tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321339472666778123.post4663468157648963713..comments2024-02-03T13:09:38.313+00:00Comments on Mirabilis - Year of Wonders: Future shockLeo Hartashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417174942647091006noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321339472666778123.post-70249232335023193982010-06-05T22:46:20.034+01:002010-06-05T22:46:20.034+01:00I am on the fence about the whole thing. You are o...I am on the fence about the whole thing. You are of course right about convenience winning out - but it is always at a price. <br /><br />As a kid I remember going to the library and slowly working my way down my favourite shelves, looking for spines I didn't recognize with intriguing covers. There was a joy in simply being among books, browsing, making a discovery. <br /><br />I see books eventually going the way of music, becoming more and more digital until shopping is all done online, by reading excerpts and looking at cover images. I am sure the newer generations will have no issue at all with this - these are consumers who are losing the sense of things like a music "album", as songs become individual items to download and shuffle. (I can mourn the passing of the album as a creative package, but they won't miss it at all.) And don't get me wrong, I embrace a world where you don't have to bribe your friends to help you move all your incredibly heavy boxes of books and CDs, or have to dedicate most of the windowless walls in the house to bookshelves. <br /><br />But at the same time, there is something about being among books for me that I find comforting and inspiring, and I don't want that to go away. I know that people who truly love books in their present form will probably always be able to have them. But I worry that the aspects of tangible books that will be lost over time are the subtle ones. Beautiful typesetting and binding will go the way of the concept album. Some books will only exist digitally. And everything will be dependent on battery power. <br /><br />But that day is a long way off. And I love that publishing books (like music) will be placed in the hands of the people who created them. That for me is unarguably a better way of doing things, whatever the cost. The other thing I look forward to (aside from the convenience, and the lovely displays on things like the iPad) is discovering unexpected benefits of new technology. Like having your entire library stored somewhere and having it choose something for you to read - maybe it will be a whole new way of discovering books, the way music shuffle now rekindles parts of music collections that people have forgotten about.<br /><br />I will always be one of those people who has books, I love them too much. But I say bring on all the benefits of the digital medium.Sandyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00599376696122828129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321339472666778123.post-69077795453250895302010-06-04T10:33:08.724+01:002010-06-04T10:33:08.724+01:00You're so right, Peter. Occasionally I put on ...You're so right, Peter. Occasionally I put on a vinyl record and there's no question, the sound is better. But I can shove on a stack of CDs and buckle down to a few hours' work, whereas with vinyl I'd be jumping up every 20 minutes. Convenience always wins out.Dave Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321339472666778123.post-33003779232212520902010-06-03T23:31:51.977+01:002010-06-03T23:31:51.977+01:00A really fascinating reflection Dave, as I was rea...A really fascinating reflection Dave, as I was reading this I did cast my mind back some 25 years ago to the arrival of the CD.<br /><br />In 1986 if you went into the HMV store in Oxford Street, Vinyl dominated, it sprawled elegantly throughout the whole store. CDs were allocated a small section on the ground floor. There was a very similar kind of snobbery applied to the new kid on the block. <br /><br />Ten years later the geography of HMV in Oxford Street had reversed. CDs were the default format and if you looked very hard you might possibly find a few examples of vinyl.<br /><br />People still loved their vinyl, kept the albums and said how much warmer the sound was, how much more pleasurable the look of the albums were but how they just tended to listen to CDs because they were ultimately more convenient.<br /><br />Now think of embarking on a long train journey, you've got the choice of an IPad (take a leap of imagination and think of something which will ultimately be even more flexible) <br /><br />... or you can take a book.<br /><br />The book is bulky and you'll have to lug it around with you for the rest of the day.<br /><br />The IPad on the other hand as well as being headed in the direction of uber convenient portability, is easy to read, will allow you to check all your emails, link to the internet, download a new book (or graphic novel),plus a host of new opportunities for accessing ways to keep you occupied and stimulated on an otherwise tedious journey.<br /><br />The future is that for all of us the immediacy and functionality of the IPad and it's successors means that publishing has changed irrevocably.<br /><br />And it's changed for the better!<br /><br />As in more choice, more opportunity for creators, more opportunity for visionary publishers and more choice for readers.<br /><br />Now that's got to be better!!!<br /><br />P.S. Many thanks Dave for the Cloud 109 plug - it does look so nice on that IPad as does that wonderful reverse vertigo Mirabilis panel and ... erm ... have you now got a hold of the object of desire???Peter Richardsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15566601617123798061noreply@blogger.com