Books, Audiobooks and E-books

I have found among my fellow readers certain people who hold e-books in disdain. These individuals perhaps felt the same about audio books in the past, maybe not. E-books just stir up controversy for some reason. I understand, really I do. If you love books, and I do, they are like little friends or family members. I not only love to read them but to smell them, rustle the pages absentmindedly,feel the weight of them in my hand as I carry them around with me. If you had told me before I had children that I'd ever listen to a book on audio instead of read it from an actual book-I'd have laughed in your face. But I do, often this is the only way that I get to "read". Many, many times I have waited all day to read a favorite book and then fallen asleep after a couple pages. Or the opposite, I'd shut myself away to finish my book while dishes piled up and the kids wrecked the living room. So I've been comfortable with audio books for a while now. E-books? Not so much. Anne Rice once asked her readers if they thought e-books would ever completely take the place of "real books", the very question shocked me. Why? I mean it's a valid thought, and looking towards the future it may happen someday. But this was in my pre-IPod days and I just couldn't understand choosing a hard metal device to read from when you could choose a flexible page rustling book. I wouldn't have chosen an e-book for tactile reasons alone.

But...now that I have an IPod I can see the merit of e-books. I can't always get to the library as often as I'd like-sometimes I'd be stuck between new books and just re-read what I had at home. I have two IPod/IPhone apps that help me out during these times. Stanza and Audiobooks Premium. Stanza was a free app the Audiobook is available as a free app if you are ok with just listening to a live stream of the book at home. I like the ability to download the books and listen to them when I walk, so opted for the premium app, which was ether $.99 or $1.99(I will definitely check on this). For me e-books and audio books are just really convenient. There are times when I'm stuck somewhere and though I might not have a book with me, I always have my IPod, it's an instant library at my fingertips. I am currently reading Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" on my Stanza at night and listening to "Wives and Daughters" on audio book.

Will ebooks ever replace real books though, really? I certainly hope not. A flip through my bible this past Sunday reminded me of how much I still love real books. I also have a bible app on my IPod(you may not be surprised to hear) and this is what usually use. It's quick, if I need to find a verse I scroll down a list of the books of the bible, click on the book I need, scroll down the list of chapters and I'm there. It's a little less embarrassing then the standard everyone waiting for me to find the book and then chapter..and "what verse was that again? " that I went through before I had the app. But this last Sunday I was running late and my IPod had died during the night so I just grabbed my bible instead. It was refreshing, rustling through the ear marked pages spotting the passages I had underlined in pen or highlighted in faded neon yellow. It made me feel more..human, if that makes sense? I can highlight in my bible app too but you never fall on these passages accidentally, you go to your highlighted verse folder and find them in there. It kinda takes the surprise out of the whole process. And what about libraries and book stores? No, I don't see an end to real books in the near future anyway. Rather I see more options in how we get our reading fix, that can't be a bad thing. But if you ever do think about shunning real books watch "The Book of Eli", it'll make you stock some away just in case.