| The Medium and the Message | | | | and without it - to web content, reference works, |
| | | | etc.,embedded instant shopping and ordering links, |
| Author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism | | | | divergent, user- interactive, decision driven |
| Revisited" | | | | plotlines, interaction with other e- books (using |
| A debate is raging in e-publishing circles: should | | | | Bluetooth or another wireless standard), |
| content beencrypted and protected (the erstwhile | | | | collaborativeauthoring, gaming and community |
| Barnes and Noble or Digitalgoods model) - or | | | | activities, automatically orperiodically updated |
| should it be distributed freely and thus serve asa | | | | content, ,multimedia capabilities, database, |
| form of viral marketing (Seth Godin's "ideavirus")? | | | | Favourites and History Maintenance (records of |
| Publishersfear that freely distributed and cost-free | | | | reading habits,shopping habits, interaction with |
| "cracked" e-books willcannibalize print books to | | | | other readers, plot relateddecisions and much |
| oblivion. | | | | more), automatic and embedded audio |
| The more paranoid point at the music industry. It | | | | conversionand translation capabilities, full wireless |
| failed to co-optthe emerging peer-to-peer | | | | piconetworking andscatternetworking capabilities |
| platforms (Napster) and to offer a viabledigital | | | | and more. |
| assets management system with an equitable | | | | The same textual content will be available in the |
| sharing ofroyalties. The results? A protracted legal | | | | future in variousmedia. Ostensibly, consumers |
| battle and piracy runamok. "Publishers" - goes this | | | | should gravitate to the feature-richand much |
| creed - "are positioned toincorporate encryption | | | | cheaper e-book. But they won't - because the |
| and protection measures at the very inceptionof | | | | medium is asimportant as the text message. It is |
| the digital publishing industry. They ought to learn | | | | not enough to own the samecontent, or to gain |
| the lesson." | | | | access to the same message. Ownership of |
| But this view ignores a vital difference between | | | | theright medium does count. Print books offer |
| sound and text. Inmusic, what matter are the | | | | connectivity within anhistorical context (tradition). |
| song or the musical piece. The medium (orcarrier, | | | | E-books are cold and impersonal,alienated and |
| or packing) is marginal and interchangeable. A CD, | | | | detached. The printed word offers permanence. |
| an audiocassette, or an MP3 player are all fine, as | | | | Digitaltext is ephemeral (as anyone whose writings |
| far as the consumer isconcerned. The listener | | | | perished in the bloodbath or Deja takeover by |
| bases his or her purchasing decisions onsound | | | | Google can attest). Printedvolumes are a whole |
| quality and the faithfulness of reproduction of the | | | | sensorium, a sensual experience - olfactory |
| listeningexperience (for instance, in a concert hall). | | | | andtactile and visual. E-books are one dimensional |
| This is a very narrow,rational, measurable and | | | | in comparison. Theseare differences that cannot |
| quantifiable criterion. | | | | be overcome, not even with the advent ofdigital |
| Not so with text. | | | | "ink" on digital "paper". They will keep the print |
| Content is only one element of many of equal | | | | bookalive and publishers' revenues flowing. |
| footing underlying thedecision to purchase a | | | | People buy printed matter not merely because of |
| specific text-"carrier" (medium). Variousmedia | | | | its content. If thiswere true e-books will have won |
| encapsulating IDENTICAL text will still fare | | | | the day. Print books are a packagedexperience, |
| differently. | | | | the substance of life. People buy the medium as |
| Hence the failure of CD-ROMs and e-learning. | | | | oftenand as much as they buy the message it |
| People tend to consumecontent in other formats | | | | encapsulates. It isimpossible to compete with this |
| or media, even if it is fully available tothem or | | | | mistique. Safe in this knowledge,publishers should |
| even owned by them in one specific medium. | | | | let go and impose on e-books "encryption"and |
| People prefer topay to listen to live lectures | | | | "protection" levels as rigorous as they do on the |
| rather than read freely availableonline transcripts. | | | | their printbooks. The latter are here to stay |
| Libraries buy print journals even when they | | | | alongside the former. With theproper pricing and a |
| havesubscribed to the full text online versions of | | | | modicum of trust, e-books may even end |
| the very samepublications. And consumers | | | | uppromoting the old and trusted print versions. |
| overwhelmingly prefer to purchase booksin print | | | | ========================== |
| rather than their e-versions. | | | | AUTHOR BIO (must be included with the article) |
| This is partly a question of the slow demise of old | | | | Sam Vaknin ( ) is the author of Malignant |
| habits. E-bookshave yet to develop the | | | | Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the |
| user-friendliness, platform-independence,portability, | | | | Rain - How the West |
| brows ability and many other attributes of | | | | Lost the East. He served as a columnist for |
| thisingenious medium, the Gutenberg tome. But it | | | | Central Europe Review, |
| also has to do withmarketing psychology. Where | | | | PopMatters, Bellaonline, and eBookWeb, a United |
| text (or text equivalents, such asspeech) is | | | | Press International |
| concerned, the medium is at least as important as | | | | (UPI) Senior Business Correspondent, and the |
| themessage. And this will hold true even when | | | | editor of mental healthand Central East Europe |
| e-books catch up withtheir print brethren | | | | categories in The Open Directory and |
| technologically. | | | | Suite101. |
| There is no doubting that finally e-books will | | | | Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor |
| surpass print booksas a medium and offer | | | | to the Governmentof Macedonia. |
| numerous options: hyperlinks within the e- book | | | | |