The transistion from physical to digital media is happening right now

[Dil Bert]

(Thanks James) Netflix to shake up Canadian industry "Netflix (NFLQ-Q) announced on Monday it would bring its streaming online movie rental service to Canada this fall, marking a long-awaited international expansion for the U.S. company, which rents movies there by mail and online."  "In Canada, Netflix will not be operating a mail service."

Physical and digital distribution sales for games nearly equal [...]

Kindle's digital book sales overtake hardcover, device purchases triple after price drop


Kind of exciting, eh?  Unless you work in a book/movie/game store (hint: change jobs now).

Do you get most of your books/movies digitally?  I'm still getting most movies on DVD, but trying to buy ebooks instead of pbooks.

Aside: I think in the next few years we'll see breakthroughs in robotics and (kind of obvious, this) electric vehicles.  Assuming the world economy doesn't collapse, the world of 2017 should be very different than today.

[Dil Bert]

$35 Dollar Tablet Will Cost $20, Eventually $10 "The Indian government has revealed its super-super-low-priced tablet computer, which it says it'll start selling to students this year—for $35."  "[...] the impressive hardware spec includes support for video conferencing, PDF and multimedia compatibility, internet access (with Flash!) and much more."

[James]

I have so many hard copy books I've bought recently that I can't in good conscience buy anymore, or an e-reader, till I get through them.  I really love those e-readers, though, and want one!!!!  The idea of reading your magazines and newspapers on them really feels like something out of the Jetsons.  

Downloading content and just burning a copy yourself seems so much more economical and environmentally friendly.  Gone all that packaging, transportation costs, brick and mortar costs, etc!

[Prem Rogue]

Downloading content and just burning a copy yourself seems so much more economical and environmentally friendly.  Gone all that packaging, transportation costs, brick and mortar costs, etc!

I wonder if we're not just shifting the environmental burden to another area.  All this content has to be stored on servers, which use electricity, need to be cooled, stored, etc.  OTOH it would cut down on unsold overstock having to be moved or destroyed.

[Manturo]

I wonder if we're not just shifting the environmental burden to another area.  All this content has to be stored on servers, which use electricity, need to be cooled, stored, etc.  OTOH it would cut down on unsold overstock having to be moved or destroyed.

There was a study done on this. http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10320334-54.html

The problem is at the end of the life of electronic device: toxic compounds, poor recycling procedures. Right now most PCs and devices are just shipped to another country to be pulled apart by hand and that is dangerous to people and the environment. http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/toxics/electronics/the-e-waste-problem/

So, you have a valid concern.

The problem is that legislating anything now in a recessionary environment (at least here in the U.S.) would be called a  "jobs killer".

[Dil Bert]

All this content has to be stored on servers, which use electricity, need to be cooled, stored, etc.

IMO it's too early to say for sure if all digital will be more environmentally friendly (I suspect it will be).

Existing appliances/servers/etc. which use electricity are the only devices which can get more environmentally friendly because cleaner ways to generate electricity can be developed.  (That won't happen with a gas water heater, for ex.) 

There have been some experiments with running server rooms without much cooling at all.

[Dil Bert]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/books/22odyssey.html

Literary Agent Plans E-Book Editions
By JULIE BOSMAN
Published: July 22, 2010

The literary agent Andrew Wylie said on Wednesday that he would begin his own publishing venture, called Odyssey Editions, which will produce e-book editions of titles by some of his clients, including Saul Bellow, John Updike and Philip Roth.

Mr. Wylie said his new company would focus on older titles whose digital rights are not owned by traditional publishers. The books will be available exclusively at Amazon’s Kindle store for two years.

In making the announcement Mr. Wylie opened a new front, and a possible negotiating tool, in a debate over e-book rights for what are called backlist titles. Many traditional publishers have said they own the electronic rights to those books, but some authors and their estates have disagreed, arguing that since the books were published before e-books existed, the digital rights were not explicitly sold to the publishers.

[...]


I think the article's interesting as it points to a future of the agents taking over the few important functions of a publisher in the digital age.  Agents can employ/contract with editors/proofreaders just as well as publishers could.  As the radio report of this announcement noted, publishers are great if you need to put books on shelves.  If you don't need to do that, do you really need publishers?

Aside: one of the exciting possibilities (not certainties) of ebooks is that they would always be available for purchase, so seeing backlist books becoming digital is a good sign.

[Dil Bert]

Stieg Larsson becomes the first author to sell a million Kindle e-books


I'm still waiting for the 4th volume, The Girl with the Tattoos and the Tongue Stud...

[Dil Bert]

This Year's UC Irvine Medical Students Get The First iPad-Based Curriculum

Forget sitting, lazily note-taking, listening to a professor's lecture. UC Irvine Med School is giving the educational system an about face by providing an iPad to each of its new students for their entirely digital, iPad-based curriculum.

[Dil Bert]

Cult of less: Living out of a hard drive

Many have begun trading in CD, DVD, and book collections for digital music, movies, and e-books. But this trend in digital technology is now influencing some to get rid of nearly all of their physical possessions - from photographs to furniture to homes altogether.


Is anyone doing this? 

[corbie]

Many have begun trading in CD, DVD, and book collections for digital music, movies, and e-books. But this trend in digital technology is now influencing some to get rid of nearly all of their physical possessions - from photographs to furniture to homes altogether.
Is anyone doing this? 

We are. We have 2000 books under the house in storage, no place to put them, and most are so old they are free to download. So when we want to read one, we put it on the PDA, husbands new phone with a reader or one of my PDA's.

My 8 year old PDA is dying, so we got me one of those new readers. Astek is what it is called. We sold most of the records to collectors from the 60's, and 70's. And we had already replaced most of what we would actually listen to again on CD's. I keep filling in ones I might still want from garage sales for around a dollar each. Now looking for After the Gold Rush.

I have about 10 heavy photo albums from over my life. They are HEAVY and very bulky. For a number of years now, new pictures are on my computer and when I want to look at them I just get into the computer. Most people are seriously not interested in looking at your pictures. So they are for me.

Our "problem" is we have so many hobbies that we are overloaded with art supplies, puzzles, soap making supplies, beer making supplies, sewing room  and tools and stuff for remodeling! Those can't go electronic. Not to mention two very large dogs and all that goes with them! What was I thinking when I rescued both of them! (But I would do it again)

But there are electronics everywhere! TV's, computers, CD's, DVD's. As we just got a new computer, TV, blu ray player and book reader, I wouldn't call it minimalist! Thank goodness for time payment, no interest! We are very very serious about our entertainment!

On a side note, things are still breaking. This week both! of my coffee grinders, my PDA, and the exhaust fan in husbands bathroom. This has been going on for months now.

[Dil Bert]

Borders delaying payments to some vendors [...] The news came just weeks after the company said it was trying to obtain new financing to avoid violating the terms of its credit agreements early next year.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BT4HJ20101230

Unlike Barnes & Noble (who have the Nook series of eReaders), Borders just resells expensive Sony eReaders and other, cheap, third-party eReaders.  It's understandable that Borders is hurting as its direct competitors have success with eBooks:

Bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc. on Thursday said its line of Nook e-reading devices are the biggest-selling items in its history, and added it sold nearly 1 million e-books on Christmas Day.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40853661/ns/business-retail/

Amazon Brags Kindle 3 Is Its ‘Biggest Seller’ Ever But Still Mum On Figures [...] Just before Christmas, Bloomberg reported that Amazon was on target to sell more than 8 million Kindles in 2010.
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-amazon-kindle-3-is-its-biggest-seller-yet-but-remains-mum-on-figures/

[corbie]

Unlike Barnes & Noble (who have the Nook series of eReaders), Borders just resells expensive Sony eReaders and other, cheap, third-party eReaders.  It's understandable that Borders is hurting as its direct competitors have success with eBooks:

That is not good if they are not paying their vendors. I got a cheap third-party reader from Borders that does not hook up to the internet and I love it. Husband got the Astak ez-reader and I ended up with a Alura-tek Libre. Lots of different formats.

We did not want a Kindle that is locked into one vendor (Amazon) or one locked to Barnes and Noble.

Husband says it sounds like he should use his borders gift certificate before they go away!

[Dil Bert]

Book distributor Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group Inc temporarily stopped shipping books to Borders Group Inc (BGP.N) after the bookstore chain said it would delay payments to some vendors, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BT4HJ20110103


If Borders goes under, my guess is it will happen at Internet speed.  It would seem that Christmas sales didn't save it, so it's unlikely to find much relief in the coming months, esp. if vendors stop supplying it.  There's no point in it trying to stay alive as an internet-only bookstore, for ex.

It's sad for me; I have several good memories of Borders.

[MrB]

If Borders goes under, my guess is it will happen at Internet speed.  It would seem that Christmas sales didn't save it, so it's unlikely to find much relief in the coming months, esp. if vendors stop supplying it.  There's no point in it trying to stay alive as an internet-only bookstore, for ex.

Their UK operation went under just over a year ago after having over 60 stores around the country - they went from fully operational to nothing in about three months. Not quite internet speed, but surprisingly quick for what appeared to be a successful operation. So I guess the same could easily happen in the US.

[corbie]

Sister got husband a gift certificate for Borders. We went and he looked at DVD's. They charge double what everyone else does! Friday we will go and look at puzzles for me and I will pay him back so he can get two somewhere else instead 3/4 of one there.

[Dil Bert]

Not quite internet speed, but surprisingly quick for what appeared to be a successful operation. So I guess the same could easily happen in the US.

That's internet speed -- what I meant is it's unlikely to close some stores this year, then close more stores next year, then linger as an online retailer for a while, etc. 

[Dil Bert]

http://www.mediabistro.com/ebooknewser/on-usa-today-bestseller-list-ebooks-outsell-print_b4780

On USA Today Bestseller List, eBooks Outsell Print
By Dianna Dilworth on January 5, 2011 10:09 AM

USA Today is publishing its Best-Selling Books list on Thursday, but the newspaper has already reported that eBook versions of the top six books are doing better than their print counterparts.

USA Today reports: “E-book versions of the top six books outsold the print versions last week. And of the top 50, 19 had higher e-book than print sales. It’s the first time the top-50 list has had more than two titles in which the e-version outsold print.”

[Prem Rogue]

Sister got husband a gift certificate for Borders. We went and he looked at DVD's. They charge double what everyone else does! Friday we will go and look at puzzles for me and I will pay him back so he can get two somewhere else instead 3/4 of one there.

If you sign up for Borders Rewards they send out coupons for 33%, 40%, and sometimes 50% off.  Even then the prices aren't always great compared to, say Amazon Marketplace, but sometimes the coupons make the discount good enough.

[corbie]

I have a card and get nothing. Never have. Do not know why.

[jjake61]

I would be sad if Borders went under I like their selection better than Barnes and Noble. Our house is small and we are book lovers so we decided a while ago to switch to e-readers. My daughter has a kindle. I am waiting for one that has color because If I am going to look at magazines I'll naturally want to see tham in color. I know there is a new color nook, happened to see a tv commercial on one of the rare occaisions I watch tv and not a dvd.

[Dil Bert]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2011/jan/28/amazon-kindle-ebook-paperback-sales?CMP=twt_gu

"In what could be a landmark moment in the struggle between old versus new technology, Amazon has announced that it now sells more copies of its Kindle ebooks than traditional paperbacks.

"The online retailer, in posting its latest financial results, revealed that paid-for sales of the electronic format outstrip its total sales of paperbacks – although combined sales of paperbacks and hardbacks still seem to maintain print's number one spot overall."

[Dil Bert]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/01/us-borders-idUSTRE7109OH20110201

"Borders Group Inc, the second-largest U.S. book chain, may file for bankruptcy later this month, a source familiar with matter said.

The struggling chain, which operates, 500 stores, will likely close at least 150 stores, according to a separate report by Bloomberg News."

[...]


So much for the 'Internet speed' option. 

I guess it will save some jobs, for a while, but I don't see how this does anything except put off the inevitable.

[Dil Bert]

Went into the local Borders this evening; boy, was that depressing.  They seem to have 50% less merchandise to sell than they did the last time I was in, a year or so ago.  It's hard to imagine bankruptcy saving them.  Maybe their coffee shops are keeping them afloat.

[Dil Bert]

Borders, perhaps not long for this world, has an eReader at US $99.

http://www.borders.com/online/store/MediaView_kobowifi

Reviews:
http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/review-of-the-kobo-wireless-e-reader/
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2374409,00.asp

There was a lot of speculation an eReader priced this low would massively accelerate eBook adoption.  Is anyone going to run out and get one now?