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From mass to boutique
TechCrunch picked up remarks made by Nicholas Negroponte that predict the demise of the print book in the next five years.
Part of Negroponte’s role is to challenge our thinking about media but the film and music metaphors he uses break down for me a bit.
The media consumption experience for photos and music didn’t necessarily change when film and vinyl (and soon enough, CDs) disappeared. Albums still get filled with printed photos, even if we create the physical form ourselves. We can play digital music on the same equipment we used for albums and CDs.
Switching from physical to digital for long-form reading is easy for some and hard for others. It takes me several hours to read a book, and the devices I’ve tried are at best tolerable for me. If I am going to spend a long time reading, I prefer print.
I anticipate a time when books are no longer printed for inventory, but I don’t think that means print as a medium is dead. Print will still attract a smaller market of people who prefer the format and are probably going to pay a higher price for it. They’ll also actually own their books.
Posted by Martin Edic
My personal feeling, as a voracious reader, a writer and co-founder of an eBook-only publisher, is that there has been a tipping point in the last few months. Here’s my anecdotal take:
Virtually everyone I know has purchased an iPad or a reader in the last two months.
I carried two hardcover books on my last trip and it sucked hauling them around. We are much more mobile than we used to be.
As with audio CDs and vinyl there will always be people who want a retro format and print is now a retro format. Retro formats are novelty items maintained for collectors, a micro-market.
Print= Vinyl.
And there is one other thing. The discovery of convenience. I can have all my music, all my books, all my media anywhere I am. This discovery immediately pushes things to a different level, a level you cannot give up.
Posted by Martin Edic
One other factor:
The aging population loves e-readers because they are easier to read than print when your eyesight is getting worse. The ability to enlarge the font and the backlit screen are a revelation to older readers.
Posted by Brian O'Leary
Belatedly (summer takes its toll!), thanks for your comments. Tipping points are probably clearer in hindsight, but it does feel as if we are at or approaching one.
I do think print will co-exist with digital formats, and publishers need to be able to cost-effectively support multiple versions of a title. That retooling is increasingly underway.