E-Books Will Never Replace Print, Because E-Books Are Stagnant and Poorly Designed

Illustration for article titled E-Books Will Never Replace Print, Because E-Books Are Stagnant and Poorly Designed

Welcome to this week’s Reading List, where you’ll find the best science and technology stories on the internet assembled in one delightful package. This week, we’ll ponder the place books have in our lives, explore urban history, see without realizing it, and remember the birth of online music streaming.

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  • We’ll probably never have the same relationship with digital books that we have with paper ones. In part, that’s because digital rights management and neglected software have held digital books back from living up to their shareable, re-readable potential. [Aeon]
  • Nostalgia for the smaller suburban homes of the past may be misplaced; they were the McMansions of their day and had a profound impact on the cities around them. Explore urban history and see how easy it is to forget where things came from. [The Atlantic]
  • Our conscious minds may not actually be in control of our decisions. The phenomenon of “blindsight,” in which blind or partially blind patients can react to obstacles or even faces without actually seeing them, offers a fascinating glimpse at the subconscious wiring of the brain. [BBC]
  • Today, pre-release online streaming is a commonplace, expected part of music marketing. But back in 2000, no one thought it was possible to sell an album with MTV videos and radio singles, until one underrated executive at Capitol Records tried something different. [Grantland]

Image credit: Getty Images


Contact the author at k.smithstrickland@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter.

DISCUSSION

My sole reason why ebooks will never overtake hard copies: pricing. Right now places like Amazon have to order physical books in advance. Then, if Hey don’t sell, they can discount them as much as they need to to sell. Ebooks on the other hand are always sold at or close to their retail price. As a result there are plenty of times where you can get a real physical book delivered in 2 days for less than an ebook. Something is VERY wrong with that situation...
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