As I mentioned Tuesday, the growing e-reader market and the new Barnes & Noble “Nook” had me shook.
After all, I’m a book lover and was worried that the ability to share electronic books would mean that traditional books would go the way of newspapers, records and CDs.
Not quite, says KC Blake of USC’s Entertainment Technology Center. “I don’t think any e-reader is ever going to fully replace the feeling of turning physical pages,” Blake says.
You can say that again, buddy.
Blake points out that the Nook’s ability to share electronic books is significant because consumers are used to sharing their media.
“If there’s an ability to share your e-books with your friends,” Blake says, “that’s going to be viewed as a competitive advantage for sure.” But while sharing a book is important, so is a book’s “collector appeal,” Blake adds.
“A book is viewed as educational and there’s some intrinsic value in just having this knowledge sitting on a shelf,” Blake
says.
So does this mean that I will still be able to go to the library and bookstore to borrow and buy real books in the near
future?
“I don’t think books are going away anytime soon,” Blake says. “I’m not sure that books will ever go away.”
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