How to Survive the Next Wave of Technology Extinction

New York Times ^ | 02/13/2014 | Farhad Manjoo

[Vaduz]

Book are collectables e-readers are a sos that will die over time.

[Sans-Culotte]

My wife has an IPAD, it almost never gets used anymore. She also has a desktop and my son has a laptop.

I have an iPad 1 that I have used for several years. Most of my reading is still done with books, as I read a lot of non-fiction history stuff with maps, etc. However, I do have a lot of books on my iPad that can be read with the Kindle, Nook or iBooks apps. I also read digital comic books on it. I like the iPad for comics because it is almsot the size of a regular comic book. I also use if for most of my surfing like you do with your Kindle. I can surf in bed, sitting ouside enjoying a cigar, etc.

[grania]

buy a turntable and some records

Don't forget to buy a stash of needles that are compatible with that turntable. <^..^>

[reformedliberal]

I have found many older books already falling apart. Bindings dry out, pages become brittle and foxed, cover boards warp. Paperbacks decay faster. Store them in an outbuilding and they will mold.

All my eBooks are also online and I can access them even when my Kindle is not working because I spilled coffee on it. If I once bought a paper book from Amazon, I can now also download a digital copy for free.

I buy thrift shop and clearance books now so I have something to read in the tub and pool, where I cannot take my eReader. I then give them to someone else or toss them.

I was once avidly pro-dead tree and lukewarm on digital. Now, it has reversed.

It is just the same process I went through with writing. I will never willingly go back to a typewriter, even a *smart* one. Even if I could still find ribbons for them. I love word processors. They are superior to every other form of writing and I have been writing for 60 years. I can barely even read the handwritten things from way back when. Not just due to the handwriting, the paper has decayed.

[dangerdoc]

Would you take your computer to the beach?

Right tool for the job I say. A kindle paperwhite fits in cargo pocket shorts, doesn’t mind a little sand and is perfectly readable in full sun, even if you are wearing polarized glasses.

The only device I have not found a purpose for are general use tablets, I have another device that does what ever function better.

[zeugma]

I've had a nook color since they first came out. As an electronic book, it works really well. I've liked it and been really pleased how it has held up over the years. On the other hand, I just got a new tablet, and it wasn't a Nook HD. Why? Well, I wanted it to have more capabilities, than just being a book. Also, my old nook couldn't read kindle books. At all. The only way to get the kindle app installed on my nook was to root the thing, and all the hassels that entails. So, when I was looking at upgrading, I could have purchased a Nook HD, because from what I understand, it does allow you to install the Kindle app.

The main reason I didn't is because I just don't have a whole lot of faith that B&N is going to be supporting this device even just 3 years from now. Who the hell knows what will happen to the online store, and the books I've purchased there? Fortunately, the "encryption" on the Nook epubs is trivial to crack, so I've been able to convert all my purchases to epubs that can be read on any device, so I won't lose anything if they decide to pull the plug on the nook or the nook app. (BTW, the nook app doesn't work worth a damn on my new tablet).

If anyone is looking for a Nook Color that's in great shape, freepmail me. :-)

[S.O.S121.500]

You need to move to Arizona. We never change our clocks because the world is always on OUR time...

---

DST is just a tool to herd sheeple .....

[hattend]

I got a Sony Reader so I sympathize with Nook owners.

[PieterCasparzen]

Personally for me, regardless of “where”, I only have use for a whole, normal computer.

I could buy a “ruggedized” computer if I was going to be in the mud, sand, snow, etc. But I don’t have use for that.

I don’t want a special purpose ‘puter. All I do is program and surf the web for programing and some other tings like news, weather, FR, reading stuff.

I also can’t stand small screens and I need a full keyboard, so to me the netbook size is as tiny as I can go.

just me, tho.

[Terry L Smith]

Dear PieterCasparzen,

The article devoted itself to the devices used and sold to read books, only.

I retorted in kind. An electronic device to read digitized print is by no means a BOOK! They have a shelf life of a battery, in that the market moves onto the next ‘reading gadget’, leaving you and your device in the dust, in the time for an AA battery, these days, to lose power.

I don’t care about your ipad. I won’t spend the money on one. I am a retired journalist of the printed word, and a published short story writer, first draft in ink. I was first published in 1964.

(*) Yes, my question was a serious one. Books cannot discharge their nonexistent electrical supply; fall, break and shatter the life of the human from whose hands it slipped, and memories gone; books cannot be superceded - ask any Christian, Jew, or insane Mohammedan, but not a Jehovah’s Witness - in their confusion, they thought it better to write their own, therefore fallable.

Good night!

I was doing fine without a (*) smartphone, until the phone company dropped the sort of signal I was using to communicateErgo, that was my ‘battery life experience’.

[paudio]

Nook HD+ is a good product, especially if you don’t need anything with camera. Check its specification, and compare that with other tablets. You wont find anything better with its screen size and resolution. Note I only talk about HD+, not the regular B&W Nook. B&N decided to focus themselves on the book-side of the business rather than on the technological side. They will still have Nook but will have somebody else made it for them. And it’s not the first time a good product becomes victim of bad company policy.

[GeronL]

Someone needs to figure a way to install Linux on it. lol

[PieterCasparzen]

Sorry if that sounded like I was “anti-book”, which I’m not.

I had to trace back here to figure out who was replying to what (after getting some sleep).

Yes, I’m with you - I included you on my post #39 to support you !

My personal feeling is books are always there, as you say. Then, when it comes to ‘puters, I want full control over any machine that I buy.

[Fire_on_High]

Calibre lets you strip DRM, make backups, restore to device, convert formats. Very useful app.

[Terry L Smith]

Dear PieterCasparzen.
(Every time, since the 1980’s version of “Dune” made the screen, I hear ‘Pieter’ and i get that guy with those huge eyebrows in mind.)

As you wrote:
“Sorry if that sounded like I was “anti-book”, which I’m not.

I had to trace back here to figure out who was replying to what (after getting some sleep).

Yes, I’m with you - I included you on my post #39 to support you !

My personal feeling is books are always there, as you say. Then, when it comes to ‘puters, I want full control over any machine that I buy.”

Thank you, and I agree, on computer/laptop/tablet full control.
.