THE FUTURE OF PRINTED BOOKS IN THE DIGITAL AGE

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According to Oxford English Dictionary, a book is defined as a literary composition published and containing illustrated, printed paper parchments that are fastened together at one end. Although a number of books continue to be published even today, the digital era is slowly taking over and replacing such editions with digital forms such as online or the E-books. The term E-book means “electronic book”, and it refers to a book that has been published in a digital form as is normally made available or accessible through the internet and CD-ROMS. Due to the rapid growth and high advancement in technology, very few individuals prefer using the actual textbooks anymore but instead prefer a version of that textbook in a format that is easily accessible through usual appliances such as smart phones and laptops. Much software of E-books has evolved due to increased demand in its usage and adoption such as Barnes and Noble Nook, Amazon Kindle, and Sony Reader, which are frequently used. Such mediums across the world have enabled individuals to easily read their desired novels and stories from any destination, given the fact that Wi-Fi facility or the internet is available anywhere across the world.

The practice of accessing books through the internet is increasingly becoming more common since it is not only easily accessible but also because it can be stored and saved in a sort of mechanism that is able to support its software thus making it portable. With devices such as smart tabs, smart phones, and notebooks, an individual is able to save a whole library that is not only available on the go but is also light weight. This saves the individuals the burden of having to carry bricks on their backs. Not only are students a fun to this phenomenon but people of all walks of life have strived to avail this facility in their offices, institutions, and even at home. The method has also proved to be highly beneficial and convenient for book publishers as well as the environment. The companies dealing in print publishing are saved the time and resources required for manufacturing real textbooks as well as the time required to distribute such books to their clients.

As opposed to the future belief that printed books will at one time become obsolete, they will always have a place in the world of reading. Printed books are able to give to the reader certain things that the digital device is not able to duplicate. Although printed books will still suffer in terms of sales and also trail the fast developing e-book, it is should be noted that printed books will never become obsolete. E-books can never be considered to have replaced the printed books because books contain features that can never be duplicated by e-books. Although the printed books may face a challenging future given the fact that it faces a growing fall in demand, it still has a future. This is partly because there are individuals who desire reading books of old fashion, offering good books as gifts, displaying books as artwork, or having a book signed by an author. These are features that cannot be offered by the digital systems. Printed books will still remain relevant in the sense that when an individual buys the book, he is buying the right to fully own the property since he can write on it, lend it to a friend, or display it as an accomplishment; but e-book basically means that the individual is only buying the right to have a look at the data.

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