03-15-2011, 05:34 PM | #1 |
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Who killed the bookstore?
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03-15-2011, 06:30 PM | #2 |
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Me in a nutshell....almost. The exception: I do still think that paper books are for readers. I do not see myself abandoning them altogether.
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03-15-2011, 06:47 PM | #3 |
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Quite premature, since bookstores aren't actually dead yet (and I doubt they ever will be). They're suffering now, to be sure, but so are a lot of businesses nowadays. I don't think there's enough evidence now to attribute it to ereaders.
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03-15-2011, 08:01 PM | #4 | |
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Quote:
I admit that when I first heard about the trouble Borders and to a lesser extent, Barnes & Noble were having, I was sad. Now, however, I think I'm resigned to it. I still don't buy from Amazon and I won't buy a Kindle. However, if the Borders near me goes belly up, I'll just go to Barnes & Noble and buy e-Books. If both chains get greatly reduced or even go away, I suppose it'll be poetic justice for what they did to the independents anyway. *shrugs* |
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03-15-2011, 08:15 PM | #5 |
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I see a lot of myself in this article. I too will mourn bookstores when they're gone, even though I not longer use them.
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03-15-2011, 08:21 PM | #6 |
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well, i would think that bookstores may evolve to make room for these changes. tbh, the world's resources are not unlimited, and if there is any way to help trees, i would take that route. we buy our bond paper from sellers who farm their own trees.
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03-15-2011, 08:30 PM | #7 |
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E-readers didn't kill Borders. Amazon killed Borders. Just like Borders killed mall bookstores and mall bookstores killed independent bookstores (except for the few that survived to be killed by Borders). Borders (and to a lesser extent B&N) have been bleeding for a long time.
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03-15-2011, 08:30 PM | #8 |
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That was a fun article. I'm new to eReading and have a Kobo, not a Kindle, so I'm not really like the writer. I haven't been purchasing as many books as I used to for several reasons. One of these is that I've had a grown-up job with a long commute for almost 6 years now and, before that, I had a job and grad school. But it isn't even that so much. I discovered the Internet and audiobooks, which may or may not count in this equation, and became addicted to both so I spend much, much less time reading.
That is why I got an eReader, actually. I have hopes it will get me away from multitasking so much and get me away from the computer screen. I grew up loving to read. This carried into my early adulthood. I still read 2-4 books in a week when I am on vacation at a cousin's in Cambridge, MA. I love the Harvard bookstore. When I am on vacation, I am less worried about what I should be doing in the way of errands, housecleaning, or yardwork. Also, I don't bring my computer with me. Anway, I think bookstores are in trouble for several reasons and eReaders are the least of those, though they do play a part. People spend time on the Internet they used to spend reading. Amazon is cheaper than bookstores and the economy has been bad for a couple of years. Books are a bit of a luxury. If you're a reader and you're hurting financially, you can go to the library. And if my neighbor doesn't return my beautiful, hardcover edition of Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book, I am not going to be happy. |
03-15-2011, 08:48 PM | #9 |
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Interesting article which says it all. I too love bookstores and love browsing them, but it's the reading experience that I'm after. I have always used my local library to feed my habit, could never afford to buy pbooks to do it, and generally don't want to keep a book after I've read it any way. The exception is a book on some activity or hobby that I pursue, than I'll buy the book because I know I want to use it often and it probably has big colour pictures that I want too. Unless the ereader is as big as a book it won't be able to display pictures as well as a pbook and that would defeat the purpose for me, which is to have lots of books in a small device. I'm also unconvinced that it's ebooks which are hurting bookshops, it's the availability of cheap pbooks on line that's having the biggest effect, at least where I live. And I still use the library a lot too, that's not just cheap it's free.
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03-16-2011, 04:42 AM | #10 |
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We will always have bookstores and libraries. It's form and format will just change.
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03-16-2011, 05:14 AM | #11 |
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Stephen King!
I'm actually somewhat serious. Once books moved to the Blockbuster model, where only a handful of book titles make up most of the book sales, bookstores became largely irrelevant. Really, I think it was that ruling about taxes and back stock that moved books to this model. They just couldn't afford to keep a large catalog in print any more. So they didn't. So why go to a bookstore if the selection is terrible? As same as you'd find in a Target or Wal-mart or even a grocery store? |
03-16-2011, 06:10 AM | #12 |
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I love Amazon.
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03-16-2011, 06:25 AM | #13 |
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03-16-2011, 07:53 AM | #14 |
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Haven't set foot in a bookstore since the 90's. Don't see any need for them to even exist anymore.
Long live the Net |
03-16-2011, 08:13 AM | #15 |
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For me, there are two types of books -- those that you want to keep for display in a bookshelf or coffee table, and loan to friends in exchange for their loaners; and those disposable, quick-reads for fun that you never care to read again. Most of my reading material is devoid of pictures, so screen size is a non-issue, and when it is, my big 24" computer monitor suffices quite well.
I do not have a Borders or Barnes & Noble within 75 miles of me, so I won't miss them. |
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