eReaders and Compact Discs

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For the longest time, I have been a “real books” advocate. I say “real books” to mean physical, tangible copies of books, as opposed to virtual books. I think my position had more to do with lack of trying than anything else. After all, for the entirety of my reading life, I have only ever read “real books.” I like the way they feel in my hands, the way they smell, the ease with which I can flip from the first page to the last. I like the way “real books” look in a pile on my nightstand. I still like all of these things, but I have to say … I now own an eReader, and I really like it too.

I’ve always been a technophile, so it’s a bit weird that it’s taken me this long to get an eReader. Maybe it was my love of real books that kept me from making the transition. Like I was worried real books would find out I was cheating on them and would get offended. They’d all jump from the bookshelf to their deaths.

Speaking of book death, one constant conversation that keeps cropping up over the past few years is the idea that books are dying. That print is dying. It’s a strange metaphor that only seems to apply to books. After all, when people went from buying music on vinyl to CD, did anyone go around decrying the death of music? And when CDs hit the wayside, and mp3s became the favoured medium, were we all singing music’s death knell (other than Metallica and Dr Dre)?

Either book lovers are a strange breed, or there’s something about the hard copy of a book that sets it apart from the hard copy of a song or an album. Maybe it’s because readers have to spend real time with their books, and end up holding them in various locations (bed, couch, train, coffee shop) in various positions (above your head, to the side, in your lap, on the table), whereas the music just is. It’s passive, whereas reading is active, and the book a trusty companion. The sound the pages make when turned. The visual of ink on paper.

Okay okay. So I know I won’t quit on “real books.” And I think other people who buy eReaders, if they’ve always been Readers (minus the lower case e), will also not quit on books. But to get back to where I started: I’ve recently bought an eReader. I’m like the vinyl collector who, in 1995, finally got into CDs. Finally gone digital. But that doesn’t mean my analog library is going anywhere.