions and no answers, but exciting times for sure.
posted by Sherry @ 12/29/2009 09:00:00 AM
6 Comments:
I am actually planning to start a website project now and cover this subject there.
I have mixed feelings about this! It is good for the environment to have less books but there is nothing like having a book in your hand!
Did you see the new Booklist (Jan 1-15, 2010 p. 23? Will Manley has an article about changing formats. On a 30 minute trainride at 6:30 in the morning to the heart of Silicon Valley, 66 people were reading...36 on a laptop, 11 on a blackberry, 15 on a Kindle, 3 were reading books and 1 (him) was reading a newspaper. Very telling even if it was not a typical area. It still shows how things are changing. I wonder where libraries will fit in this new order.
I agree it is a shame so many books are going the way of digital copies. There is nothing like relaxing on the couch with a good book in your hand.
It may be good for the environment having less books but what about staring at a LCD screen for hours on end, can't be good for your eyes. And how many people will actually get these things recycled properly? The mercury in them will be no good for the environment when most of it ends up in the earth at rubbish dumps.
The most successful ebook reader todate is the "Amazon Kindle EBook Reader" as you rightly pointed out.
However, Amazon's success has spawned a healthy competitive interest in the ebook market and now there are aletrnatives to Amazon's Kindle including:
1. Sony Reader
2. Fujitsu Flepia
3. The most notable challenger would be Apple's iPad ebook reader
Apple's success with the iPhone, ITune and iPod makes the iPad a worth contender to Amazon's Kindle ...
so the answer to your questions is that Apple's IPad will create a lot fo changes for Libraries
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