digital vs print

According to the web 2.0 article it seems that since the web continues to grow at an exponential rate, publicists have started to question if its wise to continue printing various literature. Its cheaper and quicker for magazines and books to present their work on the internet and to reach greater volumes of readers, then going through the hassle of printing hard copies. In my opinion, I feel that while this seems true, people will always want hard copies of certain pieces of writing. The web should be used as a vehicle to promote and get a buzz going about a new book or article but not in any way replace a printed copy altogether. I understand that printing is not as Eco-friendly but people waste paper and trees in other ways much more and if you want to help the environment address them instead. I feel its always good to have a hard copy as the web and cyberspace in general is always susceptible to crashing and being hacked, why risk losing the only copy of a great piece of literature. This would be a risk if printing books and various literature was only done via web.

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9 Responses to digital vs print

  1. jr90fun03 says:

    Digital information is an upgrade in the media industry. New technology has made it easier for the public to access information and has provided a more economical and easier way of life. In my opinion and this is something I agree with you, is that our print version will never become too “out of style” it will definitely be the most permanent source of information we have when all else is gone. Digital should never takeover print but rather work with it to enable a greater source of information.

  2. egonzalez says:

    Whether I read a hard copy of a digital copy depends on the medium and I think for certain mediums hard copies will always be in demand and others may not have hold a place in our future. For example I haven’t bought a hard copy of a newspaper in years, I I prefer to read it online, this way offers me the ability to easily further look up information that i find in an article. Books on the other hand I tend to always buy hard copy’s of. I just prefer to turn the pages and actually see how much I’ve read and try to figure out whats going to happen next based on how many pages are left.

  3. Guzman Kiara says:

    Digital information has been a major success throughout the years. It has had a very high percentage of use. It makes it easier for others to access information without having to carry around with many print pages when you can just have it in a computer,phone,iPad,etc. But I believe that print will never vanish completely. Your work or information is never really safe as it is to when you have it on print. You can easily delete any information by accident and you have to maintain charging the object in which you have your information in. Meanwhile if you have it in print none of these things happen. In my opinion I prefer to have a print copy because it makes things so much easier for me to look through and go back to.

  4. ibn4course says:

    I haven’t decided on which medium holds the true genius, I’ve been waiting for someone to hack me so I have a easier decision. The healthiest and safest comparisons deals with ergonomics. Both are fatiguing in their own sense and physical space plays a big part on the purchase. Purchase or free material explains economical persuasions on the iconoclastic developers of todays media resources. I bet that no matter how old the book the forces in the inventions or ideas itself won’t be ignored, and the decisions to use digital material may become as promenant as the hardcopy.

  5. sharkins says:

    I feel that there will always be a need for hard copies of information but eventually they will only be produced as needed. Although as with everything there would be a down side to this eco-friendly change. For people that like to share books and other information sources they might have a hard time in doing so because of licensing issues. Also I feel that if these changes occur the price of texts will increase where it will be cheaper to just download instead of printing copies that will never be bought and we are seeing this beginning even in our own class where it was $30 for a hard copy of the text but only $10 for a download.

  6. Ian Pei says:

    The thing is, yes technology is vastly growing yet is still expensive as oppose to purchasing hard copies of books. Because people always want the latest product and the manufacturers are charging top dollar for them. Yes, it does make up for it over time, but in today’s economy and daily life, people have difficulty finding time to read. And depending on what type of technological product is purchased, it may be bulky or tedious to carry around because of the weight unless they purchase a product specially designed for eBooks. The problem with that is that everyone demands technology that has multiple purposes.
    Therefore, many people will still prefer to carry a small paperback novel because it does give a sense of comfort. And to know that one can get lost in a story without having to ruin their eyes with vivid lighting and stick with the traditional way of reading.

  7. darren732 says:

    Another thought is that as the generations go by those of us of the older generation in a way prefers books even though we are surrounded by the ease and convince of digital print. Today’s generations have been subsumed into the digital world of media and its ease of use. We are basically at a transitioning stage as personal readers and alternate digital media are introduced. Each generation going forward will prefer less the physical form of a book and will be introduced to the electronic form as the normal way of reading. Will there be a time when the physical form will not exist? Probably not but in the 20 years it may be in the form of a collector’s item instead.

  8. Liza says:

    I agree with Darren’s opinion on the possibility that 20 years from now, the physical versions of texts that exist today will become collector’s editions. With many publishing companies turning to digital media as a way of reaching out to new customers and retaining the current ones, it won’t be long until electronic books become the norm.

    In the meantime, physical books still have the advantage of being battery-free compared to the Kindle and Nook. They never require recharging and people don’t have to worry about how much battery life is remaining before their eReader shuts off on them. Until technology is able to improve that setback, I don’t think we’ll be seeing the end of books in physical format for a while.

  9. evortega says:

    In today’s society, there will always be enhancements to everything. Perhaps books will become extinct in the future. In my opinion, I would want to have a hard copy of the book rather than a digital copy. To me it’s much easier and more organized. I definitely agree with your post. Even though books kill trees, having the internet around is risky due to hackers and crash. Maybe one of these days the internet will be down and start a chaotic society. In the future, books will probably be converted to digital files and be kept in one library for organization. It has its pros and cons. Being like this can be very helpful, however, what if a hacker comes and cleans up everything? Society will hopefully be smart enough to make a copy of the files and store it in a safe place. So if the library is taken down, it can be rebuild again, but it could take a while.

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