Tuesday, July 6, 2010

More on Being Media Neutral

CUNY's Ann Kirschner ran an experiment reading Little Dorrit on four different platforms.  NPR reports on the results.

Now, personally I think the only thing that makes reading Dickens bearable is knowing that Thackeray's even worse (and I say that as an English major!), so I'm not sure that was the best test book. But it makes the point that physical books just aren't the be-all and end-all anymore, and the iPad is even more of a game-changer.

On a related note, I tried reading a book on my iPhone yesterday, using iBooks.  I hadn't done this before, as I just assumed the screen would be too small, since I can't read websites, etc. very well on it. What a surprise!  It was actually quite easy to read Pride and Prejudice--almost enjoyable, though you do turn the pages a lot.

And according to the Apple tech guy I was talking to the other day, it's an even better (read: crisper) experience on the iPhone 4, because of the retinal display.

2 comments:

  1. I first tried reading an e-book on my old Blackberry Pearl and was prepared to hate that tiny little screen. But it wasn't bad, and of course my iPhone screen is so much beter. I love having a whole library in my pocket. I need to talk my wife into getting me an iPad for my birthday :-)

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  2. Good luck with that! Clean up the kitchen for her a couple of times before mentioning it.... : )

    I've decided one great thing about all the books on my iPhone/iPad is I no longer have to have the "oh my gosh, what if I run out of something to read!?" panic that makes me overpack (very heavy) books whenever I'm on a a trip!

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