When you own a book, a ‘real’ book that is, you’d have to be pretty far along the road to loopyville not to know how to open it and read it. Almost anyone can pick up a book from 100 years ago and, provided it’s in good enough condition, open it and read it. Will they be able to do the same with an ebook in 100 years time however? In fact will they be able to open and read an ebook in 25 years time?
It’s a valid question. 25 years ago very few people owned a personal computer, hardly anyone had even heard of the internet, floppy disks and cassettes were used for storage and I was just about walking and talking. It’s therefore entirely possible that ebooks and e-resources available in today’s formats will not be as readily available in the future. And that’s only the software problem, what happens when hardware becomes obsolete?
I for one am a big fan of ebooks and Kindles and all things shiny but I also love ‘real’ books. Ultimately if it came to an expensive book I’d sooner shell out money on something I know I’ll be able to open in a few years time.
Related articles
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