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On my post back a week ago and many pages ago, I was mentioning the Penguin Classics and Classics in general not because they aren't valuable, but because Penguin thinks it's a good idea to charge $4.99 for one book and $14.99 for the ebook version. How is that valuable or a good thing?
As for classics being free, I am well aware of what this site has to offer, but unfortunately, my favorite authors tend to be those 20th century classics that are not in the public domain. There are a lot out there that aren't available. I love John Steinbeck, yet his book the Moon is Down is one of those one can get for around $7 in print form yet it's $12 in ebook form.
As for music, the most profitable publishers of recent have been the independent companies. The company that produces Arcade Fire is doing extremely well as are others because they are embracing the digital, internet age as a marketing tool. The bigger companies are doing so, and of course there are the artists out there who the big companies are promoting like the Lady Gaga's etc., but let's face it, those companies have shot themselves in the foot more than they've helped themselves. The book industry has decided to do the same thing.
Last, I really think it is difficult to blame other aspects of the media for the decline in reading if there is a decline. I'm not sure anyone could really prove a corollary of such. Statistics can be manipulated fairly easily, so one would need more than that to really make a strong argument.
The advent of the ebook and ereaders may actually be a way that technology is increasing reading. The internet surely makes the discovery of authors and books easier than ever. Without a site like Amazon my discovery of authors and books would certainly have been much slower than it is now. Does that mean more or less people are reading? No.
Do TV's, Movies, or Music hurt reading. I doubt it. They've been around for a while. Heck Music has been around for centuries. Video Games? perhaps, then again, I tend to think gamers are the type who were probably watching TV to begin with. Before them or TV... well I tend to believe that our world is more literate than it was 100+ years ago, so while many people may not be reading due to these things, there were many people who probably couldn't read in the past.
But... I'm really just speculating. As others have pointed out there really are plenty of free choices out there. It just pains me to see companies gouging the consumers of ebooks when those consumers could be there only chance of survival.
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