4 ms·

or The Demise of Physical Media

tjr 15y ago
With VHS tapes, and DVDs, we watched programs and movies on television screens. Take away the physical media and replace it with files on a computer, and we're still watching programs and movies on television screens. With vinyl records, and cassettes, and compact discs, we listened to music on speaker systems and on headphones. Take away the physical media and replace it with files on a computer, and we're still listening to music on speaker systems and on headphones. But books? We never consumed books through something analogous to television sets or speakers. We held the actual book in our hands, and read the printed pages with our eyes. Replacing physical books with digital books is, in my opinion, a significantly bigger switch than moving from compact discs to MP3s or from DVDs to MP4s. The entire experience has changed, not just how the content is stored.
- simcop2387 15y ago
  Along with that we've gone from needing gigantic buildings to house them to being able to carry them around with you in your pocket. That's also a gigantic change in the experience. It's turned a personal library/study into something for the rich into something that is affordable by at least half the population in the western world if not more.
  - estevez 15y ago
    There's a 3.5 GB ebook torrent at Pirate Bay. Between Project Gutenberg and places like TPB it's within reach for anyone with an internet connection.
    - kruhft 15y ago
      A while back I, ahem, saw a torrent for over 10G of Math books/textbooks on TPB along with numerous other collections that one would never find outside of exclusive university libraries. The internet has changed everything regarding access to certain classes of information.
  - tjr 15y ago
    Sure. And for reasons like that, digital books are a good thing. What I was trying to point out was that the transition isn't as seamless as it is for video and audio media. The transition is happening, and will continue to happen (though I suspect that paper books will continue to be with us, even if in smaller numbers, for a long time).
Hyena 15y ago
The article is actually about Brent council and the use of digital media as an excuse to remove libraries from poor communities--where they are popular as free Internet cafes and provide books for people who couldn't afford readers--and dubious plans to reinvest the money. The story comes complete with suggestions of corruption and further deprivation of an already impoverished community.
grogs 15y ago
Quite possibly. Libraries/Amazon need to get up to speed on this. I have a Kindle, as does my brother, my mum, and my nan. My mum is a member of a library, and they have ebook which she can download and read on her laptop. However, she can't read it on the Kindle, as they are distributed as DRM protected ePub's. To put it on her Kindle she would have to remove the DRM and convert to mobi... But she doesn't need, or even want, the DRM removed. Also, second-hand books. I could very easily get hold of a Dan Drown's The Lost Symbol for £0.50 in a charity shop/second hand book store. But it costs £4.96 to get the Kindle edition. There's also no way to trade/sell/give Kindle books to other people. Removing DRM but then deleting within loan period- or pirating and donating £0.50 to charity - for ebooks seems morally equivalent to me. But it's illegal/break of copyright.
- 01Michael10 15y ago
  There is nothing stopping libraries from offering Kindle versions of eBooks. I work for the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library System in the IT dept. and we do offer Kindle books. The problem, like every thing else, is that it costs money. The more proprietary eBook formats you have the higher the cost there is to stock another format for a particular book. Implementing Kindle support was also way more problematic then offering ePubs and audio books so not every library system will have the ability (or money) to do so... Personally, I think it's not really the demise of the Public Library but more the demise of our society due to the lack of proper priorities.

tjr 15y ago

With VHS tapes, and DVDs, we watched programs and movies on television screens. Take away the physical media and replace it with files on a computer, and we're still watching programs and movies on television screens. With vinyl records, and cassettes, and compact discs, we listened to music on speaker systems and on headphones. Take away the physical media and replace it with files on a computer, and we're still listening to music on speaker systems and on headphones. But books? We never consumed books through something analogous to television sets or speakers. We held the actual book in our hands, and read the printed pages with our eyes. Replacing physical books with digital books is, in my opinion, a significantly bigger switch than moving from compact discs to MP3s or from DVDs to MP4s. The entire experience has changed, not just how the content is stored.

simcop2387 15y ago
Along with that we've gone from needing gigantic buildings to house them to being able to carry them around with you in your pocket. That's also a gigantic change in the experience. It's turned a personal library/study into something for the rich into something that is affordable by at least half the population in the western world if not more.
- estevez 15y ago
  There's a 3.5 GB ebook torrent at Pirate Bay. Between Project Gutenberg and places like TPB it's within reach for anyone with an internet connection.
  - kruhft 15y ago
    A while back I, ahem, saw a torrent for over 10G of Math books/textbooks on TPB along with numerous other collections that one would never find outside of exclusive university libraries. The internet has changed everything regarding access to certain classes of information.
- tjr 15y ago
  Sure. And for reasons like that, digital books are a good thing. What I was trying to point out was that the transition isn't as seamless as it is for video and audio media. The transition is happening, and will continue to happen (though I suspect that paper books will continue to be with us, even if in smaller numbers, for a long time).

Hyena 15y ago

The article is actually about Brent council and the use of digital media as an excuse to remove libraries from poor communities--where they are popular as free Internet cafes and provide books for people who couldn't afford readers--and dubious plans to reinvest the money. The story comes complete with suggestions of corruption and further deprivation of an already impoverished community.

grogs 15y ago

Quite possibly. Libraries/Amazon need to get up to speed on this. I have a Kindle, as does my brother, my mum, and my nan. My mum is a member of a library, and they have ebook which she can download and read on her laptop. However, she can't read it on the Kindle, as they are distributed as DRM protected ePub's. To put it on her Kindle she would have to remove the DRM and convert to mobi... But she doesn't need, or even want, the DRM removed. Also, second-hand books. I could very easily get hold of a Dan Drown's The Lost Symbol for £0.50 in a charity shop/second hand book store. But it costs £4.96 to get the Kindle edition. There's also no way to trade/sell/give Kindle books to other people. Removing DRM but then deleting within loan period- or pirating and donating £0.50 to charity - for ebooks seems morally equivalent to me. But it's illegal/break of copyright.

01Michael10 15y ago
There is nothing stopping libraries from offering Kindle versions of eBooks. I work for the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library System in the IT dept. and we do offer Kindle books. The problem, like every thing else, is that it costs money. The more proprietary eBook formats you have the higher the cost there is to stock another format for a particular book. Implementing Kindle support was also way more problematic then offering ePubs and audio books so not every library system will have the ability (or money) to do so... Personally, I think it's not really the demise of the Public Library but more the demise of our society due to the lack of proper priorities.