Comments on: Books are dead. http://www.stevecooper.org/2007/12/19/books-are-dead/ Programming, writing, programming about writing. Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:56:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Steve Cooper » Blog Archive » Books are Dead 2. http://www.stevecooper.org/2007/12/19/books-are-dead/#comment-22 Steve Cooper » Blog Archive » Books are Dead 2. Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:08:40 +0000 http://www.stevecooper.org/2007/12/19/books-are-dead/#comment-22 <p>[...] Steve Cooper Programming, writing, programming about writing. « Books are dead. [...]</p> [...] Steve Cooper Programming, writing, programming about writing. « Books are dead. [...]

]]> By: Colin Ameigh http://www.stevecooper.org/2007/12/19/books-are-dead/#comment-21 Colin Ameigh Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:22:24 +0000 http://www.stevecooper.org/2007/12/19/books-are-dead/#comment-21 <p>Virgin may be gone, but the Zavvi stores are still there in the same place - and Zavvi wouldn't have bought the business if their model didn't show profit it in.</p> <p>I don't think CD stores or book stores will disappear. Become smaller perhaps, appeal to a smaller consumer market definately - much in the same way as there are still music shops selling vinyl.</p> <p>People said the same things quite some years ago about all offices becoming "paperless" due to computers. Some offices are now paperless - but I've never had the good fortune to work in one. Too many people like having actual paper in their hands.</p> <p>Schoolkids will be a big driver in electronic readers sales - but it won't help the schools - struggling schools that have trouble finding money for book budgets, if they went over to readers they'd struggle even more to replace stolen/broken readers than they would to have enough textbooks for one each.</p> Virgin may be gone, but the Zavvi stores are still there in the same place - and Zavvi wouldn’t have bought the business if their model didn’t show profit it in.

I don’t think CD stores or book stores will disappear. Become smaller perhaps, appeal to a smaller consumer market definately - much in the same way as there are still music shops selling vinyl.

People said the same things quite some years ago about all offices becoming “paperless” due to computers. Some offices are now paperless - but I’ve never had the good fortune to work in one. Too many people like having actual paper in their hands.

Schoolkids will be a big driver in electronic readers sales - but it won’t help the schools - struggling schools that have trouble finding money for book budgets, if they went over to readers they’d struggle even more to replace stolen/broken readers than they would to have enough textbooks for one each.

]]> By: psammead http://www.stevecooper.org/2007/12/19/books-are-dead/#comment-19 psammead Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:11:31 +0000 http://www.stevecooper.org/2007/12/19/books-are-dead/#comment-19 <p>I can think of a couple of reasons books won't go that way (for me at least). Firstly a book has aesthetic value - I look at my bookshelves and they're covered in books with lovely art on the covers, and having a physical library is just so much more satisfying than a reader would ever be. Secondly there's the psychological effects. I find it much more difficult to concentrate on long texts on screen than on paper, maybe technology will find something that's more similar, but I'm not convinced it'll do it for me in the same way :-) Lastly it's quite hard to accidentally destroy an entire collection of books. MP3 players, on the other hand, I lose/destroy at the the rate of approximately 2 a year. This is an expensive habit and means I always have to make sure I have my music backed up in several places. A book won't run out of batteries halfway through a train journey, nor will its screen crack when I carelessly bash into a gate. Books for me have a sentimental value that CDs have never had - possibly because a book is a visual experience, while music is aural. It doesn't matter what form my music comes in, as long as I can hear it, but reading a book is a less passive form of entertainment. You interact with the medium of a story far more than you ever will with a tune (in a physical manner) and therefore it's going to be far more important how it's contained.</p> I can think of a couple of reasons books won’t go that way (for me at least). Firstly a book has aesthetic value - I look at my bookshelves and they’re covered in books with lovely art on the covers, and having a physical library is just so much more satisfying than a reader would ever be. Secondly there’s the psychological effects. I find it much more difficult to concentrate on long texts on screen than on paper, maybe technology will find something that’s more similar, but I’m not convinced it’ll do it for me in the same way :-) Lastly it’s quite hard to accidentally destroy an entire collection of books. MP3 players, on the other hand, I lose/destroy at the the rate of approximately 2 a year. This is an expensive habit and means I always have to make sure I have my music backed up in several places. A book won’t run out of batteries halfway through a train journey, nor will its screen crack when I carelessly bash into a gate. Books for me have a sentimental value that CDs have never had - possibly because a book is a visual experience, while music is aural. It doesn’t matter what form my music comes in, as long as I can hear it, but reading a book is a less passive form of entertainment. You interact with the medium of a story far more than you ever will with a tune (in a physical manner) and therefore it’s going to be far more important how it’s contained.

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