Ebooks Are Inferior to Real Books free essay sample

Good evening chairperson, ladies and gentleman. It is one thing to down load an eBooks and read it at your convenience but is this experience the same as lying out on the beach reading the latest publication from your favourite novelist with the worry of the device failing | 2. Your expensive device may be stolen while you’re in the surf or sand could enter your devices interface. Ladies and Gentlemen reading from an eBook is simply not the same as reading from a physical printed book as all electronic devices are subject to failures. 3. The topic before us this evening is that â€Å"eBooks are inferior to real books† Not one member of the affirmative team will deny that eBooks have been a great innovation however there are many disadvantages associated with the use of eBooks which would support our team’s argument that traditional books are superior and therefore by definition eBooks are inferior. | 4. We as the Affirmative team define eBooks as electronic copies of books, usually read through an e-reader or computer and real books as physical printed paper copies of books. Tonight we will be discussing this on two key levels: I will discuss the social aspects and my second speaker Tom will address the disadvantages of eBooks from an economic perspective. | 5. Firstly I will address the inferior qualities of eBooks with regard to them denigrating the culture of reading and secondly the notion that print books promote a more holistic and equitable circumstance for people to have a greater access to literature both contemporary and traditional. | 6. Now to my first point, addressing print books and their significant contribution towards promoting a culture of reading. E-Readers are far less capable of presenting artistic illustrations in the same capacity as real books. | 7. Very complex, design-heavy books such as comics do not translate well into eBook format, and in many cases people in possession of older e-reader devices, fail to support all of the technologically advanced features that are included within newly released eBooks and e-readers. | 8. Ladies and Gentleman how are we to cultivate a love for books with future generations if all we have access to is unexciting and uninteresting, dull, black and white text. Think of the long held reading traditions which families employ when raising their children. | 9. Young children will always be interested in beautiful three dimensional illustrations adorned in colour and exciting imagery, not walls of text. The artistic value and interactivity of the children’s books we grew up with is something you certainly cannot replicate with an e-reader. | 10. This is a crucial part of the culture of reading that can and will engage our youth in reading from an early age. For centuries book lovers have enjoyed browsing the shelves in a book store, reading the blurbs and thumbing through the illustrations. This is an important part of the culture of reading, a culture promoted by print books and a culture degraded by eBooks. | 11. This is further vindicated as statistics from over 250 000 surveys conducted by Amazon have revealed that 55% precent of e-books purchased from the kindle or amazon online catalogue have been planned purchases and only 5% of buyers have actually browsed the online catalogue like you would in a real bookstore. | 12. Print books are often utilised for decorative purposes in a home. They can define ones interests’ and even a person’s profession, for example doctors and lawyers often have large libraries of books in their homes. Furthermore print books are often culturally and historically significant for various reasons, can form part of collections, or represent sentimental significance. Ebooks do not have that same utility. | 13. According to Jan Noyes and Kate Garland’s scientific report released in 2008 addressing the cognitive advantages and disadvantages of eBooks; it was discovered that screen reading was found to increase stress and exhaustion levels. Finally, the technology of an e-book can also prove to be a disincentive for prospective readers. | 14. Add to these, the health issues of eye strain, the anxiety of worrying about battery life, damaging the screen of a reading device, its lack of portability in extreme or remote environments, problems of viruses and software bugs and the incompatibility of formats across devices are not issues that the reader of traditional books encounter. | 15. RSI and long periods looking at a screen, plus the possibility that an e-book can be hacked and edited so that the original text could be censored or lack authenticity thus creating several more reasons why e-books can turn people off reading. | 16. All of these significant points refer to the culture of reading which is vital to society as we know it. This now brings me to my second argument that print books promote a more holistic and equitable circumstance for people to have a greater access to literature both contemporary and traditional. | 17. EBooks are often a non-inclusive medium as it is a significant financial investment for individuals to purchase an E-reader. It is difficult for people without substantial financial means to make that investment when their primary focus is directed at providing for their families and their needs. | 18. Traditional books are always more accessible to the general public, in many cases through a library. Libraries provide a free and easy way for people of all socio-economic backgrounds to access books of all varieties and in addition libraries can be accessed locally as there is one in most suburbs. 19. Also, opportunities to read are enhanced because books are a tangible asset that can be easily exchanged, passed on from generation to generation and discarded for other people to pick up cheaply at fetes, book fairs and second hand bookshops. | 20. They are also a valuable resource to be collected and donated to institutions, waiting rooms, schools and third world countries. In other wo rds making them accessible to the general population. Ladies and Gentleman you cannot do this with an eBook! | 21. The reliance of e-books on technology conjures the frightening prospect of a world without literature, recorded historical data, in fact, all of the knowledge and entertainment that is currently held in the traditional manuscript of books and digital media. | 22. What happens if the gadgets and software we need to decode e-books malfunctions, there is a lack of electricity or our digital world collapses? We need traditional books to protect future access to reading for everyone. | 23. Tonight Ladies and gentleman I have argued the social aspects of why eBooks are most definitely inferior to real books. 24. My first point tonight detailed how print books significantly contribute towards promoting a culture of reading whereas eBooks damage that culture and my second point addressed how print books, through libraries promote a more holistic and unified circumstance where it is much easier for people who have less, to gain a greater access to more. | 25. Ladies and gentleman when DVDâ₠¬â„¢s came out people thought that would be the end of cinema. There will always be a place for real books and if eBooks are such remarkable products why are we still publishing books? Comparing e-readers to books is similar to comparing a modern contemporary rock song to a cover, which is never as good as the original. | 26. Every now and again you might get a cover version of a song that is perceived as better than the original but generally speaking more often than not the cover is never as good as the original. You can manipulate it and improve it but when it all comes down to the crunch it is the original that stands the test of time. The same is true for the traditional book which will pass the test of time. |