Electronic Reading Devices…Just the New MP3 Player?

To play music back in the day, a record player and the record were required.  Then, came cassette tapes, followed by CDs, and now there are MP3 players.  Apple’s iPod, Microsoft’s Zune, and SanDisk’s Sanza are just three different types of MP3 players out of many.  To listen to records, you needed a lot of space in which to put the stereo equipment, but now it all fits in your pocket.

If you can do it with music, then why not books? Shouldn’t books fit in your pocket?  Instead of iPods there is the Kindle, in competition with Barnes and Noble’s Nook.  And don’t you worry, Apple, of course, is following close behind with some sort of “super iPhone.” Books are heavy and can be difficult to lug around.  When you think about it, it only makes sense to digitalize books.  Picture this: You’re sitting at the airport, waiting for your flight, and you finish one of the paperbacks you happened to stick in your bag.  Luckily, you brought another, but the flight gets delayed overnight and sitting in your hotel room you finish that book too.  You are left frustrated not only because of the airport system, but also because you are now bored.  With an electronic reading device, this situation would not happen, because hundreds of books can fit on that little thing.

This blog is not meant to be an advertisement for electronic reading devices, but when you think of books the way you think of music these devises really only make sense.  At first, some did not like the idea of downloading music, especially because artists got tired of the music getting pirated, and that got in the way of making money.  This idea is also behind digitalizing books. Publishing companies and authors are worried about not getting the money they usually would from selling a hardcover book, but somehow things like this will get worked out.  Of course, there will probably still be some pirating of books as there is with music, but ways to prevent this will be established.  Music artists still make money, and now downloading music helps promote those artists.  This is done by recording how many times a song has been downloaded within a week and so getting it on the “Top 20.” This also makes it easier to share the tunes, thereby creating more fans.  These same concepts can work with authors.  How many times a book got downloaded will help promote authors, popularizing them and getting more fans interested.  You’ll be able to share a book with a friend by sharing the PDA, and you still get to keep your copy.

But what will happen to bookstores, to books in general?  Have no fear, bookstores will stay here!  I highly doubt that once electronic book readers become more popular there will be a mass book burning.  Think about it. Barnes and Noble, a bookstore, has its own electronic reading device.  They are not worried about losing their stores; instead they are enhancing them.  CD stores have not disappeared, and there are still record stores around too.  Yes, vinyl records are a sort of novelty these days, but perhaps this sort of thing will happen with books too.  Libraries will still be used and hardcopies will still be needed.  But things are advancing—people are moving faster and technology also needs to be fast.  If hundreds of books can be at your fingertips why should this be considered a bad thing?

Perhaps instead of being worried about digitalizing books we should be embracing it.  I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather have my MP3 player instead of my clunky, hard to carry around booklet of CDs just to have a variety-CD player. My back has all sorts of problems from having had to lug around heavy textbooks in high school and college. An electronic reader would help save me a lot of pain.

So instead of fearing the electronic reader, be excited for it.  In 1999 people worried that Y2K would destroy the world and that all computers would crash.  This, people, was ridiculous, and did not happen.  Nobody is going to be able to completely destroy books. There is a magic to picking up a book, the way it smells and feels.  Books will remain important.  But with electronic readers, books will become more accessible and easy to carry around.  What’s more comfortable, running in the park with your headphones and MP3 player or running while carrying around your vinyl record player?  Books will not disappear, they’ll just be easier to carry around.

A Connection to What We Write

Before computers there were typewriters. Before typewriters there were pens. And before pens, well, people drew. Does the medium in which one works change the end result? Does writing with a pen connect you more than typing on a computer? Is the ‘clack, clack, clack’ you get from writing on a typewriter more meaningful then the little “click, click, click’ you get while writing on a computer. Or does it even matter?

Technology changes and advances, which is why we have been able to change from the pen to a typewriter, and now to a computer. Things become more efficient, and since the world is changing everything within it does too. But with writing, some things stay the same. A person must think of an idea to put down. They construct one and work with it, deepening everything else that goes into the work. In stories, a plot is invented, characters get made, and then these things get strung together. Writing an essay or research paper a similar form is used, but instead of a plot a thesis is needed. Instead of characters the ideas and reasoning behind the thesis are thought out, followed by quotes and research to back up the ideas, and lastly finding the right way to string it all together. But now one wonders if typing this on a computer or bringing it old school to a typewriter would change the end result.

It is said that when using a typewriter a writer must think more about what is put on the paper. Unlike a computer, there is no backspace button to delete whatever thoughts were put down. On a typewriter you cannot ramble along until you come up with what you want to say. On the contrary, you must think deeply before you type, or else you are going to have to get out that little white strip to go over the mistakes you may have just made. I do not believe this is true. Sitting in front of a typewriter my ideas still have to get worked out before I type them down. On the screen I would have to do that on a notebook beside me. Although these thoughts do not go right onto my final product, as they would on a computer, they are still right there. It would be nearly impossible to just think, write, and be finished, having no notes or anything in between.

I know that when I am writing on a computer, I sometimes just stare at the screen, trying to gather my thoughts about what I am about to do. I feel as though writing on a typewriter I would get that same feeling. This feeling also does not escape those sitting with a pen and a notebook in front of them. Staring at that blank piece of paper, searching for an inkling of inspiration, is impossible to avoid. It is something that happens to all writers. This feeling is what connects the pen, the typewriter, and a computer. All three have one starting place in common; staring at that blank piece of paper.

It is also unlikely that a pen does not touch a piece of work. It is not often that a person does not print the thing they are working on to edit it. It is necessary to make changes, corrections, and to further improve the work. Looking at a computer screen is not the same as having a hard copy in one hand, a pen in the other. A computer just deletes, but with a pen you can cross out, write over, and work with what you’ve already got. This process is necessary when writing in any medium, because the pen is just as likely to cross out typed words as it is to cross out other pen-written ones.

This is not to say that the pen is more important than the computer or the typewriter. It is just to say that what is important are the words that get put down and the way they finally end up. Because one day there will be a newer technology. One day there might be something completely different to write on. Even now one can write without even writing. Just speak, and some computers do the typing for you, completely omitting the pen, the keyboard, and the typewriter. This shows that even without even physically writing a piece the author is still connected to the writing. It does not matter in what form; it is important simply to be connected.

The end result of a work is what people see. The noise we hear while working, whether a scratch, a clack, or a click will affect every writer differently and it is up to the writer to choose what works best for them. Because no matter what medium we are working with, the same things are achieved.