E-BOOK

Text topic: Studies

Text author: Соња Оцић

Unlike many texts written in the past two decades about the end of the printed book, this paper deals with the end of e-books. The latest reports of big losses in electronic publishing show that printed books have taken precedence again, which seems to hold ground. However, ups and downs in e-publishing have been happening before: the initial optimism from the beginning of the 90s has been replaced by serious doubts, followed by launching of the Kindl reader that gave e-books precedence over printed versions. In contrast to this rather unstable situation on the market, the appearance of e-books has caused more controversy and future predictions than any other new medium before them. Many have predicted the end to the printed books and thus the end to an entire civilization, others have announced digital culture as a whole new way of life. Only some of them hesitated to call the changes revolutionary and most agreed that e-books have many advantages over the printed ones. Will anyone dare to predict anything now?