Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts

Thursday, September 23, 2010

The Digital Age and the Death of Books Continues

On Monday I wrote an article wondering if the digital age would be the death of books.

Just now I turned on CNN and they were talking to Stephen King. They asked him if  he thought books would go all digital. It sounded like he thinks they will but he didn't want to say it out loud. He did say the futures going to be what the futures going to be. He also said that if you drop a book in the toilet you can fish it out, dry it off and read it. If you drop your Kindle in the toilet your done. I hadn't thought of that one.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Is The Digital Age Going To Be The Death Of Book Stores & Libraries?

I just read an article about Barnes and Noble. The article said the companies market value dropped under a billion dollars, due to being squeezed by Amazon and Walmart.  The share holders are fighting, they are talking of selling the store, all the sounds of a company going down.

All this made me wonder once again with all the new digital items; Kindles, Readers, IPods and such, if some day in the near future there will be no new books.

I guess it would be good for the trees, I get that they are lighter to carry around. You can press a few buttons and instantly have a new or old book to read. I imagine at some point there will be a digital copy of every book ever printed. I get it. I'm a computer geek.

But I love my books. I look at the walls of my house, lined with bookshelves, loaded with books. They look good. I don't know what it is, I love the look of floor to ceiling books. I love book stores and libraries. Maybe it's just another geek thing. But I love my books.

I don't own a reading device. I've considered getting one from time to time. I think if I'm going to pay say $10 for a book, I want the book. Kind of like a back up copy. Its the same with music downloads.  I could probably count on one hand the number of music downloads I've paid for. I buy the CD. Maybe its just that I want to see what I'm paying for, to know that I got something for my money.

If there are no books, why would you need bookstores and libraries? You just need a website. There will be nearly no human interaction. Okay that could be a whole other topic. LOL

What do you think? Hardback or reading device? What's your preference? Do you think books will soon be a thing of the past?