Quote:
Originally Posted by guyanonymous
eGeezer, well said!
If price or selective availability (e.g., geographic restrictions) is a barrier to buying a reader or an ebook, then we're already elitists. But then, books, as you said, are elitist as not everyone in the world has access financially or physically to books.
As those barriers come down, the elitist nature of the situation also falls because they are AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE.
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When I first started listening to rock music, the records I bought depended on a combination of saved up lunch money and whatever was available locally. Now, anyone can get absolutely whatever they want. It might not always be legal but the availability of just about anything isn't elitist. It's anti-elitist, like you said, because everyone has access to everything.
I'm hoping the same thing happens with ebooks. It's got a long way to go.
But eventually we'll get to a situation where whatever you want to read, it's just a click away, and I don't see how that's catering to an elitist class because the prices on ereaders are only gonna come down, just like everything else. Buying a microwave oven seemed like an elite thing to do, back when they were new. Same as VCRs and just about any new technology.