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Author
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Topic: Space publications: hard copy or digital?
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Philip
Member Posts: 4025
From: Brussels, BELGIUM
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted January 08, 2010 04:01 AM
   
Well sooner or later it will finally happen; no moore books, everything online or digital on an E-reader. What do collectors think of this trend?Last year, the readers of "ESA Bulletin" and "ESO Messenger" were asked if they still wanted to receive a hard copy of the magazine as those were available online. Moreover, other magazines struggle as almost everything is available online nowadays (correct of not correct information). An example is BIS Spaceflight magazine, which sells for a higher price at bookstores. Personally, I prefer to hold a book or magazine in my hands, feel it and collect it in a hard copie book/magazine collection. |
minipci
Member Posts: 66
From: London, UK
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted January 08, 2010 04:08 AM
It will be a sad day indeed if all publications go "digital only" in the future. I much prefer a real book or magazine. Reading everything on an electronic device would be very tiresome. |
Tykeanaut
Member Posts: 127
From: England, U.K.
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted January 08, 2010 04:10 AM
It's easier to read a book in bed! |
Philip
Member Posts: 4025
From: Brussels, BELGIUM
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted January 08, 2010 04:24 AM
Indeed, it's more dangerous falling asleep with a laptop besides you.  I guess most people aged between 25 and 75 think this way. The younger generation want everything digital. In the 1970s and 1980s, we had to live with hard copy magazines as we all know those were the only means for space enthusiasts to get information about spaceflight events. As a young boy, Spaceflight magazine was my main source. |
cspg
Member Posts: 2153
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006
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posted January 08, 2010 08:39 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Philip:
Well sooner or later it will finally happen; no moore books, everything online or digital on an E-reader. What do collectors think of this trend?
It's insane. E-readers (I suppose you refer to Kindle) is a closed system (last time I checked) so it looks like an earlier version of iTunes. The whole idea is dead. When open-source comes along, that's going to be a different story. But I'd rather have a hard copy of a document (not necessarily space-related books) than a digital one. You can skim online books but read them...no way. Printed books will still be around but maybe more and more expensive to acquire. You can see this in comics- a trend appears that will allow you to "read" comics on those "pseudo" smart phones...It's insane. And let's just wait for the internet to crash. It's a system that was never designed to be used the way it is- and since nobody wants to tackle a profound redesign of the architecture (like Windows) because of all sorts of reason (money and the short-term "visionaries" to name two), it will be a lot fun to witness- if it happens in my lifetime of course!  Techno-dependence will probably kill us before any asteroid does (see Air France A340 Rio-Paris crash). But I'm veering off course here!
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tegwilym
Member Posts: 1953
From: Renton, WA USA
Registered: Jan 2000
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posted January 08, 2010 01:10 PM
My attention span when reading .pdf files for example, gets very short when reading on a computer screen. I do much better when reading a book. Those Kindle things do look good though, but I just like paper with text and no battery required when reading. I read when going to bed at night and on the bus to and from work every day. If the day comes when paper is gone, I hope it happens way in the future when I'm not around anymore. |
Kite
New Member Posts: 9
From: Northampton UK
Registered: Nov 2009
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posted January 08, 2010 02:27 PM
Books are so much more personal, whether signed or not. I'm very proud of my space collection even if it is probably small compared to some enthusiasts. I enjoy after reading one refering to others to see if different accounts of the same event vary. |
xlsteve
Member Posts: 158
From: Holbrook MA, USA
Registered: Jul 2008
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posted January 08, 2010 03:55 PM
quote:
Originally posted by cspg:
It's insane. E-readers (I suppose you refer to Kindle) is a closed system (last time I checked) so it looks like an earlier version of iTunes.
I actually have a Kindle, and it's true you primarily access your content through Amazon. It does support DRM-free mobipocket and other formats, and there are a number of ways to get free materials to read outside of Amazon. I also prefer the small size of the Kindle to read and carry with me on the train versus a large book. The Kindle does support PDFs, but that is something that will require development as the formatting can be a bit dodgy. One advantage is that I've been able to read the Augustine report on the train using the Kindle without going to time or expense to print the whole thing out. That said, anything that has lots of illustrations or diagrams I am unlikely to read via the Kindle since the screen size is prohibitive. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 894
From: Toms River, NJ,USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted January 08, 2010 04:54 PM
The problem I see is that e-readers are just that. If there was an e-reader/laptop (or netbook)/cell phone/digital camera combo, then fine, but I can't see getting an e-reader just for one task.As well, one has to consciously carry one. I may or may not buy a book or a newspaper on any given day, but if I do, I can do so easily. The Que e-reader is on the right track... but I still can't see lugging one of them around "just in case." It's like cel phones - unless you really needed it, would you have gotten one 20 years ago, with the battery the size of a brick, to be slung over your shoulder? Or more familiarly, like the Osbourne portable computers - if that were the laptop offered today, would you get one? |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 2718
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted January 08, 2010 06:03 PM
I can understand electronic books to a degree...especially for fiction readers who may never read the same book twice and don't want to carry around a collection of unwanted volumes. But for non-fiction readers who want a reference library, it's a mixed blessing. Perhaps searching for information would be easier/quicker in electronic format. But I wouldn't want to be one hard drive crash away from losing my entire reference library. Of course, back-ups are essential...but that adds another "maintenance" aspect to keeping the files. Books are tangible objects that will outlast most of us and are something future generations will enjoy. Electronic files we collect will most likely vanish once the technology is obsolete or the format changes considerably (or we eventually lose our files). I can't envision someone "unearthing" a PDF file in 500 years like they would a printed book. Perhaps the best option is to publish a hard copy of the book, but include a coupon in the back of the book allowing one to download the volume in electronic format. That way you have the best of both worlds. Something is similarly done for music collectors like myself who still buy new albums on vinyl LPs (yes, they still make them!). Inside the LP sleeve, we are often given a coupon to download the album on MP3 format for free. So we can play the record on the turntable (for maximum sound quality) AND listen to it on our iPods when we're not at home (for maximum portability). |
Dennis Beatty
Member Posts: 174
From: Medford, Oregon, 97504
Registered: Jan 2000
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posted January 20, 2010 10:21 AM
Contrary to some opinions already expressed, I love my Kindle. I have an entire library at my fingertips... all in the size of a paperback book. |
Wehaveliftoff
Member Posts: 650
From:
Registered: Aug 2001
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posted January 20, 2010 10:28 AM
Books will live on forever, and be read as well. |
Philip
Member Posts: 4025
From: Brussels, BELGIUM
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted January 20, 2010 10:37 AM
Moreover, spaceflight related books, especially the early NASA SP-series, might one day become real antiques |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 1245
From: BELFAST, UNITED KINGDOM
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted January 20, 2010 08:27 PM
Kindle....an interesting name. Throw them all into a big pile. Add petrol/gasoline. Strike a match...it's the only form of "book-burning" I could applaud. |
music_space
Member Posts: 612
From: Canada
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted January 23, 2010 08:21 PM
I have been collecting space-related, printed documents for a long while now, but since I prefer hand-written artefacts -- such as notebooks or annotated documents -- I tend to acquire printed stuff in .pdf's or other readable formats and save the money for the handwritten artefacts. I think all-digital reading is the future.In the other hand, I also collect spacecraft instruments, and I don't see as much interest in acquiring, say, a digital Soyuz clock as it is to get an electro-mechanical one. I cherish my Voskhod "Globus" instrument for its 100-plus exquisitly designed, machind and assembled gears -- and I have much less interest in, say, a PC laptop flown on STS and used with a earth-path-indicating software... ------------------
Francois Guay
Collector of litterature, notebooks, equipment and memories! |
Dennis Beatty
Member Posts: 174
From: Medford, Oregon, 97504
Registered: Jan 2000
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posted January 23, 2010 08:35 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Blackarrow:
...it's the only form of "book-burning" I could applaud.
Sheesh!! I wonder if a few techno-phobic monks said the same thing about that darned old invention Johann Gutenberg came up with...
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Philip
Member Posts: 4025
From: Brussels, BELGIUM
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted January 29, 2010 09:29 AM
Well our topic is just one month old and look; Apple iPad  |
gliderpilotuk
Member Posts: 2200
From: London, UK
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted January 29, 2010 02:48 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis Beatty:
I wonder if a few techno-phobic monks said the same thing about that darned old invention Johann Gutenberg came up with...
As I understood it Gutenberg marked the change from hand-written print to movable type ON THE SAME MEDIUM. Hardly a reasonable comparator for the hard copy to virtual transition. |
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