Future of Digital Books Lies with Babies, Boomers

Yahoo News ^ | Sun Sep 14,10:45 AM ET | Franklin Paul

[discostu]

I've got about 200, I didn't used to listen to them but then my wife got me a new turner, now I listen to them a lot. LPs are great, I listen to LPs at home and save the CDs for in the car, there's something about the tactile sensation of an LP that no other format will ever be able to compete with, I think that's why they're holding on and maybe even coming back with the hardcore music junkies. If there's a music format that will die it's cassettes, worse art presentation than CDs, worse sound than LPs, no amount of care can make them age well (eventually the glue holding that spongy thing in place dies no matter how careful you are), and no convenient way to sellect individual songs.

There is a lot of cool stuff already here, but my car doesn't fly and I don't have a jetpack, and because of that I'll never trust technology and social predictions.

[RightWingAtheist]

I will NEVER give up on traditional books. I was an "early reader," who was reading on a kindergarten level when I was three, and on the high school level when I was seven, and books are something I hold too dear to ever forsake for something else. I worked at a library for nearly eight years, and when I moved to the States, I had to leave my prized paperback collection behind with my parents. Fortunately, there are TWO used bookstores where I live (in Minneapolis's Dinkytown district), so I'm not going hungry.

[Age of Reason]

Textbooks are an ideal first market for e-books. They're heavy,

Carrying around all that weight is good exercise.

they're expensive

OMG, are you ever right about that!

New books in general are costly enough--but textbooks are a real racket--I suspect the people selling those books probably make more than most of the people who buy them ever will.

Criminal. Scandalous.

and you only need them for a short time

Imagine: some of the most expensive books any of us ever own--and they are not worth holding on to.

Something's wrong.

e-text is searchable.

Probably bad for students--makes it easier for them to cheat themselves out of learning by zeroing in on just what they need for an assignment, without bothering about the rest.

(Though I confess, I haven't much respect for much of what is passing for education these days--since most diplomas are really nothing more than proof to future employers that the holder is willing to obey and perform endless drudgery to be rewarded in the end by the mythical corporate carrot. Education that is really worth something, does not need a diploma: of itself, it empowers.)

[Mad Dawgg]

"Education that is really worth something, does not need a diploma: of itself, it empowers.)"

"If you want a degree, go to college. If you want an education, go to the library!" -- Paul Henry Gettles

[js1138]

No amount of care can preserve vinyl. The plastic depends on solvents for flexibility. Even if you never play them they will deteriorate. Even faster if you do play them.

Vinyl never lost its following among the devoted. Personally I hated it even when it was the best thing available. I hated the clicks and pops, I hated the distortion on loud passages. Most of my collection is classical. All the limitations of vinyl are at their worst on classical.

[discostu]

Vinyl might die in the long run, but that's a much longer run than cassettes can last.

Vinyl has it's problems but the physical act of lowering the rocker arm is so much more satisfying than pushing a button.