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.

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.

> You have ePub readers on Pc.

Again: for now. Who knows if those will stay updated to keep working?

> And there’s probably a way to get Sims 2 working. If nothing else there’s always a get Windows 7.

Believe me, I have tried. There are some people got it working, but none of their solutions worked on my computer. And even if you get it to work, it doesn’t mean it works well. There’s a gamer on youtube who played the Sims 2 recently, but it was pretty buggy. (And he plays games for a living, so I’m certain he spend time on getting it to work as best he could.)

And no, I’m not buying an old/extra computer to have a Windows 7 system just for one game. And even if I did, that computer would die on me eventually too.

Anything digital (that is dependant on something else to work) sadly just isn’t as long lasting as something analogous. Digital has its advantages of course, but longevity isn’t one of them.

For now.

But once your old reader is broken and some book files aren’t updated to work on newer readers, then you’ll have a problem.

Example: I have the Sims 2 and many expansions as discs. I have been unable to play it for many years now. The last Windows version they worked on (for me) was Windows 7. I don’t have a working computer with Windows 7 anymore. The game isn’t available in an updated form for either download or disc. I cannot ever play it anymore, just because my computer is too ‘new’. For such games there isn’t an analogue alternative as with books.