8mm Forum: Rant alert!!

This is topic Rant alert!! in forum General Yak at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on August 10, 2009, 07:19 AM:

Geez, is it too much trouble to pick a book up and actually turn the pages........

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00154JDAI?amp%3Brw%5Fabsolute=y

Posted by Martin Jones (Member # 1163) on August 10, 2009, 07:27 AM:

Yes, Michael, what a great saving of effort! But I ENJOY going to my local S/H shop and selecting my 20p books; just think how many I can buy for £299... and that's before paying for the individual downloads. I'm sure it's not me that's just PLAIN STOOPID!
Martin

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on August 10, 2009, 07:36 AM:

Welcome to the future guys!!!

Most of the major publishers are hopeing this catches on,as book downloads will be a major cash cow for them.

But at the end of the day you just can't beat a good book can you?? [Smile]

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on August 10, 2009, 09:34 AM:

Can book burnings be far behind this ridiculous invention?????
[Smile]

" I would rather go blind.............."

Posted by Claus Harding (Member # 702) on August 10, 2009, 11:10 AM:

So what's next? They'll make a 16-by-20 inch version for the coffe-table books.... [Big Grin]

Just give me a book and a couch.

Claus.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on August 10, 2009, 11:23 AM:

NOW! Here's a rant after me own heart!

I am a writer, having twelve movie scripts, three large books of poetry and even three books of theology to my name, not to mention hundreds of pop songs I've written.

It's never made me all that much money but I have enjoyed it immensely. There is nothing like picking up a book for a good read!

What happens if they're laptop battery goes out? There goes the reading? It's a sad statement of our modern world that fewer and fewer people are actually reading books. I liberally read, (more often than not in the bath tub! Try reading like that with a laptop!).

A few years back, I had a joke that was part of a comedy routine about the increasing illiteracy of youth in our society. The young adults find something on the ground. The fumble around with it, flipping through pages, looking at each other in amazement and awe.

"This is a ... book?"

They look further, looking up like a child, they're collective eyes widening, pushing the book back and forth in between them ...

"What are those things?"
"Words ... words!"

Then, they begin to read ...

"See, see Spot ... rrr, run!"

... and then clapping, applauding themselves that they did something wonderful! They read ... they read!!

It used to be a lot more funny years ago. Now it feels dreadfully prophetic.

Posted by Stewart McSporran (Member # 128) on August 10, 2009, 03:19 PM:

Hmm, I guess I'm not going to be popular... [Big Grin]

...but I like the idea; if not the execution.

Now before the lynch parties start out I have to say that I love books, indeed have even written one (and had it published!) and have more on my shelves than I should have. There's nothing like the smell of ink on paper to take one back to a place and time; there's nothing like the tactile feel of paper to enhance the joy of reading, but... I work in IT. I have hundreds of reference books and journals, each of which is so large that just one would make up my carry on allowance on a plane.

So, the current solution is to load up pdf versions of these books onto my laptop. That's fine, but it's really hard to read from a laptop in any posture other than sitting upright and unless you're in business class you're limited to your battery life.

Now, give me one of these new things loaded with my reference books (and a few hundred public domain books that I keep meaning to get round to reading) and I'll be happy. I can view (and easily search and annotate) my reference books without damaging my back.

The downside is that I don't actually know if it will read pdf and text files and there have been some negative comments about Amazon's retention of your already paid for books. It also appears to be chock full of DRM gotchas.

If this thing was available as a standard platform of some sort (i.e. not proprietary to Amazon) I'd jump at it, but at the moment I'm holding off.

Stewart

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on August 10, 2009, 04:21 PM:

I guess theres a place for it in such situations as Stewart mentioned. I would hate to see it totally replace books though.

Posted by John W. Black (Member # 1082) on August 10, 2009, 07:58 PM:

You can't beat a real book.It becomes something precious to me.Also,who wants to take a computer to the bathroom?

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on August 10, 2009, 08:15 PM:

Why John,

You must take your computer to the bathroom occasionally, especially if you run into a virus that just dirties up your computer!

Posted by John W. Black (Member # 1082) on August 10, 2009, 11:46 PM:

Yea,but then I spend all my time getting baby powder all over me.

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