Fans of old-fashioned books, take heart! A study indicates that reading an e-book takes longer than reading the same book on paper.
The study, by usability expert Dr. Jakob Nielsen of the Nielsen Norman Group, a product-development consultancy, compared reading times on Amazon’s Kindle 2, Apple’s iPad using an iBooks application, a computer monitor, and a real book. The study found that the reading times of two dozen users was as much as 10.7 percent slower with the electronic versions.
Hemingway Stories
In a survey, a test group of two dozen would be extremely small, but, in usability studies, many researchers think two dozen — or fewer — can reveal the majority of issues.
All the selected users liked reading, and frequently read books. For the study, each read different short stories by Ernest Hemingway, and measurements were made on speed and comprehension. Comprehension was about equal on the four different platforms, but the stories on the iPad were read an average of 6.2 percent slower than on paper, and on the Kindle 2 about 10.7 percent slower. Reading speeds on the computer monitor were not provided.
The iPad, Kindle 2, and book were rated about equal for how well they were liked by users, although a printed book was judged more relaxing. All users liked reading off a monitor least of all, comparing it to being at work.
Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst with Forrester, said a study conducted in May by her firm found that people who like reading e-books still expect they will be reading regular books in the future.
Reading Books in a Year?
The Forrester survey of 4,200 consumers focused on users who read e-books on any available devices, including smartphones and laptops. The users were asked to imagine how they would be reading in a year. With e-book readers…