Devaluing The Concept of the Book
The price war between Amazon.com, Wal Mart and Tower heats up even more as the American Bookseller Association joins in the fray, accusing the three companies of “devaluing the very concept of the book.”
The price war between Amazon.com, Wal Mart and Tower heats up even more as the American Bookseller Association joins in the fray, accusing the three companies of “devaluing the very concept of the book.”
Mark R. Godburn has compiled a beautiful gallery of 19th-century dustjackets. I want them! I want them all!
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An article by Adam Sternbergh in which he lambasts book clubs. Not sure I agree with him, but then again I have never joined a book club.
Also: Warning: overwrought sexual metaphor for reading.
Remember when everyone was discussing the “Radiohead model” of music distribution? Well, here is the book publishing equivalent, and it’s a doozy…
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In other news: apparently, there will be an NYU satellite campus in Abu Dhabi!
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As the Torontoist put it (rather poetically!), “Canada is notorious for being tardy to the technological party.” As with the iPhone and other awesome gadgets, it seems Canadians will lose out for at least a year while Amazon sorts it out. (Blame it all on Rogers, Canada’s favourite telecom monopoly?)
A link which summarizes and links to a couple of articles which wring their hands in worry about the future of books in the era of the internet. The first one in particular is interesting, likening books to music on the eve of Napster’s arrival.
I agree that once ebook readers become widespread, in one form or another, book piracy will become far more common, but I am skeptical that it will really hurt the industry in the way it hurt the RIAA. After all, the book has been around in its current form for hundreds of years. Recorded music had only been around for about a hundred once Napster arrived. Books are a really great way to read text!
