Friday, December 31, 2010


Digital readers are used to read ebooks, or electronic versions of books. They replace the need for having a hard copy of a book. Multiple books can be stored on one device at a time making it convenient to have an entire library at your fingertips. Digital readers make paperback or hardback books obsolete. Students can eliminate the need for books by downloading all of their textbooks on one device. The digital reader reminds me of the electronic dictionaries, thesaurus, and translators that replaced these large books. In a handheld device you could type in any word get the definition, synonym, antonym, or translation. Essentially these devices started a movenment towards digital readers because they eliminated these type of hard copies. Reverses are very few. Some people just like to have a book for personalization. Ebooks can not be passed down to someone else. Digital readers are expensive and some can't afford them so it is cheaper to just buy or check out a book that is needed. It is not an essential piece of equipment for everyone only those that can afford it. Digital readers are a good investment and makes life easier for those that have an option to buy them.

2 comments:

  1. You mentioned that students will be able to download textbooks to their e-readers. Do you think that it would be financially feasible for districts to offer e-readers and e-books as an option for their students? I know that the cost of e-readers is going down, so I wondered if you thought that e-readers as an option to paper textbooks would ever be a real possibility.

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  2. Actually, I think there will be a means of personalizing ebooks once there is a perceived need for it. We will be sending handwritten notes on ebook pages and leaving our ebooks to our heirs with our other valued possessions.

    As for the cost of ebooks for students, it will happen. I think I read somewhere that Nook had a contract with the NYC Dept of Educ. Anyway, the way lobbyists work, publishers will fight the replacement of hardcover books with ebooks, tooth-and-nail. Yes, it would be financially feasible to have ebooks, but what publishing company is willing to give up so lucrative a market as educational books for the advancement of education or the health (heavy books cause problems) of our children?

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