P-Books versus E-Books - a new twist on an old (in cyber-terms) debate

For those following the continuing debate about which format is "better," here's an interesting editorial from last Sunday's New York Times entitled "Further Thoughts of a Novice E-Reader."  In addition to the usual criticisms regarding the tactile appeal of p-books over e-books, the ability to flip pages and see how much one's read and how much is left to read, there's this:

I already have a personal library. But most of the books I’ve ever read have come from lending libraries. Barnes & Noble has released an e-reader that allows short-term borrowing of some books. The entire impulse behind Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iBooks assumes that you cannot read a book unless you own it first — and only you can read it unless you want to pass on your device.

That goes against the social value of reading, the collective knowledge and collaborative discourse that comes from access to shared libraries. That is not a good thing for readers, authors, publishers or our culture.

How ironic that in the age of social networking and the indisputable ways in which the internet has brought so many people together, the use of e-books may undermine social connectedness.

You can read the rest of the editorial here.

(jbl)