Pixels versus Paper - The Future of Academic Books - Unisa Books

Real books versus E-books for Unisa Students - Pixels Versus Paper

Practicality

E-books, and E-book readers are slowly but surely becoming increasingly popular. It is easy enough to read a book for pleasure or leisure on a computer screen or e-book reader but how practical is it for student’s to study from these?

Reading an academic book on a P.C or laptop does allow you to open a word document and then toggle between this screen and that displaying your e-book. This would be done for the purposes of taking your own notes. This process is only feasible if you are a proficient typist. While reading your E-book on p.c or e-reader you can take notes the old fashioned way (with pen and paper).

Costs

The cost of e-books themselves is definitely cheaper than that of real books but then the cost of the e-book reader must be factored in. The current price of an E-book reader like the Amazon Kindle is around R2000. The average price of an ebook is around $7 U.S.D.If one is to buy a Kindle or similar device only for the purposes of study, it does not seem cost effective. Yet, if you are an avid reader the cost of the e-reader will, over time be offset against the cheaper price of e-books.

2. E-books can not be resold which means that you can not recover any cost once you are finished with the book.

LIFE & DEATH - The Future of UNISA Booksellers

Those that are regular readers will have, by now, become used to my seemingly ambiguous article titles. Yes, the use of such titles is a marketing ploy to attract more page views…. sneaky sneaky). But, this article is related to death – not to the death of any individual but to a far more serious death – the death of books, and booksellers (businesses not people).

Ok, I admit that such a death is not imminent but traditional booksellers (brick & mortar stores) like many of the official Unisa booksellers are perhaps making there way towards retirement – a phase usually followed by incontinence and obscurity. Books too in a sense will die – they will still exist but will no longer be tangible they will likely crossover to the spirit world  for books and become e-books. To contact such books you will need a medium ( a Kindle, Smart Phone, or PC. ). Some might argue that such devices are beyond the financial grasp of many Unisa students – perhaps this is true – for now.

How will Unisa Booksellers adapt?

Probably what will happen is already happening – online sales of real books will continue to increase as the internet becomes ubiquitous. Then as connectivity improves (speed, data capacity & cost) e-books will become a viable option for students. If a high enough percentage of Unisa students want e-books rather than real books Unisa Booksellers will need to make this happen.

What do you think……..which are better for study purposes, real books (paper) or e-books (pixels)? – please comment below.