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I see your sceneclips, and raise you a New York Times. Aemon Send a noteboard - 04/09/2009 02:59:33 PM
First, the numbers of people who read are far lower than the numbers of people who watch movies as entertainment. Second, even with the larger demographic for the latter, DVD and Blu-Ray ARE slowly killing the movie theatre. Sure, theatres are trying to introduce 3-D movies and all sorts of other gimmicks, but theatre attendance is down and dropping steadily, particularly as the capabilities of home theatres improve.


Firstly, "movie theater" does not mean "movie." Even if dvd, blu-ray, and so on kill off movie theaters, that doesn't mean they've killed off movies. Secondly though, it doesn't appear that they're doing anything of the sort.

Look at this.

Obviously that's not a full year analysis, but the other numbers I've seen are also pretty positive. Even the negative reports you see don't show disaster, only a slight slump, which has happened many, may times over the years (just check the wikipedia article). Movies are hardly dead. By a very long shot.

Not only that, but let's move from looking at movies to looking at music. The mp3 revolution has killed the music industry. CD producers have been wiped out. Artists suffer because the concept of the "album" is almost dead. Forget "concept albums" or art - you have to have one song that is catchy enough to go viral and hope the song is SO popular that people come back to listen to one or two more that might be good enough to sustain you.


The mp3 revolution has killed the --> CD <-- industry. It's killed producers who produce CDs, and are too inflexible to do anything else. Apple, on the other hand, is doing quite well with their music sales. iTunes is a cultural phenomenon. As to the artists, everyone always said that CD sales were terrible, terrible deals for artists. I think (I'm not sure about this) that Authors get a larger chunk of each iTunes sale than they did via CD. As to the concept of the album being dead, sure, maybe. You can argue that sales will go down because people don't buy entire albums, but you can also argue that sales will go up because people who didn't want to buy the whole album will now buy a few songs.

Moving on: internet distribution also lets smaller bands get greater exposure, and even make some money. I have a friend with a small-time band, and his stuff is on iTunes. He makes some money every month. He'd NEVER have gotten a record contract. Ever. Don't tell me internet distribution killed music. It killed an inferior distribution model, that's all.

If your argument is that I would prefer an e-reader to a book if only I tried it, you obviously know nothing about me. I've already stated that I refuse to buy paperbacks. I buy expensive books because I like the look and feel of the book as well as the content. That isn't about to change.


If I argue that you'd prefer it if you tried it, and you say "I'll never try it," well, I suppose we have a stalemate. ;) Expensive books are fun to collect and look at, but an ereader provides a much better reading experience. I can't prove that to you, but you'll never know what you're missing until you try a reader. /shrug
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Let's Discuss: Ebooks - 03/09/2009 06:19:42 PM 1766 Views
I don't think I could ever use Ebooks. - 03/09/2009 06:51:47 PM 1152 Views
It's not necessarily one or the other. - 03/09/2009 07:32:56 PM 1210 Views
This is so. - 03/09/2009 07:53:41 PM 1295 Views
You probably will be able to soon. - 03/09/2009 07:58:52 PM 1129 Views
Re: This is so. - 03/09/2009 09:02:21 PM 1303 Views
destroying books? - 03/09/2009 10:26:46 PM 1295 Views
Re: destroying books? - 03/09/2009 10:59:39 PM 1282 Views
I can read ebooks, - 03/09/2009 07:17:55 PM 1476 Views
Actually... - 04/09/2009 01:19:40 AM 1221 Views
actually, I disagree with something you said. - 04/09/2009 05:48:57 AM 1139 Views
Regarding pricing... - 03/09/2009 07:40:02 PM 1293 Views
Not so - 03/09/2009 09:01:32 PM 1326 Views
That's a fairly horrible blog post. - 03/09/2009 11:05:22 PM 1359 Views
Re: That's a fairly horrible blog post. - 04/09/2009 05:54:19 AM 1402 Views
It's called "price discrimination." - 04/09/2009 07:47:32 PM 1437 Views
Re: Let's Discuss: Ebooks - 03/09/2009 08:42:26 PM 1681 Views
Now that is a clever idea. - 03/09/2009 11:14:07 PM 1106 Views
Amazon has actually been using that idea for a while now, in a limited sense. - 03/09/2009 11:22:00 PM 1144 Views
Amazon is quite clever. *NM* - 03/09/2009 11:25:35 PM 642 Views
Wonderful idea. - 04/09/2009 12:29:42 AM 1305 Views
I cannot stand them. - 03/09/2009 08:59:03 PM 1379 Views
Regarding the "Insulting" blog... - 03/09/2009 10:22:43 PM 1237 Views
Re: Regarding the "Insulting" blog... - 03/09/2009 10:58:18 PM 1127 Views
I did, and I have decently extensive criticism of it above. - 03/09/2009 11:08:23 PM 1133 Views
Re: " I have a very tactile and olfactory relationship with books." - 04/09/2009 09:38:22 AM 1127 Views
This. . .is quite long. I feel pretty strongly about this subject. - 03/09/2009 11:14:11 PM 1422 Views
No, it's a cool post. - 03/09/2009 11:29:33 PM 1226 Views
More than fair. - 03/09/2009 11:39:29 PM 1171 Views
Now there's something I hadn't thought of - 04/09/2009 01:00:06 AM 1226 Views
Well, it's easier, just slightly less legal. - 04/09/2009 06:04:03 AM 1270 Views
No, it's a double post. *NM* - 03/09/2009 11:29:34 PM 504 Views
lovely! this is what i would have wanted to say had i gotten here earlier... - 04/09/2009 12:44:55 AM 1356 Views
Do you have a blog where you review books? - 04/09/2009 01:02:13 AM 1168 Views
aw, shucks... - 04/09/2009 05:41:29 AM 1247 Views
Thank you for the education. I had a completely different idea as to what e-books were. - 04/09/2009 09:35:11 AM 1264 Views
No problem. And thanks! - 04/09/2009 03:15:14 PM 1324 Views
A possible selling point for me was when you said it was lighter than a paperback - 05/09/2009 12:25:18 AM 1246 Views
Yes and no. - 05/09/2009 02:49:26 AM 1481 Views
I'd love to have one - 04/09/2009 01:05:05 AM 1171 Views
Re: Let's Discuss: Ebooks - 04/09/2009 01:39:31 AM 1321 Views
That's great, I've read one or two on my computer as well. - 04/09/2009 06:31:25 AM 1104 Views
Unfortunately, I don't have an ereader. - 08/09/2009 08:23:10 AM 1240 Views
I hate ebooks and everything they represent - 04/09/2009 03:50:48 AM 1133 Views
Hold on a moment now. - 04/09/2009 06:28:09 AM 1330 Views
Your logic is seriously flawed - 04/09/2009 02:28:21 PM 1548 Views
I see your sceneclips, and raise you a New York Times. - 04/09/2009 02:59:33 PM 1353 Views
You have an almost cult-like enthusiasm for e-books. - 06/09/2009 12:53:04 AM 1254 Views
Re: You have an almost cult-like enthusiasm for e-books. - 06/09/2009 05:24:48 AM 1302 Views
I know we're on a message board. That's why I'm still debating. - 06/09/2009 03:15:55 PM 1243 Views
Perhaps you mis-read the graph. - 04/09/2009 03:14:06 PM 1269 Views
No, I didn't mis-read the graph. - 06/09/2009 12:56:15 AM 1114 Views
You must be talking percentage of the population who attend theaters? *NM* - 06/09/2009 05:26:43 AM 582 Views
Yes. - 06/09/2009 03:06:14 PM 1256 Views
I second Aemon but a couple drawbacks - 04/09/2009 04:25:50 PM 1386 Views
Re: I second Aemon but a couple drawbacks - 04/09/2009 04:50:01 PM 1516 Views
I don't have any fancy reasons for you. - 05/09/2009 01:47:09 AM 1415 Views
Craig, you're incredibly interesting - 05/09/2009 01:59:27 AM 1152 Views
... Are you hitting on me? - 05/09/2009 03:02:06 AM 1665 Views
Depends...what's in it for me? *NM* - 06/09/2009 12:20:23 AM 590 Views
AbsoLUTEly nothin'. Sorry. *NM* - 06/09/2009 02:29:59 AM 510 Views
I do love the feel and sensation of books. - 09/09/2009 02:38:57 AM 1131 Views

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