The death of print?

[Admin]

What do you think?  Is it just a matter of how long now?  With new devices and services popping up all the time and a few biggies coming soon, is print media a thing of the past?  

How do you think we will be reading our Stand Up Pubs in 3 years?  Still on paper?

[Caribsurf]

I don't know...maybe with newspapers, but there is nothing quite like the smell and feel of opening up a new magazine or book.  I think this electronic media has it's place, but I still like collecting better issues and keeping them on my shelves.

Besides, I would hate to be on a long flight and the batteries die on my e-book so I can't finish the magazine article...

[Chan]

Nostalgia notwithstanding, it's inevitable.  I came across some interesting stuff in Gladwell’s The Tipping Point:  In 1984 Sharp introduced the first low priced fax machine, sold 80,000 units. By ‘87 they were up to a million units, and then hit the tipping point when suddenly everyone was using fax machines.  Cellular phones followed a similar pattern and so will digital print.  

The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple’s Steve Jobs is now focused almost exclusively on developing a tablet.  It, along with other magazine page sized, full color devices are largely considered to be to print what the ipod was to music.  

I know the objection on everyone’s mind; privy mishaps.  Apple (the first to provide an online help page for owner’s whose phones had taken a dunk) has designed their reading device to be slightly too large for a through the legs mishap.

[Dwight (DW)]

Print is dead to me. I read everything on-line. The only mag I get is Standup Journal.

Even the kite mags went on-line, but so far none have done it in the right way. They are all too hard to read with fancy flash web sites and cute page flipping BS.

[Admin]

I don't know...maybe with newspapers, but there is nothing quite like the smell and feel of opening up a new magazine or book.  I think this electronic media has it's place, but I still like collecting better issues and keeping them on my shelves.

Besides, I would hate to be on a long flight and the batteries die on my e-book so I can't finish the magazine article...

I hear you.  I have loved that part of mags and books since I was a kid.  But hey, I liked LP's and liner notes too.

Once you get used to getting to download and read the first chapter(s) of any book before purchase, and having subscriptions to newpapers and mags show up the very moment of release, it becomes hard to ignore.  

Plus, once it hits critical mass, the Spruce-killers may have the Greenies throwing tree blood on them if they try to go out in public with paper editions.  

[Strand Leper]

Good topic Admin (as usual).  Print... I only subscribe to the local paper because I respect and admire the trade... I get all of my news from news aggregating websites where on one page you can read(realclearpolitics.com) and from the WSJ online edition.  For my magazines on policy, the weeklies and biweeklies are digital... but the monthlies or quarterlies with really cool covers or that are a little more intellectually hefty (Paddlesurf mags, Surfers Journal, Claremont Book Review, Foreign Affairs, Commentary, Reason), I really like to feel them and they look cool on the office coffee table.

As for books, I get the convenience of E-books... but for a geezer like me (44), there is nothing quite like walking over to the bookshelf and pulling out my purple dog eared paperback version of Brothers Karamazof, the one that I read to my son at the hospital on the day he was born, (no, silly, not the whole thing)... and reading a few chapters of a book that had a significant impact on your life ... the EXACT same copy that you were reading way back when... the smell of the dust... the smell of time moving by...

In a nutshell, the really serious stuff... classic literature, deep philosophy, for me will always be print... but for the new Christopher Buckley novel, Krakhauer page turner or other pop culture delights... I can really see using the e-book.

Tim

[surfcal]

It's not the same

[Chan]

SL,

I think the recommended setting for reading The Brothers K is alone in a poorly lit city apartment, out of work and broken hearted.  Provided that those criteria are met  a reading tablet won’t likely alter the experience, especially for a generation brought up without paper books.

The advent of the printing press, brought the printed word to the masses for the fist time. In the digital age, electronic gizmos allow for interactive, global sharing of stories, events, and ideas.  With all that the current technology has to offer, static paper reading has a challenging future.

Your grandkids will likely view book reading and belly surfing in a similar way as we view a horse and buggy ride; an interesting, novel  experience more than nostalgia.

[stoneaxe]

I think its inevitable. We're still in the infancy of devices that allow easy access to digital info. How long before we see a device that fits in your wallet but folds out to an easily readable size and has the capacity to store the library of congress. Even that is book analog though.
The future's so bright I gotta wear virtual retina display shades.

[Chan]

Ah haa,

Now I see what that nifty compartment behind your ear is for.  How futuristic.

[Strand Leper]

I get it Chan... it just seems so sterile... like it takes away from the experience a bit.  In California, we are big on Steibeck in grade school and high school... I still remember my assigned version of The Red Pony... no front cover, read by a few dozen years of students, some observations and obscenities written in the margins... oh well, time goes by.

Tim

[stoneaxe]

Ah haa,

Now I see what that nifty compartment behind your ear is for.  How futuristic.

Nah...that's where I keep my lunch.

[newton333]

i hate online mags, its still easier to pick up a magazine and read it on the couch, beach, car, work,  anywhere. plus getting mail in the real mailbox is still cooler then email.

[Chan]

I get it Chan... it just seems so sterile... like it takes away from the experience a bit.  In California, we are big on Steibeck in grade school and high school... I still remember my assigned version of The Red Pony... no front cover, read by a few dozen years of students, some observations and obscenities written in the margins... oh well, time goes by.

Tim

I argued your position last month.  I have many fond memories of reading printed books. Randy (always one step ahead of me when it comes to embracing new technology) was thinking of getting me a Kindle for my birthday.  He was nosing around asking all sorts of questions to get a feel for how it might be received.  At that time, my preference was for paper.  After some debate, my interest in a reading tablet grew.  Now, I’m itching to give it a go, but not sure which device to go with. I’m holding off to see the new devices and hear how they are reviewed. 

[noworrieshawaii]

Favorite place to read is still in a tubbie full o hot water with a nice glass of wine... Gotta have printed material for that... Used to get in so much trouble as a kid ruining all those library books...