Creative destruction

It's sad to see the physical ink and paper publishing industry suffering (my own company supplies products to them), but I fear it is inevitable that they will slowly start disappearing.

But what about text books, instruction manuals, training guides, etc? Is it fair to say that the market for such physical books will endure longer than that of novels and fiction?
Will the price of text books and training manuals increase because they are no longer being cross-subsidised by fiction book sales?
 
The future is definitely moving towards things like Apple TV, Netflix etc.

Sad to see somethings go. I tend to prefer Hardcopy's of books, Movies etc
 
I doubt the physical copy of books will go away. Ebooks are great for quick reads. Those you enjoy reading once and then forget about, but for those you want to return to time and time again I think the physical copy will still be king. I love books in all forms, but there's just so much more added value to a physical copy. The whole tactile feel, smell and the fact that you can display it on your bookshelf. I like the immediacy of ebooks and use them to test out new authors or find books I truly love. Then I get a physical copy for my bookshelf.
 
Having all my books on a single electonic device vs a huge bookshelf? Prefer the former. Paper and keeping physical copies of items is old school.
 
ThinkCentre said:
Unfortunately, this is the truth! Everyone is always trying to save the trees and the whales and the dolphins and you name it! This is the consequence of it!
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You think it's environmentalist pressure that's doing this?:wtf: It obviously the fact that more and more people prefer electronic media to physical. Should I feel bad that cd and dvd manufacturers are making less due to me using Steam. I doubt the mountain of small developers that exist purely because of digital distribution think so.

The simple truth is that for every industry that dies, a new one pops up.
 
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shooting themselves in the foot, it was a lot more difficult to pirate a physical book. But on the other hand, printing is the greatest cost, so they can save a ton on that, and ebooks are more accessible.

I actually like digital books- I stare at a pc all day, so I dont fancy staring at books in my spare time- I usually convert them using text to robotic speech software and listen on my mp3

ThinkCentre said:
Unfortunately, this is the truth! Everyone is always trying to save the trees and the whales and the dolphins and you name it! This is the consequence of it!
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lol
 
Well in some private schools in South Africa the new textbook list is replaced with iPads. Schools are going digital, with e-whiteboards and all classes networked and linked. This is according to some teachers who visit my store.

Sure it is a small thing at the moment and of course the whole country isn't ready for a massive roll out of this kind of tech (3rd world where pupils are starving in leaky classrooms, etc) but it is definitely the way of the future.

I am still a physical book kind of person at the moment, but if I ever got hold of a tablet (can't justify the expense at the moment tbh!) I would definitely load that sucker up with digital media. I have already downloaded the entire X-Men comic book collection to my Android phone and read one every now and then.

When you look at it, the pros far outweigh the cons. Storage space, printing materials no longer needed = more trees and less waste / pollution, entire archives of books freely available in digital form (even ones out of print - ever had that problem?), on demand delivery (no more waiting 2-4 weeks for a book delivery to arrive, damaged), portability (take a whole stack of magazines / books on a plane in your pocket). All on one small device.

Yes yes, I know books feel, smell, look and taste better (I eat my books when I am done, I love digesting a good book!) but those are all tangible experiences as the content is exactly the same. For the bibliophiles amongst us, I can understand your perversion but the future of how we read is in sight with tablets / e-readers becoming more and more mainstream.
 
It will never go away, physical books still beat ebooks, you cant create a beautiful library full of ebooks!
 
My Wife is a bookworm of note. When I mentioned getting her an e-reader she gave me that 'sleep on the couch' look.

She belongs to a book club and they get together once a month to discuss the books they read. Each book they add to their collection, they add a little sheet of paper to which they add their comments and opinions. She looks forward to these monthly (cult :D ) gatherings where they can chat about their books, relate to them in their own personal way and of course the wine and snacks is an added bonus.

She says there is nothing nicer than having a stack of books on the coffee table. Those eye catching covers, opening and reading the comments in someone elses handwriting, the smell and feel of a new book all add to the appeal of a physical book vs. an e-reader.

Does anyone here belong to a book club that uses e-readers? If so, please share your experience.
 
dadiggle said:
High internet charges is the only thing that kept Video rental shops and Cinemas open.
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I fully agree - I can see videoshops fading out in the next 10 years or so - but maybe cinemas will life on due to the big screen and what have you's
 
It's a bit difficult to do research - multiple books spread across a table - using a ipad etc.
 
Jase said:
My Wife is a bookworm of note. When I mentioned getting her an e-reader she gave me that 'sleep on the couch' look.
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Mine too. But I bought her one anyway. She's a total convert now. Had to drag her kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Actually she didn't put up much of a fight after trying it, it's really an easy sell. She still gets a dead tree book now and then, if it's an author/series she really likes, but for day to day reading she prefers the Kindle over paper.
 
Printing is changing but will take some time until it fades away. There are some nice web/print stuff that can be done with QR codes but cheap and easy bandwidth access is needed. An example is a qr code in a book to order the dvd. Or nutritional analysis by QR code link on a menu. QR codes on back of business cards are great, scan and save the info on your cell.
 
Books are stupid - never liked them and I still don't. But for all those living in the past, I am sure they will rename at least one or two libraries to museums.
 
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