One of my esteemed colleague's iPad arrived today and the office
population were all wetting themselves with excitement, cradling it
like a newborn.
I'll admit I was impressed with its capabilities and it was kind of
cool, however I still don't quite get it.
I'm not a technophobe, I enjoy new developments, but I also like
tradition, and I figure why change what it is already awesome? Some deem the iPad the future of publishing. I strongly disagree. And here are my (Purely from a Book/Magazine reading perspective)
reasonings:
1. Books are awesome
2. I don't see a lot of people being able to afford a $600 piece of
equipment in order to read a story that they could purchase for $14.95 or borrow from the library for free. YES it will come down in price as the technology improves and the innovators move on to the next best thing since sliced bread, but its still a significant lump sum of cash to pay.
3. The battery never dies on a book
4. You can't pass an iPad down generation to generation like you can a book. My Grandfather passed on a leather-bound set of books to me, that look stunning on my shelf, that were my Great Grandfathers, and I'll pass it on to my offspring eventually as well if I have any.
5. It takes the fun out of gift giving. Books are a favourite gift to
give, for all ages. You can't write a personal message on the cover of a digital book, wrap it up and give it to someone. I love opening up to the first page and seeing a note in their from a loved one, or when you find a book in a second hand store with a message of love to a stranger. One of the books that my Pa gave me has a note to him written from my Gran, on the occasion of his 21st birthday. A digital book won't be passed through the generations because the technology will become obsolete.
6. I'm on a safari, staying in campsites where there is no
electricity. I want to read a story... how am I going to charge my
iPad?
7. I'm reading a particularly thrilling adventure story.. it's
suspenseful.. then all of a sudden Snape Avada Kedavra's Dumbledore. I slammed the book shut and threw it across the room in horror - If I had been reading this on an iPad I surely would have broken it.
8. I've finished reading my book and decide I don't want to keep it…
I can't take an iPad book to the Op Shop or the book exchange to
receive credit on a new book.. I can't give my old book to my
neighbour to borrow or swap it with a traveller on the road.
9. I am in general a clumsy person. I drop things a lot and spill
things even more. Technology breaks. As my lap top found out.
10. You can't get an author to sign your digital book.
11. I like to read magazines in the bath, I take my iPad in with me in the bath, my hand are slippery, I drop it into the bubbles, my iPad is destroyed. I drop my magazine, I'm only out $5.95
12. I'm at the bus stop waiting for a bus, so I pull at my iPad to
while away some time. A gang of hooded youths see me flash my fancy technology and think "she is of above average means". Next thing you know I am on my bottom in the gutter whilst they run off with my
handbag.
13. I have an intruder in my house.. I'm in bed and the closest object is my iPad (which is not heavy) I throw it at the intruder, it bounces off him. I throw the Hardback copy of Harry Potter & The Order of The Phoenix or War and Peace at them, I startle them long enough to get away. I throw the shorter Oxford English Dictionary at them and I kill them.
14. I enjoy online shopping, but I don’t get nearly the same satisfaction as when I walk into a book store and discover something new.
So there you have it.. 14 reasons why I think the iPad will never replace the book.
Esteemed, eh? (:
ReplyDeleteTwo months ago, for my mother's 71st birthday, my brother asked me if we should get here a Kindle or an iPad. I thought the Kindle was more suited to her age and needs and that's what we went with. She's been thrilled since.
If you are looking for a device to substitute the way you use a book, the Kindle is likely more apt, although it will similarly fail your 14 point test. However, the iPad is not merely a book substitute. I could easily run down 14 reasons an iPad is more < insert adjective > than a book, but rather, let me present this, in the words of Adam Engst, a technology columnist:
"The iPad becomes the app you’re using. That’s part of the magic. The hardware is so understated - it’s just a screen, really - and because you manipulate objects and interface elements so smoothly and directly on the screen, the fact that you’re using an iPad falls away. You’re using the app, whatever it may be, and while you’re doing so, the iPad is that app. Switch to another app and the iPad becomes that app. If that’s not magic, I don’t know what is."