Books vs. digital(ization)

With digitalisation of books will books as we know them still exist? In 15 years time, will there still be any bookstores? How is it with “old school” books in 21st century? It may seem that nowadays people want to have access to almost every sort of information through world wide web and other new medias, but is it really so?

In this post I will try to focus on relationship between new Medias that could be identified as a supplement to books and discuss some relevant dilemmas regarding above emphasized issues.

I found most interesting statistics on-line saying that, more than three billion books are sold annually in America alone. In comparison, the sales numbers of e-readers and tablet computers are puny. Amazon, the world's biggest online retailer, will only sell an estimated three million of its Kindle this year (which is a sort of Wireless reading device). The iPad, Apple's touch-screen tablet, which doubles as an e-reader and will go on sale on April 3rd, will most likely do better. But the device's sales will still be dwarfed by those of global bestsellers, such as the Harry Potter tales, of which more than 400m copies have been bought globally.

We can therefore say that bookstores and publishers may be hurting, but this does not mean that the book itself is in trouble, at least not immediately. For one, its physical incarnation will not disappear any time soon. People have grown up reading paper books and will not abandon their habits easily. And e-readers and similar devices are still no match for the technology known as the book. By using these new reading devices and technologies one is limited with the capacity of the battery for example. We can even say that digital technology is strengthening, not weakening the book. Historically speaking, new ways to distribute books have often led to innovations. As books began to be bought mainly in retail rather than borrowed from libraries in the 19th century, for instance, this caused the switch from multiple-volume to single-folio novels. Similarly, e-readers are likely to trigger a wave of innovation in books such as works that mix text and audiovisual content and short-form e-books. Books will also be more easily available-and not just in digital form. Thanks to new printing technology, books can now be cheaply produced on demand. In 2008, the latest year for which statistical data (that I mentioned) are available, about 285,000 titles were printed on demand or in short runs-for the first time more than by conventional printing. So regarding just discussed – can we really say that “old school” books are disappearing? I wouldn’t dare to claim so.