Thuppal: E-book readers lack character of predecessors

So I got an e-mail today from Apple that told me the iPad is coming out on April 3 and that I… So I got an e-mail today from Apple that told me the iPad is coming out on April 3 and that I would be a fool if I didn’t pre-order it now. I chose against pre-ordering it, and I don’t really feel all that foolish.

The iPad doesn’t seem like it’s going to revolutionize how I interact with the Internet or write e-mails. And the touch screen interface has been available for a few years now. But the one new feature offered by Apple’s latest creation is an e-reader, or as you would expect it to be called, iBooks.

Like other e-readers, iBooks offers consumers the ability to read books, newspapers and other print media in a more accessible, paperless way. For taking the paper out of print media, many are touting e-readers as a revolution in reading.

The presentation of these e-readers mimics how someone would read a physical book. By swiping your finger from one side of the screen to the other, you can turn the page, and you can even go back to a colorful bookshelf to pick out your next selection.

Though this concept seems to be gaining a lot of support, I’m still a bit wary of what it could mean for books as a whole. I doubt that e-books will reduce the quality of new works or change the way novels are written, but it just seems wrong to be reading a book through a screen.

We are always ready to drop the old and usher in the new, to replace analog with digital, thick with thin, standard with high definition. But the swift pace of these advancements might keep us from weighing their repercussions. And that’s what we’re doing with books.

It’s not that I’m opposed to any and all new technologies. I followed the iPod through its various phases — color, nano and touch — knowing that none of these advancements made my music sound any better. And I’ll have you know that I’m currently one of those jerks who whips out his iPhone every 20 minutes to check if I’ve received any new Facebook notifications.

Many have ordained that, one day, books will go the way of CDs or VHS tapes. Digitizing music and video has made them more accessible while improving quality. E-readers have the potential of doing the same for print media.

The advantages of digital books are apparent. No more waiting for someone else to return the book that I needed. And I’ll never have to hear someone tell me that something is out of stock at a bookstore.

I’ll buy the argument that certain forms of print media are soon to become obsolete. Newspapers, for example, serve content that is outdated by the time they reach the consumer. Online news sources can be updated every minute and are more practical than their paper counterparts.

Some newspapers have already taken the hint. In 2008, The Christian Science Monitor decided to discontinue its daily print journal to focus more on online media. After struggling to maintain sales of its print edition, the Monitor realized that terminating an outdated means of publication was the best route.

But books aren’t the same. Books don’t change every minute, and many have stayed the same for centuries. I know that the copy of “Jane Eyre” that I open today will tell the same story that my parents read years ago.

Maybe I won’t win this battle, but I think books are something worth holding on to. There’s so much a book has that e-readers can’t offer. Books come in such a variety of shapes, sizes and textures that trying to standardize them seems absurd to me.

Each book has its own set of qualities: hardback, paperback, thin or thick pages. Each one has it’s own smell and feel. And they change as they pass from one set of hands to another, as they are folded, torn and stained.

When I borrow a book from a friend, I also take with me their experience with the book. Everything from the comments they wrote in the margins to the way they held it.

And every time I read anything using Google Books, I’m reminded of what is missing. I can’t imagine a new generation of libraries and bookstores where the only physical articles will be e-readers and the instructions on how to use them.

Still, for some, a new age of publishing, in which every book can be reduced to a sequence of ones and zeros, will make sense. But I don’t think I’ll be joining them soon. I’ll stick to my ink on dead trees that won’t have to be recharged.

Send Hay your thoughts at hat23@pitt.edu.