Kindle Sales Rank

Why do e-books take longer to read?

Amazon recently announced that Kindle sales have tripled and twice as many e-books are selling as their hardcover counterparts. iPad appears set to become a strong contender in the electronic book market and so does Barnes & Noble with the Nook.

E-books have substantially improved since the days of reading from a computer monitor. Nevertheless, people still prefer to curl up to a real book. Not a reader.

The general consensus among consumers is that reading electronic books is difficult, which has kept sales down over the last several years. Some people refuse to read ebooks because the strain to read print against a backlit screen is a daunting task, not a pleasurable past time.

Nielsen Norman Group, a usability consulting firm, conducted a study suggesting that e-books take more time to read than print. Nielsen timed twenty-four participants while they read various short stories by Ernest Hemingway. They read from print, the Kindle, an iPad, and a PC.

A Nielsen spokesperson stated that during the test, “participants simply sat quietly and read, the way most people do at home. We provided comfortable easy chairs to emulate the typical reading experience with a tablet.”

When reading from the PC, however, participants sat at a computer, similar to an office setting.

The test results showed that even though the users ranked their overall satisfaction higher with e-readers than hardbound books, they read the books faster.

Supporting data concluded that, “The iPad measured at 6.2% lower reading speed than the printed book, whereas the Kindle measured at 10.7% slower than print.”

Participants liked using the e-readers even though they did admit they felt more relaxed reading printed books. They also claimed the iPad felt heavy and they disliked Kindle’s grey-on-gray screen.

Being able to read comfortable was a key factor in the participants’ ability to concentrate.

Another issue of reading impediment, not brought up in the study, could be that the general design of e-readers display only one page at a time. When reading a book with a two page view, readers have grown accustomed to letting their eyes scan ahead, thereby speeding up the reading process.

The essential problem may be that people are simply used to reading real books and haven’t yet adapted to digital alternatives.

Whatever the reason behind e-book’s reading barrier, publishers and tech corporations will hopefully use this information to improve e-readers and create an enjoyable reading experience that better simulates what we are already used to.

Source:
Nielsen, J. (2010, July 2). ipad and kindle reading speeds. Retrieved from
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/ ipad-kindle-reading.html

 

 

About the Author

Jeannie Corona is an artist, writer, and researcher with over 20 years experience.

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