[bsandersen]

I have been a fan of electronic media for a very long time and believe strongly that we are on the verge of something breathtaking. We have witnessed the transition from vinyl records to CDs almost overnight. We went from digital cameras being "gimmicy" with poor resolution and never an adequate substitute for film and prints to a marketplace where Kodak and Poloroid are now nearly out of the film business, all in just a few years. We've gone from a time when the Internet was "interesting but I wouldn't trust doing business there" to a point where a significant amount of commerce is now on Amazon, eBay, and iTunes. People used to sell products; now they sell bits--with no inventory costs, negligible shipping costs, lower production costs, fewer tax implications, and a smaller ecological footprint.

Now, after all these tipping points, we still have this unbelievers. What happened for vinyl could not happen for paper. What happened to music, customers skipping the medium and going straight for the bits, couldn't happen to paper. What happened to video distribution, just bits on a wire, couldn't happen to paper. The doubters remain blinded to the possibility.

Watch it come. This is an exciting time. While paper will never die completely, just as CDs, VHS, film, or vinyl have not died completely, we will see its share of the marketplace shrink, slowly at first, and then quickly as with the demise of all those other mediums. Watch it come.

There are few times when we can anticipate an important event in history. This is one of those times. That's why I'm here. I can't wait.

-- B. Scott Andersen
Acton, Massachusetts