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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 1423 Views
I don't think I could ever use Ebooks. - 03/09/2009 06:51:47 PM 888 Views
It's not necessarily one or the other. - 03/09/2009 07:32:56 PM 920 Views
This is so. - 03/09/2009 07:53:41 PM 996 Views
You probably will be able to soon. - 03/09/2009 07:58:52 PM 824 Views
Re: This is so. - 03/09/2009 09:02:21 PM 1044 Views
destroying books? - 03/09/2009 10:26:46 PM 1014 Views
Re: destroying books? - 03/09/2009 10:59:39 PM 984 Views
I can read ebooks, - 03/09/2009 07:17:55 PM 1127 Views
Actually... - 04/09/2009 01:19:40 AM 936 Views
actually, I disagree with something you said. - 04/09/2009 05:48:57 AM 842 Views
Regarding pricing... - 03/09/2009 07:40:02 PM 1011 Views
Not so - 03/09/2009 09:01:32 PM 1029 Views
That's a fairly horrible blog post. - 03/09/2009 11:05:22 PM 1076 Views
Re: That's a fairly horrible blog post. - 04/09/2009 05:54:19 AM 1078 Views
It's called "price discrimination." - 04/09/2009 07:47:32 PM 1102 Views
Re: Let's Discuss: Ebooks - 03/09/2009 08:42:26 PM 1371 Views
Now that is a clever idea. - 03/09/2009 11:14:07 PM 831 Views
Amazon has actually been using that idea for a while now, in a limited sense. - 03/09/2009 11:22:00 PM 844 Views
Amazon is quite clever. *NM* - 03/09/2009 11:25:35 PM 502 Views
Wonderful idea. - 04/09/2009 12:29:42 AM 1013 Views
I cannot stand them. - 03/09/2009 08:59:03 PM 1082 Views
Regarding the "Insulting" blog... - 03/09/2009 10:22:43 PM 946 Views
Re: Regarding the "Insulting" blog... - 03/09/2009 10:58:18 PM 837 Views
I did, and I have decently extensive criticism of it above. - 03/09/2009 11:08:23 PM 855 Views
Re: " I have a very tactile and olfactory relationship with books." - 04/09/2009 09:38:22 AM 829 Views
This. . .is quite long. I feel pretty strongly about this subject. - 03/09/2009 11:14:11 PM 1122 Views
No, it's a cool post. - 03/09/2009 11:29:33 PM 937 Views
More than fair. - 03/09/2009 11:39:29 PM 881 Views
Now there's something I hadn't thought of - 04/09/2009 01:00:06 AM 967 Views
Well, it's easier, just slightly less legal. - 04/09/2009 06:04:03 AM 1002 Views
No, it's a double post. *NM* - 03/09/2009 11:29:34 PM 367 Views
lovely! this is what i would have wanted to say had i gotten here earlier... - 04/09/2009 12:44:55 AM 1052 Views
Do you have a blog where you review books? - 04/09/2009 01:02:13 AM 885 Views
aw, shucks... - 04/09/2009 05:41:29 AM 947 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 971 Views
No problem. And thanks! - 04/09/2009 03:15:14 PM 1015 Views
A possible selling point for me was when you said it was lighter than a paperback - 05/09/2009 12:25:18 AM 963 Views
Yes and no. - 05/09/2009 02:49:26 AM 1175 Views
I'd love to have one - 04/09/2009 01:05:05 AM 875 Views
Re: Let's Discuss: Ebooks - 04/09/2009 01:39:31 AM 1023 Views
That's great, I've read one or two on my computer as well. - 04/09/2009 06:31:25 AM 800 Views
Unfortunately, I don't have an ereader. - 08/09/2009 08:23:10 AM 918 Views
I hate ebooks and everything they represent - 04/09/2009 03:50:48 AM 832 Views
Hold on a moment now. - 04/09/2009 06:28:09 AM 1002 Views
Your logic is seriously flawed - 04/09/2009 02:28:21 PM 1249 Views
I see your sceneclips, and raise you a New York Times. - 04/09/2009 02:59:33 PM 1053 Views
You have an almost cult-like enthusiasm for e-books. - 06/09/2009 12:53:04 AM 980 Views
Re: You have an almost cult-like enthusiasm for e-books. - 06/09/2009 05:24:48 AM 1001 Views
I know we're on a message board. That's why I'm still debating. - 06/09/2009 03:15:55 PM 957 Views
Perhaps you mis-read the graph. - 04/09/2009 03:14:06 PM 944 Views
No, I didn't mis-read the graph. - 06/09/2009 12:56:15 AM 820 Views
You must be talking percentage of the population who attend theaters? *NM* - 06/09/2009 05:26:43 AM 438 Views
Yes. - 06/09/2009 03:06:14 PM 995 Views
I second Aemon but a couple drawbacks - 04/09/2009 04:25:50 PM 1079 Views
Re: I second Aemon but a couple drawbacks - 04/09/2009 04:50:01 PM 1197 Views
I don't have any fancy reasons for you. - 05/09/2009 01:47:09 AM 1120 Views
Craig, you're incredibly interesting - 05/09/2009 01:59:27 AM 868 Views
... Are you hitting on me? - 05/09/2009 03:02:06 AM 1388 Views
Depends...what's in it for me? *NM* - 06/09/2009 12:20:23 AM 449 Views
AbsoLUTEly nothin'. Sorry. *NM* - 06/09/2009 02:29:59 AM 367 Views
I do love the feel and sensation of books. - 09/09/2009 02:38:57 AM 862 Views

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