Books as a format have remained largely unchanged since the printing press in the 1400’s. Magazines, newspapers, and pamphlets all existed but they were essentially the same medium: text on paper, sometime with images.
Eventually audiobooks emerged and there was an actual meaningful change. For the first time “books” could contain not only words and ideas, but also sounds and emotive voices.
Then, in the early 2000’s eBook’s first started to finally enter the mainstream. But fast forward a quarter of a century and they have certainly not replaced traditional print books like we thought they would. Why not?
The Problem
Today we exist in sort of an awkward teenage years of books as a medium. Every time that I buy a book I have to ask myself the same question, Do I want to read this as an eBook, an audiobook, or a print book? I eventually make a decision out of necessity, but it never fully feels like what I want. Each and every one of these formats has strengths and weaknesses.
eBooks Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Full Text Search | Lacking Digital Autonomy: Usually you’re locked into a proprietary app with DRM and usability restrictions. |
| Extremely Portable | Difficult to lend |
| You are forced to focus and separate yourself from distractions. | You can’t do anything else while reading. You have to make time in your schedule. |
| eBooks from providers like Amazon are “closed”. You can’t open them in another app. |
Potential Pros of eBooks
This list is for things that aren’t actually available in most eBooks today, but are certainly possible if only the platforms would allow them.
Linked eBooks
Under the hood, most eBook formats such as ePub are really just wrappers around basic web technologies such as HTML. In other words, every eBook, could potentially experience all the benefits of the open web.
Audiobooks Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| An audiobook doesn’t need to “interrupt” your life. You can enjoy an audiobook while walking, driving, doing chores or whatever. | It’s not intuitive or easy to bookmark or take notes. |
| Fast reading: It is incredible how quickly you can read an audiobook. | It’s too easy to “read” a book without actually understanding it. |
Print Books Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| You are forced to focus and separate yourself from distractions. | You can’t do anything else while reading. You have to make time in your schedule. |
| When you buy a print book, you own it. You get to decide when, how and where you want to use it, lend it or resell it. |
The Dream of a Solution
More to come…