Re: OT -- Because...

On Sat, 08 Dec 2007 21:49:56 GMT, Sikora Family <chasjspam@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Ken Cashion wrote:
...this is an international forum and I respect the judgment of so
many of you here -- on so many varied subjects -- I have a personal
question.


Perhaps many, many people are reading on-line and I don't know it
because I am so far out of the loop.

Ideas?
Opinions?
Suggestions?

No money is involved. Something more valuable than money is...time.

Ken, kid trying to learn a trade.

Three observations:

1. We are a (relatively) older group. My bet would be that we would
skew to paper based on that fact alone.

2. My personal preference is still to read books (and magazines). I
just find it more enjoyable to not be tethered to my computer.

3. Print is immune to technological obsolescence. Try reading that file
you save to 5 1/4 inch floppy disk. Or even that 3 1/2. None of the
computers in my house has a floppy drive. I can read every book I ever
bought or received, including those from my childhood. What will we do
in 100 years when we want to look at the media that is current now? It
will be an esoteric and limited pool that have "vintage" hardware that
can still access that information.


This misses the point of elctronic reading. Nobody ever said people
would be reading books from floppies. What's going to happen is: you
will download books to a wireless device about the size of a paperback
book - or whatever size you want. Maybe the size of an iPhone... You
will eaither download whole books and read them at your leisure, or
you'll download page by page as you need them.

The fact is, books are as doomed as photo film. People laughed at me
back in the 80's when I started saying that photo film was going to
die. They laughed when I said vinyl records and cassette tapes were
history. And people laugh now when I say that books are doomed.

But check this out:

http://tinyurl.com/2oh8yy

This is just the beginning. What's going to happen fairly soon is
that you'll see these book-sized wireless devices that feel and weigh
about the same as a paperback book. They will have a reading surface
that looks just like paper (better - they will be in color and they
will have moving pictures and sound), you'll be able to zoom in on
pictures, search the book's text, hyperlink to other publications,
read them in the dark on a lighted screen, all sorts of great stuff.

And here's the ultimate reason that books are doomed - one of these
devices will contain EVERY BOOK EVER PUBLISHED - in any language, ever
in history - on demand, any time you want it, at your fingertips. The
Library of Congress in your pocket. If the "feel" of a book is
actually important, then these devices will "feel" like books.
Whatever reason you can think of to prefer paper books (I can carry
them with me, read them in the bathtub, etc.) will be dealt with. The
devices will be waterproof, lightweight, compact, etc.

But make no mistake, these devices are coming, and then paper books
will be as useful and interesting as 78rpm records, 120 roll film and
telegraph messages. Sure, those things will still exist, but mostly
as historical curiosities and niche market collectors items.

And if you don't believe me, you're probably still using those
disposable 35-mm film cameras from the drugstore and paying to get
your pictures developed.





.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Rambling: the info (+ experiment on reader reaction)
    ... into writing her version of their stories. ... normal and nothing to object to for the characters, ... the fun of reading is the discovery. ... I come to books wanting to enjoy them. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)
  • Re: As a matter of interest
    ... or reading the thread started by spinoza1111 might get some insights ... corporation shifted from producing academically respectable books such ... have an appropriate newsgroups line in your header for your mail to be seen, ...
    (comp.lang.c.moderated)
  • Re: How Our Brains Ignore Unpleasant Facts was: Re: The Reasonable
    ... point to your posts that you consider to be most Christlike, ... but either you're not reading what you claim to be reading or ... Biology readings would include two college level text books, ... History includes Barzun's Dawn to Decadence, ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Failure Is Always An Option (LONG)
    ... reading lists customized based on the kid's grade level and test ... books are suitable for their lowest-scoring students. ... Let's now talk about average public high school students, ...
    (rec.audio.opinion)
  • Re: OT -- Because...
    ... Does anyone here set aside time to spend reading on-line? ... I read quite a few physical books but I also do read online... ... between screens etc. ...
    (rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic)