Impact of technology on books

With the advent of the internet, daily life has become easier as people can access everything online including books, however, it has impacted the business units associated with selling books in stores.

The technology advent has largely impacted the sale and purchase of hard versions of books in the stores as people, especially the new generation, prefer Portable Document Format (PDF) and E-book versions, as these are easily available and accessible to everyone in this age of technology.

Talking with The Kashmir Magazine, Sheikh Aijaz, owner of famous book store Gulshan Books in Srinagar said that in this era of information technology, bookstores have been greatly affected because today's generation prefer Portable Document Format (PDF) and E-book the most.

He said that the advent in technology and information is beneficial for everyone, however, at the same time it has largely affected the business of book stores selling hard copy versions, as people especially, the younger generation prefer to read books online and have PDF format of the books.

“People would visit book stores, look for books and also see what kind of content books have and would choose from a variety of options, but now people do it by sitting in their cozy rooms, as everything is available online,” he said.

He, however, said that elderly people still prefer to buy hard copies of books. “We used to publish hard copies only, but now we have started to publish E-books from this year onwards so that people can choose from both the options,” he said.

He also said that some children also prefer to buy hard copies of books and that they have made available a lot of facilities in their book stores, which is publishing books across Jammu and Kashmir.

“People who prefer to buy books from our store can avail a lot of facilities as they are able to see the contents of the book and other details, which are not available online. We are now making E-books available from this year as well,” he said.

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