electronic paper!

[herrokitty]

Hurts my eyes.
I read so much online already... I have read a few books online, and my eyes are worse for it. And ther's something to be said about the ritual and tactile memory of lying down and bending the cover fo a well worn paperback. I don't have a valuable book collection like many people here, so I can't comment on that.
On the other hand, I hate the feel of cheap paper when my hands are dry.
I'd read a newspaper or something on flexible e-paper, but these overgrown palm pilots aren't cool enough yet.

[slackerbot]

Originally posted by Iago
You're dealing with a bibliophile first and foremost. Then you are dealing with someone who doesn't own an iPod, doesn't download movies online, is grappling with the idea that of the 5000 pictures he has taken so far with a digital camera, he has printed none of them, and generally questions the nature and credibility of dis/information on the web.

Yeah, I am a bit of a technophobe.

ah.. that's what i suspected. i used to feel that way about music. i loved buying cd's and records for the artwork, liner notes, and whatever promo stuff they included. but after a while, i realized that it was taking up a lot of space and it was a waste of money. plus, i'm a little older and i have more important things to spend my money on. so now i resort to downloads and sharing with friends.

as for e-books, you're thinking of classic and/or rare books. yes, it would be nice to physically own these. but for all the other mass produced stuff, the electronic format is the best way to go. saves paper, time, and money. a book or magazine or newspaper can go from writer, editor, and out to the public in a matter hours or days instead of weeks or months.

but generally speaking, most americans are technophobes. so this sort of technology won't catch on for a long time.

[feralmuppet]

It's going to be a nightmare once people learn how to hack electronic paper.

[Iago]

Originally posted by slackerbot

as for e-books, you're thinking of classic and/or rare books. yes, it would be nice to physically own these. but for all the other mass produced stuff, the electronic format is the best way to go. saves paper, time, and money. a book or magazine or newspaper can go from writer, editor, and out to the public in a matter hours or days instead of weeks or months.

The act of reading, understanding, and remembering does not just encompass the printed word. As the poster above mentioned, the experience of reading can even be tactile. So, too, is the experiece of going to a bookstore or library, thumbing through volumes, one book leading to the next, and to the next. There is a sense of discovery. You make the distinction of mass produced stuff. Magazine stores with their multitude of magazines from around the world delight me everytime I walk in. There's an exchange, a physical presence, that isn't readily available to my visual experience if I was online and merely searching immediately for what I wanted.

While the Internet is great for immediate access for relevant information... one doesn't explore explore the Internet. This so-called surfing will never equate to anything more than vulgar information compilation or ordering a meal at McDonald's.

So much more can happen with physical things, with books. This is also why online museums and galleries, once funded with millions of dollars in the late 90s (the Guggenheim is THE notable failure in this department) completely and utterly flopped. There's no substitution for the thing itself.

I treasure typographic history. One of the major downfalls of typography was also one of its greatest moments: the freedom that the computer allowed. But typography today is leaden and dead compared to the handset days. This is not nostalgia speaking by the way. This is for excellence of craft. Make something too easy, too accessible, and people will take it for granted.

So it might be easier to publish a newspaper, magazine, or book faster, right? Now think of the ramifications the medium will bring to the actual form of the content. What of the qualityof writing, of the design, or the consideration for the reader? If an editor can get a magazine out in 2 hours, for me, what monkey designer is going to pump that shit out in a meaningful manner? Faster faster means the humans behind it must also go faster faster. And there's a limit.

Do you subscribe to online magazines for cost? I don't. But you will if the paper vanishes. And in the end, what do you get to keep? Some files?

[likeothers]

e-book need not reside in a computer screen flickering at 75Hz.

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/e-ink.htm

[Iago]

^ See, while my opposition to the virtual display is rooted in the threat it may present to books... I am for a paradigm shift from one way of working into the other. Be sincere about it. Desktop, DVD chapters (Lynch is against them), e-paper, email, etc are still rooted in the language of paper, books, mailed correspondences, albeit metaphorically. If it will ever divorce itself remains to be seen.

[slackerbot]

Originally posted by Iago


[...]

Do you subscribe to online magazines for cost? I don't. But you will if the paper vanishes. And in the end, what do you get to keep? Some files?

i don't subscribe to anything. i download files because that's all i want. i mostly read technical books, so they're pretty much outdated by the time they hit the store shelves. so i don't care to have stacks of books laying around that i'll never read again.

i agree, reading an actual book is a unique experience and hopefully it will never go away. but e-books have their appeal for certain situations and i welcome them.

[slackerbot]

wow. a watch that uses e-paper technology..

http://www.seiko-watch.co.jp/press/c...A-202E42DA2E50

[slackerbot]

the new Sony e-reader. has touchscreen for turning pages now. still pricey.

http://news.sel.sony.com/en/press_ro...ase/37586.html

[slackerbot]

new e-book reader from Barnes & Noble..

http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/20/b...irst-close-up/