“Thanks
to technology, you may run out of time, but you’ll never run out of books,”
claims a geek.
BC: Hi, heard that you’ve bought a book on
Steve Jobs - can I borrow it?
AD: I don’t know. You’ll need a reader...
BC: Don’t be silly, I can read it myself.
AD: No, it’s an eBook, so you’ll need an eBook
reader.
BC: So we will now have a PC at home, a
laptop for official use, a tablet for portable convenience – and to play Angry Birds,
a smartphone to stay in touch and an eBook reader to read…
AD: Well, you can also read on your
smartphone, tablet or laptop...
BC: How can you read a whole book on a
mobile? I find it difficult even to read messages...
AD: There are apps like the Nokia eBook
reader app, available on Nokia Lumia devices, to make your life easy.
BC: But reading at nights...
AD: The Nokia Lumia offers you a night mode
that makes it convenient to read after dark. Barnes & Noble has also
launched Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight, an eBook reader with an option for
night reading.
BC: I still don’t get it - how can you
prefer an eBook over a good, old-fashioned book?
AD: There are quite a few advantages. You
can download and save thousands of books, so your eBook reader is like your own
portable mini-library. Some eBook readers have a text-to-speech software option,
so you can have the book read out to you. Some of them also play music…
BC: What do you say about a generation that
picks up a book to listen to music? But if eBooks are available online, won’t
people just download them for free instead of paying for them?
AD: Though the hardware manufacturers and
publishers are trying to implement DRM – Digital Rights Management - the
problem is that in the digital era, the more you try to restrict or protect
usage of something, the more it gets pirated.
BC: That’s probably why DRM should stand
for Don’t Restrict Mindlessly…
AD: That’ll be the day…
BC: Since the eBook reader and a tablet
look so similar, why can’t there be a device that can perform both roles?
AD: That’s what Amazon has attempted with
its Kindle Fire…
BC: Now I know why I worry about kids messing
around with tablets… They’re playing with fire.
AD: Look, kids seem to prefer gizmos to
books – they are completely into online games on mobile phones or on computers…
So, if this is the only way to get them to read, why not?
BC: So it’s all about using technology to
beat technology…
AD: Technology is also winning the race
against the conventional print medium. According to a recent study, eBook
production in the UK has left conventional hardback books behind in 2011.
BC: I think they should stop worrying so
much about their Queen and instead pray that God save the hardback…
AD: Incidentally, one of UK’s most famous bookstores
- The Travel Bookshop - made popular by the movie Notting Hill, has shut shop
because of poor business.
BC: That’s sad…
AD: For book lovers?
BC: No, for the producers who are contemplating
a sequel. They obviously can’t have Hugh Grant selling eBook readers in a
store…
AD: And what if they did?
BC: Julia Roberts would hardly frequent the
place to browse through eBook readers. She’d rather order one online, wouldn’t she?
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