bored.
Lately there have been several new useful additions to technology: iPod (love love love), hybrids, tablet PCs, sex bots, Barnes and Nobles’ nook, Sony Reader, Amazon Kindle, and the latest Apple Ipad. The latter are great innovations in digital media, and very green as I am sure trees are being saved as fewer pages are printed and shipped. However I have to wonder: will literacy suffer with the advent of digital reading? Don’t get me wrong, I love to read; however the idea of shelling out several hundred bucks for a screen and access to books does not inspire me. I prefer to peruse the bargain section or a used book store to find my gems for less than ten bucks. As both publishers and authors realize they can distribute their media without wasting any money on cover art and paper will books become obsolete? As consumers discover they can browse the digital shelves from the comfort of their domicile wi-fi network, will the book stores fade into oblivion like our once beloved record stores? If I buy a Reader instead of a Kindle will I miss the next classic because I'm on the wrong book server? Call me sentimental but I miss afternoons spent thumbing through racks of CDs with the luxury of trading my old used for something new and exciting, it was fulfilling to trek down to the store the after waiting weeks or months for my favorite artist’s latest release, these days music stores seem more like museums. Now my music preordered on iTunes and forgotten until it hits the download cue. They say history repeats itself, I think I see the impending gloomy future our beloved Book Nook’s and Barnes and Nobles. The store front of the record store where I used to work still sits vacant on the busiest intersection of my town-- a sad, dusty reminder of what once was, and a gripping reluctance to completely let it go. It has been interesting to watch how the transition to digital media has played out in the music industry I wonder how it will treat publishing? As I mentioned before, I worked in a record store and we sure didn't go down without a fight, we too attempted the transition from a glossy storefront to an indispensable online haven. (see feedyourplayer.com). The Digital age has made music readily accessible and easily stolen and has led to an interesting online "indie-ish" music subculture as artists scramble to find ways to make money and listeners wrangle them for their hard work disappointed when their favorites admit that they are here to make money. I never forgave Metallica for what they did to Napster in 2000. It is hard to imagine literature transforming like music. As a hobby that takes a lot more time and effort to enjoy it is hard to imagine eReaders going viral like iPods and MP3 players. To the youth in America, reading was already less 'cool' than music with the exception of the Harry Potter and Twilight craze. While it has become popular to compare and share MP3 libraries, it is just hard to imagine kids comparing their Kindle cue lists on the ride home from school. It will be sad to see the hip bookstore clerk and coffee shop crowd image fade into history. I'm worried about the future of the literature industry as books become digitized and inevitably pirated or forgotten. So I guess the best we can do is encourage people to get cozy with their Kindle and try not to miss the feel of a crispy turning page, sexy cover art, the weight of a new hardback, the bliss of a cheap find, or the aroma of new ink and paper. Good-bye bookstores and paperback, hello wifi and polarized pneumatic liquid crystal display.
No comments:
Post a Comment