Books too. The vast majority of books (or paper media overall) ever printed are no longer available new. There _might_ be some electronic version, but realistically not. Library systems help fill this in, but there are so many titles are are simply difficult to obtain.
For old books it's understandable but for modern books it's unforgivable. Even if the author is old school and wrote it on a typewriter or by hand, at some point that book has been digitised for production. I wanted a book recently that is paper only and was published in 2015. I emailed the publisher to request if they'd make it available as an eBook and they didn't even bother replying. Why on earth publishers continue to release paper only books in 2023 is beyond me.
Some books absolutely do not lend themelves to a digital format. I'm currently in the middle of House of Leaves and there are sections of it that play with the fact they are printed on paper.
I've read House of Leaves multiple times, a few in paper and a few on my Kindle. There was no discernable difference in enjoyment between the two formats - your conclusion is false.
If you only read it on Kindle you would miss out on the whole section where the text is printed in boxes that are mirrored on opposite sides of the page. On that note, where did you even find a Kindle version?
>> Why on earth publishers continue to release paper only books in 2023 is beyond me.
Because digital books are horrible. A have a self of work-related books full of reference images (military equipment). I budget about 100/month for book purchases as many of them are 200+ each. There is no plausible replacement. Just ask anyone who collects painting or movie posters. A digital file is no replacement for a reference copy on a shelf.
One book that I purchased new only two years ago for <100$ is now out of print and apparently going for 500+ on ebay/amazon.
> A have a self of work-related books full of reference images (military equipment). I budget about 100/month for book purchases as many of them are 200+ each. There is no plausible replacement.
Er yes there is. A large tablet. Which would allow you to zoom in on those images in high resolution if the book was formatted properly by the publisher. Connect some AR glasses and now you've got a massive book you can read comfortably anywhere without strain.
> A digital file is no replacement for a reference copy on a shelf.
It absolutely is, particularly if your book is primarily text and you want to search that text on a regular basis. Or if you're out in the field and you don't have space to carry an entire library of maintenance books with you. Which might actually be quite a common scenario in the military. Unless you know the book back to front (and even then it's debatable) searching via a computer is going to be faster than flipping through pages manually.
The digital file will not decay (unless the underlying hard drive decays) and it can be available, theoretically, forever. It can be shipped around the globe in the blink of an eye, and doesn't require anywhere near the same carbon footprint to do so. It can be easily replicated and the potential market is anyone, anywhere, on the entire planet rather than anyone with access to a book store or living in a location where a bookstore will ship to.
No-one is trying to take your paper books away. But presumably a digital file of that book was sent to the printers. So why is that digital file not readily available for consumers to purchase to consume in the manner that best suits them?
Nope. No tablets allowed anywhere near where I work, certainly not some random device that wants to just connect to the public internet to download some random pdfs from a defunct book subscription service.
>> The digital file will not decay
Yes they do. The chances that a tablet with a digital file, or a subscription service, will still be accessible in 10/20 years are not good. A physical book will last centuries.
>> Or if you're out in the field and you don't have space to carry an entire library of maintenance books with you. Which might actually be quite a common scenario in the military.
Nope. That is a very rare circumstance in the modern military. What is not rare is someone wanting a specific question answered about an old bit of equipment or place, something nobody has touched in a decade. Someone in the field needs info and calls back to the support unit. Suddenly that old paper book on the shelf about some forgotten topic or place is a literal lifesaver.
And in the real military, one cannot assume network connectivity. We have to keep working even when the lights go out, especially when they lights are out. Paper books can do that.
> Nope. No tablets allowed anywhere near where I work, certainly not some random device that wants to just connect to the public internet to download some random pdfs from a defunct book subscription service.
Cool bro, good for you. Not everyone works where you do.
> Yes they do. The chances that a tablet with a digital file, or a subscription service, will still be accessible in 10/20 years are not good. A physical book will last centuries.
If you're making a point about the file being in a proprietary format and unavailable for corporate reasons then yes. But otherwise, no. We have been copying digital files between devices for decades now.
> Nope. That is a very rare circumstance in the modern military. What is not rare is someone wanting a specific question answered about an old bit of equipment or place, something nobody has touched in a decade. Someone in the field needs info and calls back to the support unit.
A call they wouldn't actually need to make in the first place if they had the book in digital format on their person. But we can assume that's an intelligence risk if it goes missing so we'd rather keep the info safe on base. That is understandable. But it doesn't change the fact that one of the pros of ebooks are their portability.
> Suddenly that old paper book on the shelf about some forgotten topic or place is a literal lifesaver.
There's literally no reason why that old paper book couldn't have a digital copy in an archive somewhere and probably does.
> And in the real military, one cannot assume network connectivity. We have to keep working even when the lights go out, especially when they lights are out. Paper books can do that.
It's almost as if both formats have different pros and cons and the consumer should be able to decide which work best for them and their own needs rather than having that dictated to them by the publishing industry or the needs of the military. I don't really consider having a copy of the "Crime Writer's Guide To Police Practice and Procedure" by Michael O'Byrne on my tablet whilst I'm backpacking to be a national security risk.
Reference books are the best candidates for being digitised. Why would you want to physically search a real physical library for hours to find a dusty forgotten book about a forgotten piece of equipment when you could just Ctrl+F and instantly find what you seek?
Any other kind of book I do much rather prefer the paper version though.
Getting some slaptick+satire comic books made after the main $COMIC_BOOK_INDUSTRY in Spain it's night impossible.
And it sucks, because these comic books from the 80's are a masterpiece where the author were not tied to their editors and they innovated like never did. Think about stories close to Futurama in humor but for younger teens and without dumbing down them (political jokes and so on).
