As a communications major, I do a fair share of reading. Novel after novel and textbook after textbook, I devour the pages so that I can write five to six page papers for multiple classes. In order to do so, a stack of books lined the corner of my desk, each with bookmarks and penciled-in notes from class lectures. Lugging them around from class after class seemed normal to me because I needed them. What would I do without these textbooks? I never thought to ask myself that until I started reading e-books from a Kindle.
I had never used a Kindle until I received one as a gift for Christmas a year ago. At first, I turned it on, looked at what it had to offer and turned it back off. I went months without using it, and then, one day, curiosity got the best of me. I decided to see what it would be like to use one, so I bought a book, downloaded it and began reading. Now, I find myself reading from this backlit electronic rectangular screen daily. Instead of turning pages, I tap the right side of the screen. Instead of penciling in comments and notes, I touch and highlight passages with my finger.
After some time using my kindle, I began to add more and more books on it. It was like taking around a laptop with multiple files. Instead of buying books from the store, I just tapped a screen and had a book within seconds. This became surprisingly useful because every book I needed was in one place and took only seconds to receive no matter my location. Not to mention, the Kindle is compact and light; whereas I used to carry around six textbooks a day, now I carry one. All the electronic files of those 500-plus-page books are accessible immediately, when I want and where I want. Talk about a load off my back; do I even need a backpack anymore?
Along these same lines, since this new technology reduces the need for physical paperback books, what will eventually happen to them? After some research, I read an article from Slate that pinpointed exactly what I wanted to know. It talks about the sales of “adult-fiction” paperback and hardcover books. It said, in the year 2012 alone, sales dropped for the first time ever under e-book files. However, although the sales are down, paperback books may never go away completely. This is because these books can be sold several times over and over secondhand while an e-book cannot. To me, as a student, this is very true. Since my first year in college, I bought every book I needed secondhand or rented a book that had been used several times before me.
But, what happens when the book I need does not have an e-book file? Well, that means I will buy or rent a physical paperback or hardcover book, which also tells me that the e-books and the kindle have not quite taken over yet. Even though I and others may use our kindles more than actual books, these books may never go out of production, or at least, not any time soon.