The Digital Reader

From the Daily Mail:

Penguin boss John Makinson likens the rise of the ebook to the moment when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 15th century.

With the invention of movable type, this obscure German goldsmith swept away the age-old tradition of monks transcribing texts onto parchment, paving the way for the Enlightenment and nearly half a millennium of European global dominance.

‘The transition from physical to digital is a momentous moment for the industry,’ explains Makinson.

‘The decisions that we take now on behalf of authors will determine the future of publishing.’

…Books, he argues, have a greater emotional pull over readers than CDs.

Publishers therefore won’t suffer the same traumas that befell record labels when Apple unleashed the iPod in 2001 and the iTunes store two years later.

‘The success of the independent stores suggests that people do have a particular affinity with the product,’ the former Financial Times journalist says.

‘Music shops do not have the same charisma. The CD format and DVDs are very impersonal, they’re polythene-wrapped and functional things that you don’t want to collect.’

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