TECH TUESDAY: Print versus digital – which book is king?

Paper against modern technology, hardback versus battery pack.

The debate between the traditional book and the digital book rages on, and in this fight it’s hard to determine a clear winner.

Instead, here are some pros and cons for you to decide yourself:

PRINTED BOOK

Pros:

• When it comes to sense appeal, there is no replacement for the traditional paper and binding product. If you’re a true bibliophile, the feel, smell and presence of a book make a compelling argument for this form.
• In terms of collections, a book is up there. Bookshelves packed to the rafters with a host of titles, or even a single genre, are more attractive than a single e-reader device.
• Traditional books require no electricity, which means a camping trip in the wilderness won’t have to include a charging cable and a power source.

Cons:

• Books take up space. Unless you’ve got a wall-to-wall bookshelf, having as many books as you like is always going to be tricky.
• When the power goes out, you reach for the candles, torch or cellphone. Outages and the fall of night also mean no way to easily read a traditional book.
• There’s a certain charm to a dog-eared, tatty book. However, once a book reaches a certain point, holding the copy together while trying to absorb the story is something of a bother.

DIGITAL BOOKS

Pros:

• It’s far easier to purchase and download an eBook, than to travel to the library or bookstore for a new title. It’s also easier to get your hands on an elusive book which may be out of print.
• By connecting your reader device, you have access to countless titles. There’s no need to wait for a book store to stock the novel you want to read right now.
• Digital books are designed around user convenience. Unlike the printed form, you can adjust font size, page orientation and brightness to suit the situation and your preferences.

Cons:

• While digital book titles might be cost efficient, the purchase price of a decent reader device turns many away.
• Dropping a book means bending a page at most. Dropping a digital book could damage the device or break it altogether.
• Rampant book piracy in the digital format is robbing authors of their livelihood. Many digital book readers get their copies from torrent sites or snag ripped copies off the net.