[13167] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Re: netLibrary
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mark Bay)
Wed Mar 15 20:36:28 2000
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 10:03:17 -0600
From: Mark Bay <mbay@UH.EDU>
In-Reply-To: <MPBBLHOPKNOHHEPMIAHHGEOKEBAA.zendog@incolsa.net>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU>
Message-Id: <3.0.6.32.20000315100317.0091b8c0@bayou.uh.edu>
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Just a reply to all those people who think ebooks are inevitably going to
replace paper...when EVERY book ever written by humankind is available,
when I can go to the beach and not worry about dropping my reader in the
sand or surf, or about leaving it behind, then I think it will replace the
print book. Print lasts 2-300 years, more with proper preservation.
CD-ROMs and other electronic media, 20 tops at this point. You can take a
book, sit it in storage for 100 years, take it out, and read it. Try that
with your ebooks. Print books are fairly easily attainable for low-income
people. Ebook readers certainly aren't. Oh, Microsoft is going to get
into ebooks? THAT should go well. Bill Gates will dictate what you read
and how you read it. Or do you think anybody will make small press,
alternative press, or other "unpopular" books readily available? The
reading public will be reduced to mass-produced, big budget garbage.
I for one hate to think ebooks will ever replace print. Supplement maybe,
complement perhaps, but totally replace? I'd bet against it, at least in
my lifetime.
Anybody remember when they said TV would replace teachers and lots of other
positions? Been about 50 years, and it hasn't happened yet...
Mark
*************************************************
Mark T. Bay
Education / Social Sciences Reference Librarian
M.D. Anderson Library
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-2091
(713) 743-9767
mbay@uh.edu
*************************************************
