Physical Books are superior to E-books

There are two ways in which we can gauge the superiority of one form of media over the other. The first is the effects of the individual. The second is the effects on humankind as a whole. I will attempt to express how books are more valuable than e-books under both of these terms. I hope my opponent will agree with both of these terms. It is up to the individual reader to evaluate the significance of each of these terms, as well as the many points among them, and come up with their vote accordingly. I’ll start off with looking at the effects of the individual.1. The sensory experience of a book is more empowering than an e-book. The weight in your hands as you pick a book up. The aesthetic appeal of the cover art. The soft puttering in your ears and the breeze on your face as you give a book that first flip. We read books for two reasons- pleasure and knowledge gathering; both of which can be heightened through sensory stimulation. The sense that is the strongest in triggering long-term memory is smell. [1] We all know that the smell of a book is a unique thing that cannot be duplicated. The sensory input from smelling our book helps put us in the right mindset to get transported into the authors world. This creates a better focus in order to experience more pleasure, or to gain more insight from the book. E-books do not have this feature. They smell like every other technologically advanced media device: plastic.2. Many features of a physical book are emulated poorly by e-books. The ability to interact with and claim physical ownership of a book is superior to that of an e-book. E-books attempt to emulate the experience of the physical book. (which can be proof in and of itself that a book is superior. ) For instance, some e-book readers offer the ability to make a “page-turning” noise at the page breaks. This attempt at replicating the sensory input of a physical book falls short. The person would be pushing a button instead of moving through the depth of the book. This stimuli is not as engaging, and therefore not as effective as an actual book. A book will not damage your eyes in the way that the majority of e-book readers do. Books can be read for longer periods of time without this impairment. Even the leading reading device, the Kindle, admits to this. They claim that their latest edition of Kindles have a display with 50% better contrast. [2] This affirms that the issues with reading on a technical device are still not up to par with a regular book. Other devices are exponentially worse in this area. Many of them cannot be read in sunlight. A book has no battery charge. Device readers can only be read x amount of hours before dying, while a book can be read nearly infinitely before the print fades.3. E-books are only half the book. E-books are missing the front and back cover, inside illustrations, chapter markers, text imprint and more. A book with just the words is only a fractional part of a book. 3. The wide variety of books cannot be replicated. There is no way to know how many books are out there. Plenty of books have gone out of print, been lost and forgotten through time. With an e-book, there is no ability to find a rare or almost-lost book. There is no ability to buy a used book. Kindle states that they have over 950,000 books. But is that really enough? Will you find every title you are looking for? Will you find books that aren’t accepted as mainstream? Will you be able to read uncommon ancient knowledge?4. The anonymity of purchasing a book. You can walk into any bookstore, purchase your heart’s desire with cash, and be gone. With e-books, your purchases are tied to your credit card accounts. You have to put personal information onto the computer in order to use these. 5. The condition of a book is directly related to the care of the owner. Once you purchase a book, it is yours to do with as you please. You can keep it in immaculate condition or throw it around until it is worn out. You can loan a book. It is yours to keep for as long as you desire. This is not the case with e-books. It is only yours as far as the company decides. At one point, Amazon removed all of George Orwell’s books from their customers’ Kindles because the publisher decided against electronic books. [3] Would you want a book that you bought to mysteriously disappear? And this is just one concern for the life of an e-book. If an internet connection is lost, you do not have a book. If you are out of internet range, no book. If you cannot afford your monthly internet bill, no book. If your device starts giving technical difficulties, no book. We all know that technological devices do not last forever. They have a relatively short life span regardless of the owners’ care. For example, the Ipod’s average life span is two to three years. [4] Your ability to read an e-book is determined by your ability to spend a significant amount in maintenance of the product. A physical book can last as long as your desire to keep it. No additional purchases.6. Having your book signed. Getting a book signed is not just getting a signature- it is getting an artist’s autograph on the one thing they value most- their artwork. This is both financially, and personally, more valuable than getting a signature on a piece of paper, or dare I say, an actual e-book device. I will end my post with one point for how books are superior to e-books in affecting us as a whole. This is slightly controversial.7. Books are more beneficial to the American economy. Books are more beneficial to the majority of citizens (low and mid class) in the American economy. Independently owned bookstores, which are a leading revenue for physical book buyers, are being shut down due to the rise of internet book sales. Two to Three hundred independently owned bookstores close a year. This is comparative to significantly less than 100 new bookstores that open up each year. The American Booksellers Association, the organization for independent stores, has dropped in its membership from 4,000 in the 1990s to 1,300 today. [6]Meanwhile, Amazon. com, one of the leading online companies in book sales, is selling 115 kindle books per every 100 paperback, and 300 kindle books per 100 hardcovers. [6] They have sold millions of kindle readers, which cost significantly more than the amount of an average hardback. So we see that E-books are rocketing in sales for Amazon. We also know that Amazon is a leading outlet for internet booksales, with an astronomical 93% of votes. [7]Books activate our economy, keeping the money in our neighborhood; while e-books are limited to the company that is formatted to your reader, furthering their power and monopoly. This is not to even mention the effects on publishers, authors, and the paper industry. I look forward in hearing my opponents response. 1. . http://www.agewiseliving.com...2. . http://www.amazon.com...3. . http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com...4. . http://articles.cnn.com...5.http://www.usatoday.com...6. . http://www.usatoday.com...7. . https://s3.amazonaws.com...