Thanks for correcting me. I feel silly now. And no, the SUV did not kill the minivan.
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Will Tablets Kill Bookstores
- Thread starter Blakjack
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Thanks for correcting me. I feel silly now. And no, the SUV did not kill the minivan.
Intent wasn't to make you feel silly. And no they haven't killed them entirely yet.
to me i love the print book for it something that you get to touch and feel and smell of the paper as you hold the book in one hand and that is part of the reading experience of holding the book ..
now i do go more now for amazon to find my books i like for they seam to have a better selection of the titles and arthurs i like..
now i do go more now for amazon to find my books i like for they seam to have a better selection of the titles and arthurs i like..
Gwinnett County definitely doesn't seem to have any left. Redbox and Netflix killed the video store. It was really sad to see the local one I frequented go, but I honestly stopped going because I would forget to return the darn thing and pay twice as much after late fees. For about the same, I could get Netflix. I've got a disc here I've kept for three months. Maybe I should send it back. Anywho, I also have a plethora of streaming content at my disposal.
As far as e-readers killing bookstores, that's gonna take a while. You'll notice that iTunes and its competitors still haven't killed music stores. Hell, some people still like buying vinyl. But I do think stores that sell nothing but CDs are probably on their way out. If I can't find the digital tracks on iTunes or Amazon, I can almost always find the CD at Amazon. I did that recently for some soundtracks -- the two-disc albums for the Star Wars re-releases and Apollo 13, the Star Wars CDs at a huge discount over the digital versions -- and bought a few AC/DC CDs at Best Buy because I was tired of waiting on the group to join the 21st century.
The thing about books is how much difference there is between a physical book and an e-reader. The iPad and Kindle screens both have their positives and negatives, but there are some people who just like "the feel of a book in their hand." I honestly don't get that, but I can get people who say a book on paper is easier to read than on an LCD or e-Ink screen. I still plan on buying the second generation iPad to use as an e-reader plus other things, but every time I see the Kindle on display at Target I'm tempted to get it. If I had more disposable income I probably would have already because the screen is so much like ink on paper.
Alas, don't count on bookstores going out of business just yet. Casual readers aren't going to drop $100+ on a device when the paperbacks cost about the same. The publishers are still playing games with prices, and that is what will push people toward e-readers. iTunes jacked down the cost of buying music with cheap individual tracks and albums priced a couple of bucks cheaper than CDs. Digital video hasn't done the same because the prices are rarely competitive for what you get. I'm NOT paying anywhere near the price of a BD for a digital download that is lower video quality, compressed and can only be played on a big TV with a special box. Most everybody I know has jumped on the BD bandwagon, so I can transport those discs easily. I can't let people borrow digital movies, so no dice.
I love hardback books, but brick and mortar bookstores are really on the way out and replaced by ordering on the net. I buy more books from B&N and Amazon online than I do in real stores. Harvard Square in Cambridge Mas used to be a bookstore heaven, but now it's down to a very few. There are still a few really good bookstores, and I shop there for some things.
Where? Blockbuster gone - MovieTime gone - Video Time gone! No video stores where I live - just RedBox and BlockBuster machines.
Booksellers of REAL books will die roughly when movie theatres die, when TV sets die as people will no longer watch their entertainment on a TV set or play video games on a dedicated games console.
Reading a book on an iPad or a kindle whilst is technically reading is a million, billion,trillion miles away from the experience reading a REAL book.
also, ebooks are hideously overpriced and clearly aimed at those delusional enough to think they are actually buying a ' book ', and consequentially..are happy to pay those stupid prices.
I don't buy the argument about future generations growing up not knowing the difference between an ebook and a real book. kids in the future won't eat an ice cream flavoured substitute that has the same nutrients and taste as real ice cream but in a convenient , chewable tablet format just because it doesn't need a freezer or is easier to transport.
Whilst there is no denying that bricks and mortar bookstores are a thing of the past ( in the UK Borders declared bankruptcy and closed every single store last year), thats more to online sellers charging up to 60% less. As for blockbuster etc, movies are an entirely different animal to books. People tend to have a huge selection of movies on demand via cable, etc. I refuse to ever download a movie from itunes on principle alone.the cost of the download in the Uk is usually MORE than buying the dvd outright.
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Killed implies that nothing new is being manufactured in that particular format.
Beepers are still alive and used by doctors in hospitals.
Vinyl, CDs and DVDs are not dead, but 8 Tracks, VHS, cassettes, and Laser Discs are.
Minivans are still being produced, as are wagons. Both of which people think SUVs have killed.
However, there are a lot of formats that have been killed by newer formats.
On an aside, I always thought that had the timing been different, MP3s could have kept tapes and CDs relevant due to the ease of making mix tapes/discs.
Right. And if you're on vacation and damage your paperback how much will that cost you?
What makes you say that?, have you used a Kindle?. It's pretty damn close to a normal book reading experience, the text itself looks just like ink, what let's it down is whereas print has a white background you don't get that with a Kindle which is probably what makes it harder to read than a real book on overcast days. But if you have a nice sunny day it's ace, just as easy to view as print and far more convenient, a lot lighter a lot more comfortable, you can use it one handed you can rest it somewhere and not have to hold pages open like you do with print, ergonomically readers are far more comfortable than heavy hardbacks for example.
So I don't know why you would say they are a million miles away from reading a real book, yeah the readers themselves don't look and feel like print but I can't really call that a negative. While I'm guilty of spending far too much cash on fancy signed limited books it is the story itself that's important, not the medium it's delivered on.
I still buy and read more print than digital though, I have over a thousand unread print books to read which will take me forever to get through, plus living on the coast of England we get plenty of overcast days where the kindle isn't quite as easy to view as one of my print novels.
Going back to rental stores, in my town we have two rental stores (we still call them video shops ha), two bookshops for new books, a discount bookstore, a 2nd handbook store and a whole heap of charity shops that sell hundreds of books. Oddly enough we have nowhere that sells new DVDs.
Digital books will only hasten a death that was already well underway. The Borders closest to my house and the one closest to my office both closed early in 2010. It wasn't the Kindle or the iPad that killed them. It was Amazon.
Real books will never be phased out completely, but over time brick and mortar stores will likely go away and be replaced by on-line sources.
Real books will never be phased out completely, but over time brick and mortar stores will likely go away and be replaced by on-line sources.
In personal opinion, physical books are going to be sold less and less. DVDs are going to be sold less and less. Content will be delivered digitally increasingly, whether that content is books, tv shows, news, music, movies or games.
Another question is whether the publishing industry is going to survive at least as we know it. I suspect that it won't.
There will be fewer authors published. It will be like the music industry, which is just a shadow of what it was.
I don't think that iTunes will be the cause of this, but rather a solution to keeping some smaller version of the publishing industry alive.
The reason that the music, publishing (and maybe movie/tv) industries will shrink is (I feel) due to "free" downloading of copyrighted works.
Another question is whether the publishing industry is going to survive at least as we know it. I suspect that it won't.
There will be fewer authors published. It will be like the music industry, which is just a shadow of what it was.
I don't think that iTunes will be the cause of this, but rather a solution to keeping some smaller version of the publishing industry alive.
The reason that the music, publishing (and maybe movie/tv) industries will shrink is (I feel) due to "free" downloading of copyrighted works.
I don't think Tablets will kill Bookstores, but I do believe will make them smaller.
Example: The huge Books-A-Million Store at the Sawgrass Mall (Sunrise, Florida) is now a third (or maybe even less!) than what it used to be in the past.
Example: The huge Books-A-Million Store at the Sawgrass Mall (Sunrise, Florida) is now a third (or maybe even less!) than what it used to be in the past.
Uh you can't be serious right?
Way to give away your age
I don't know a single person who still reads comics. Nor do I know someone who knows someone. At least under the age of 50.... so, I don think there are many children looking as Comics on Christmas.Uh you can't be serious right?
Way to give away your age
My iPad has got me back into reading comics again, it's currently the best device on market for comic books.
The majority of people who buy books does not have a tablet.
Hard cover books are here to stay in the foreseeable future and even longer, easy as that.
We reach a population of 7 billion in 2011 (which means our population has doubled since 1960) and less than 50 million has an eBook Reader (highly optimistic number at that, pulled straight out of my buttocks).
Which means that much less than 1% of the worlds population currently owns an eBook Reader.
Hard cover books are here to stay in the foreseeable future and even longer, easy as that.
We reach a population of 7 billion in 2011 (which means our population has doubled since 1960) and less than 50 million has an eBook Reader (highly optimistic number at that, pulled straight out of my buttocks).
Which means that much less than 1% of the worlds population currently owns an eBook Reader.
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Bookstores are doomed, of course, as it the paper book, but it will take time. This is a generational shift. Kids will grow up with ebooks, and that's the end of it. They won't have the irrational love of the smell of paper books, but they will appreciate all that ebooks can do that paper books cannot do.
One brief example: Your parents always told you that when you didn't know a word you should put the book down, go to the dictionary, and look it up. Right, I didn't follow that advice either -- too much bother. But now with iBooks, that is what I do ALL THE TIME AND I LOVE DOING IT. A kid who gets used to dictionary lookups at the touch of a finger will hate the fact that paper books don't have this ability.
Another example: You are reading a novel and, about 2/3 through, some character appears whose name is familiar but you can't quite remember him. In iBooks you do a search for that name and right away you see previous sentences about him. Aha! That's who that is, and you keep on reading. A kid who gets used to full-text instant search at the touch of a finger will hate the fact that paper books don't have this ability.
And so on. ebooks trump paper books in so many ways their rise is inevitable. You just won't see people in this thread agreeing because they are of the generation that is used to paper books. Won't matter. History will move on and soon enough the historical blip that was the age of books will end, and the rise of ebooks will proceed.
Sez this lifelong reader who has now read more than 100 novels on an iPad, and I love it so much I'm getting rid of my paper books. I never want to read a paper book again. Ever.
One brief example: Your parents always told you that when you didn't know a word you should put the book down, go to the dictionary, and look it up. Right, I didn't follow that advice either -- too much bother. But now with iBooks, that is what I do ALL THE TIME AND I LOVE DOING IT. A kid who gets used to dictionary lookups at the touch of a finger will hate the fact that paper books don't have this ability.
Another example: You are reading a novel and, about 2/3 through, some character appears whose name is familiar but you can't quite remember him. In iBooks you do a search for that name and right away you see previous sentences about him. Aha! That's who that is, and you keep on reading. A kid who gets used to full-text instant search at the touch of a finger will hate the fact that paper books don't have this ability.
And so on. ebooks trump paper books in so many ways their rise is inevitable. You just won't see people in this thread agreeing because they are of the generation that is used to paper books. Won't matter. History will move on and soon enough the historical blip that was the age of books will end, and the rise of ebooks will proceed.
Sez this lifelong reader who has now read more than 100 novels on an iPad, and I love it so much I'm getting rid of my paper books. I never want to read a paper book again. Ever.
Uh you can't be serious right?
Way to give away your age
And I know plenty of people, of all ages who read comics.
So do I. BTW, several of them are over 30 years old sharing their hobby with their own little kids.
Not in my state. Some of the county libraries have been challenged these past several years but i use libraries weekly and all of our branches and main, both the city and the county ones, are busy. They have all integrated digital, both for data base and searching, self checkout, audio and video, state digital library which I'm using in addition to the physical books. All our libraries have banks of computers for patrons to use and they are constantly full. In addition they all have wifi and that is used quite a lot also.
I have a house full from top to bottom of books but I actually prefer to read on my Ipad. I will still buy photography and art books and other niche books like this which really need large format
good paper, outstanding printing but for my reading I will borrow from my digital library and buy those I can't find in the library. I'm hoping that some smart entrepreneur will come up with a rental library, ala Netflix. The issue, of course, is still the formats of each ereader (which is why I prefer the Ipad with my number of ereading apps) but seeing that Overdrive sorted it out with Adobe DRM books I bet its possible.
One of the posters above mentioned how B&N is devoting so much space to non books. I was in our local one yesterday and the whole front entrance was devoted to the Nook, both the kiosk to sell it and the tables and racks extending toward the right and the largish cafe with all sorts of accessories for the Nook. A very large amount of the floorspace has non book items though related. It is the last bookstore in my small city (but large buying area) except for a Christian bookstore. None in our malls now. I don't think books or bookstores will disappear for a long period of time but they are hurting. JoBeth closed in Charlotte and the quite large Borders is closing. There are a few independent small stores left there but not in my city an hour north. All will be downsizing I feel sure and struggling to find the right mix. People still take their laptops and Ipads and Nooks and sit in the B&N cafe and in all the lounge chairs so I do think people like the ambience of a bookstore.
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