Eyokiha t1_iwnww29 wrote on November 17, 2022 at 1:01 AM

Reply to comment by MindlessRanger in Digital Books wear out faster than Physical Books - Internet Archive Blogs by koavf

I never said ‘wear and tear’, so I don’t see how your argument about that is relevant.

I just said that if something is digital doesn’t mean it’ll last forever. Epub files, games, etc. all require other software to be used. When that necessary software gets deprecated, such digital things are effectively lost. Sometimes people figure out ways around that (e.g. emulators), but that won’t always be the case (especially with lesser known stuff).

A physical book may degrade over time, but as long as you keep it safe, we’re talking about many many lifetimes, rather than the years until the newest update will fuck something up.

MindlessRanger t1_iwnzcu7 wrote on November 17, 2022 at 1:21 AM

>When that necessary software gets deprecated, such digital things are effectively lost

No, this was the whole point of my comment. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t get updates or isn’t supported anymore. The software will keep working forever if you provide it with the same environment.

No one is holding you at a gunpoint to update your software, you can also always install old versions if it comes to that. The digital book itself is fine as long as you keep it safe.

Also, try reading more than one sentence into the comment before responding. I’ve written the exact same thing in the previous comment, but I presume you stopped reading after deeming it ‘not relevant’.

Eyokiha t1_iwp0e8g wrote on November 17, 2022 at 7:09 AM

You’re not reading my comments correctly.

> The software will keep working forever if you provide it with the same environment.

Theoretically, yes, obviously. The problem is that it not always easy or possible. If all gameboys are broken and no one with the skill takes the effort to create an emulator, it doesn’t matter that the game is still there. That’s why I said effectively lost.

> No one is holding you at a gunpoint to update your software, you can also always install old versions if it comes to that.

Again: theoretically yes. But effectively no.

I hardly find it a proper argument to claim that you can just not update. Like with an iPad, if you don’t update for too long certain apps will stop working because they force you to have a minimum ios version. And you can’t just install an older version of everything.