eBook, eMag, eNewspaper - What Will Be The Difference?

 In the digital age, it's getting harder and harder to define exactly what a book is.

Is it the physical item you hold, that has a front cover and a back cover and has a satisfying heft to it in your hand? Is it full of wonderful text and in some cases like non-fiction and picture books, illustrations, photography or some sort of artwork?

What makes that different to a magazine then? What makes it different to a newspaper? There is a big difference between physical books, magazines and newspapers, but with eReaders, tablets and the Ipad and all of the above texts so readily available on these devices nowadays, what really does make the difference between a magazines, newspaper or book?


The lines blur as eMagazines are essentially just like eNewspapers, as are illustrated non-fiction books and picture books.

Without the physical item to hold and the difference between a novel, magazine and newspaper made obvious through their shape, texture and feel, perhaps one day, when the print industry has (GRIM PREDICTION ALERT) folded, there won't be such definitions. Perhaps one day everything will just be "a text".

What do you think? Do you think this will be a good thing or a bad thing for the future? The "everything will be just be called a text" part, I mean. Yikes, the end of the print industry is another matter altogether.

Sairz