I hate that books are being overtaken by e-books. I personally like a book in my hand, but my husband loves his kindle. Progress....
I get ALL my fiction at garage sales. Heck I even got my SQL SERVER 2008 book at a garage sale.
I do think the book stores are going to go the way of the CD stores though. And the Video Rental stores.
Mrs. 2ndDivisionVet loves her Kindle, but I’m old school.
As some sage once said "The reading of a book is just the start of a relationship with it."
I hate e books, the wife offered to get me a kindle for my birthday I told her “please don’t”
the reason I like books is because they are portable do not require batteries or powercords and if I like it I can give it to a friend and share it.
What’s killing Barnes and Noble are places like Half-Price Books.
I hope not. I love to read, I love to curl up on my bed with my dog with a good, old-fashioned page turner, and when I’m done, I like to pass it on to someone else who will also enjoy.
I spend a lot of time reading on the net during the day, but at some point, I want to turn off the monitor and read old school style.
The writer is taking one chain’s failure as the proof of the end of print.
Ain’t gonna happen. Book sales are doing very well, and people like reading books.
I seem to recall how television was going to destroy movies, too. Fifty years later, I still see these movie theaters around here and there, and the industry is doing quite well—especially since television sets are sources of most of their income these days.
I doubt it (@ the title). I think enough people prefer physical books that bookstores will keep going. Book sales are not like movie rentals where you don’t expect to keep the content (which makes it easier to settle for a more ephemeral delivery mechanism). E-books are for portability, and are, I expect, a parallel market to physical books.
And I own a Kindle.
I won't be going back there again soon. It has only been about 6 years since my last visit.
The checkout system is ridiculous.
The woman with the widest ass ever known to man held up the slowest check out person ever.
Going Cyber, 100 per cent.
I am all done with such archaic transactions as are done at the B&N store.
I recently read a Stuart Woods book on my iPhone with the e-reader from B&N. While it was generally a good experience, I guess I still prefer the tactile effects of the weight of the book and turning the pages. I don’t see me spending the money for a dedicated reader device like the Kindle. My wife and I enjoy making a date out a trip to the bookstore and getting coffee.
I just got a Barnes and Noble eReader (The Nook). That may have been a mistake. Oh well.
Got the iPad, and love reading books with it. At 1.5 lbs I have 50+ movies, 2,200 songs, a couple dozen books, 2,000 pictures and 80 various applications.
What amazed me (and I’m an engin-nerd) is the resolution of E-Ink. It’s utterly amazing how good it looks at 40x and even 400x magnification. Where the iPad is just some pixels, the E Ink looks like a magnification of a printed page.
Given near zero distribution costs, zero freight costs, zero manufacturing costs, zero storage costs, zero shelf-space, zero damage from the elements and the fact that my Amazon account can be created on a number of computers, iPhones, iPads and laptops - with each resource tracking the last page I read - ebooks are going to take over in a very big way.
At the end of the day, the important thing is that we are reading and expanding our minds. Whether paper, E Ink or iPads - the medium is really unimportant.
ML/NJ
Free Source for mobile device e-books:
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
Project Gutenberg is the place where you can download over 33,000 free ebooks to read on your PC, iPad, Kindle, Sony Reader, iPhone, Android or other portable device.
MobileReader Devices How-To http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:MobileReader_Devices_How-To
There will always be some book stores, just as there will always be some libraries. But, the changes will come very fast now.
Libraries - dead. Why cities still build them is crazy
Bookstores - dead
Blockbuster - almost bankrupt
Music stores - dead
Newspapers - dead
Magazines - dead
Some are just hanging on, but they will be pushing up daisies soon.
It’s just progress. Where we are all in trouble is if the federal government starts funding some of these dead entities.
I’m not sure I buy the argument that Amazon dominates e-books. What Amazon is really good at is running a physical distribution network. If all that is required to get the book is to down load it, why do you need Amazon? You could buy the rights and down load right from the publisher. As far as e-readers go, I don’t think they survive the next generations of smart phones.