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I don't know if there is such a big similarity to music... We interact directly with a book, so using an ebook is a very different experience. But listening to

I don't know if there is such a big similarity to music... We interact directly with a book, so using an ebook is a very different experience. But listening to music sounds pretty much the same whether the source is a computer, my phone, or a CD. Maybe it is just because I grew up with books, but I really prefer to actually hold a real book to read it (although I do read ebooks when it's more convenient). The tactile experience of a real book is something that I think ebooks will have a very hard time trying to surpass. So I think that there will always be a place for them. Although perhaps I'm starting to sound like someone who will only listen to music on LPs!

davidw 15y ago
Books have also been with us for a long time, far longer than vinyl, cassette tapes, 8-tracks, CD's, etc....
SoftwareMaven 15y ago
I think your last sentence hits the nail on the head. People still love vinyl because of it's "feel". Without fail, everybody I've heard who talks about books says the same thing: it's the feel. I have a box of vinyl in my basement. It still doesn't get listened to in favor of the lower quality MP3s. With ebooks, you don't even lose the quality.
- prbuckley 15y ago
  This was actually one of the key motivations behind starting my tablet case business (www.dodocase.com). I think there are many physical objects in life that create an emotional experience that can't easily be explained, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I am also a surfer and I found this explanation of riding a hollow wooden surfboard a beautiful description of just this type of experience. "You obviously can’t actually feel the wood when it’s wrapped in a layer of glass & resin. But beyond the tactile, there’s definitely an emotional aspect to paddling, sitting, and standing on a piece of wood in the water. You ever driven a Ford truck from the 50′s? Slept on the dirt in wool blankets? Cleaned a big fish? Sipped 40-year old Scotch? Chopped down a tree with an axe? Like surfing a wood board, all of those kinds of things awaken something inside of us that the plasticine era has covered up in layers of shiny dross." Benny http://www.hollowsurfboards.com/Q&A.htm http://www.hollowsurfboards.com/Q&A.htm

davidw 15y ago

Books have also been with us for a long time, far longer than vinyl, cassette tapes, 8-tracks, CD's, etc....

SoftwareMaven 15y ago

I think your last sentence hits the nail on the head. People still love vinyl because of it's "feel". Without fail, everybody I've heard who talks about books says the same thing: it's the feel. I have a box of vinyl in my basement. It still doesn't get listened to in favor of the lower quality MP3s. With ebooks, you don't even lose the quality.

prbuckley 15y ago
This was actually one of the key motivations behind starting my tablet case business (www.dodocase.com). I think there are many physical objects in life that create an emotional experience that can't easily be explained, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I am also a surfer and I found this explanation of riding a hollow wooden surfboard a beautiful description of just this type of experience. "You obviously can’t actually feel the wood when it’s wrapped in a layer of glass & resin. But beyond the tactile, there’s definitely an emotional aspect to paddling, sitting, and standing on a piece of wood in the water. You ever driven a Ford truck from the 50′s? Slept on the dirt in wool blankets? Cleaned a big fish? Sipped 40-year old Scotch? Chopped down a tree with an axe? Like surfing a wood board, all of those kinds of things awaken something inside of us that the plasticine era has covered up in layers of shiny dross." Benny http://www.hollowsurfboards.com/Q&A.htm http://www.hollowsurfboards.com/Q&A.htm