The book in any form?

I heard an interesting talk yesterday from Gail Rebuck, Chair and CEO of Random House, UK's largest fiction publisher, declaring that its an exciting time in publishing on the cusp of digitalisation and 'the essence of what I am selling will be the same, whatever the technology transmitting it. I think there is an irreducible quality to reading that means the book will never die'.

I agree that we must work with these changes and think if we do there is still room for the book in 'hard copy' form, though also have some separate points with regard to how I believe publishing needs to evolve to survive and flourish. But what do you think? Would the digital form still be a 'book' to you? Does this move towards digitalisation excite or worry you? How do you see the future of reading? Would you read from an 'e-reader' as you currently see them?

Look forward to hearing your views.

Tom

Comments

[Josie]

There was a time when folks said radio was going to be killed by TV and it wasn’t. TV might be killed by the internet, but that can only be a good thing! I think that it’s perfectly possible for e-books and hard copy books to exist simultaneously.

I love the low-tech nature of a paperback that you can carry in your pocket when you go out for a walk and it doesn’t need batteries and it doesn’t matter so much if you lose it. At the same time e-books are very useful for reference books and I would probably read a novel on an e-book reader if it was a good enough reader (and that’s the key, so far there aren’t good enough readers).

The piece new technology that excites me the most is Print On Demand. No more rare, out of print titles.

[Joso]

itunes still haven’t replaced the CD, and vinyl...? well, it still holds its own for musos. I guess we live in an age where you can have it all, or, any which way you please -so why not do it all, then folk can just choose their pick.