Is Print A Dead Media?

As anyone familiar with the launch of MTV in 1981 is well aware, British synthpop group The Buggles fired the first shot for the fledgling media of music videos when their one hit wonder ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ was the first song played on the network. Though the title ‘E-Reader killed the publishing industry’ may not be quite as catchy, it would be a fitting update to the song that would describe a current revolution which, like MTV, could totally change the way people access an established type of media.

What is most interesting about this format war is that eReaders are not a new phenomenon; they have in fact been around since the early 1990s. It has only been since 2007, however, that the general public has started to look at eReaders as a viable alternative to books, magazines and newspapers, and that is mainly due to one pioneering device, the Kindle from Amazon.

The Kindle was launched to much fanfare and was promised to be a revolution in the way that people read. The Kindle is versatile because it is used without a computer or internet connection; instead it allows access to over 500,000 books as of April 19^th 2010 via cell phone networks using its Whispernet system, which is free of charge. In 60 seconds it is possible to have the latest novels in your hands without so much as leaving the couch. Exact sales numbers are hard to pin down, but Amazon estimates are in the 3-5 million range since the launch of the device.

Even though the Kindle was eating into the market share of print media, it was doing so at a relatively slow rate. Up until October 2009 even the old model Kindles were selling for just a shade under $300, and consumers were seeing that as a lot of money for a device which is limited to the fact that it does nothing more than allow people to read. For people that read upwards of 15 books a month this was great, for everyone else it was a luxury expense in a time when the economy had people holding onto their money. For print media it seemed the initial storm was over, then Apple announced the iPad and the battle for market share got a whole lot more interesting.

The iPad has numerous advantages over the Kindle. Most importantly is the versatility of the device, though bookaholics may still prefer a dedicated eReader like the Kindle, consumers at large will get far more use out of the iPad. As the iPad appeals to a far broader audience people will buy the Apple product for a thousand different reasons then realize part of the package is a potential eReader. With its oversized screen the iPad is much more suitable for this role than the iPhone ever was, and with over 2 million units sold in just 2 months since its release, the ipad is a serious contender.

The question now becomes how does print media fight back, and what advantages does it still hold? Firstly, print still has tradition on its side. There are those people to whom a book should be a book and that is just the way it is. The actual physical act of turning the page can mean a lot, and there is something about that feeling that eReaders cannot duplicate. Next, it is worth noting that studies have shown that it takes longer to read a book on an e Reader (6.2% on the iPad and 10.7% on the Kindle), and in today’s time conscious society that is important. Finally, some authors are so anti eReader that they are refusing to allow their books to be made available on them. Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling, for example, has publicly stated she will never allow her books to be ported over.

When you look at the environmental, spacial, and distributional advantages of an eReader however, it is hard to see a future where they do not have a major market share. The electronic media market is still very much in its infancy but it would seem to be an ideal way to circulate periodicals like newspapers and magazines which are struggling in the digital age to find their niche. Books are a slightly different prospect; though eBooks are a growing industry, there will still always be room on the shelf for the latest novel in hardback or paperback form.

They say that consumers shape the world, and much like the rise of the MTV generation, the public will be the ones that decide if print has seen its day, or if eReaders are just a flash in the pan.

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