The winds of change are rolling again and the tried but true book, darling of the Industrial Revolution, may be going the way of a piece of coal and a cave wall. 22nd Century Press publishers (22nd Century Press: Amazon's Kindle is Sold Out! Is it the iPod of Reading? ) blogged on the sold out state of Amazon's new Kindle book reader. Granted it's not the first or only ebook reader out there, but the buzz on this seems to be a bit different from when Sony announced their reader earlier this year.
Comparisons to the noble iPod abound. However, this is not what excites me. As a boomer, I'm looking at some of the first real change in human reading and communication habits. The speed of technology during my half century of life easily surpasses that of any 19th century industrialist. This is an exciting time to live in . . . just think, before I kick it for the last time I might get to see those books from a hologram that originates from my watch (so old school, but so Dick Tracy-like).
Back to the present, I'm still sticking to books. At least for a little while. Check out the review here: 22nd Century Press: Amazon's Kindle is Sold Out! Is it the iPod of Reading?
Toni Morrison weighs in:
2 comments:
I am going to get a Kindle when Version 7.0 comes out. In other words, when they perfect it!
I love to read and I hate wasting paper by printing out articles to read on the go. At the same time, I'd love to read far more novels, biographies and autobiographies than I do, but I cannot afford to purchase them and have them shipped all the way to Brazil.
Electronic reading tools will ultimately dramatically reduce the price of duplicating and transmitting stories, and that's where publication has to be going, if only because there is a limited number of trees that we can chop down for paper pulp as the world's population expands.
As with everything from music to movies to medicine, the biggest restraint on the transmission of product is the capitalist insistence that no product can be transmitted, no medical treatment provided, unless the capitalist is assured that s/e has received the maximum possible payment in exchange for that commodity.
Since the price of distributing twice as many copies of a "book" has become just about zero, with electronic duplication methods, the very fact that the process is so cheap makes it difficult for publishers to continue to insist on selling books for $40.00. Which means that publication is limited simply because those with their hands on the throat of the publication industry can't stand to see their product sold more cheaply based on the rapdily decreasing cost of its production and distribution.
The world remains less literate than it should be just because of greed and avarice.
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