Borders Books to go out of business (Pittsburgh, Reading: sales, leases)

[fleetiebelle]

You can on a Nook with specific kinds of books (and usually for a specific amount of time.) I like my Nook for traveling or throwing in my purse when I'm taking the T or waiting for my car's oil change, but I don't get nearly the sense of personal satisfaction looking at the list of files on the device that I do when I look over my bookshelves. The tactile experience of a book is missing, and reading on a screen isn't the same.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I just hate how it's turning people (namely my generation) into socially-aloof and mindless drones. Nobody really even talks on the phone anymore. As I've learned from work nobody checks their voicemails; they just see a missed call and either dial the number OR text it to find out who it is. Back in Reston I can't tell you how many times I had people there who were texting just walk into me and keep going without even acknowledging the fact that they had collided with me. I see so many people in other vehicles who have a passenger that is on the phone/texting instead of talking to the driver or other occupants, and, sadly, I also see many DRIVERS texting. I still recall one time in Reston when friends and I went out for dinner. After we placed our orders the entire table (save for me) whipped out their Smartphones and started playing games, Tweeting, updating their Facebooks, going through photos, texting, etc. while totally ignoring their REAL LIFE company all around them. I worry that within another generation or two people will have lost the art of non-electronic social communication.

I'm curious why you felt it was important to note that people in Reston were doing these things. Are you saying people in Pittsburgh don't use smartphones, update Facebook, send tweets in a restaurant, walk into people while texting, etc?

[Caladium]

I like used books, when people have written notes in a margin. (Depending on the notes, of course. Sometimes people just write remarks to be rude or that have nothing at all to do with the book.) Used book stores are some of my favorite places to be on a hot day like today. Or on a rainy day. Or on a snowy day. Or any day. I like the smell of a store full of books--that's one thing a Kindle can't duplicate.

I also like reading books on an electronic device because I can increase the size of the print. I read a lot of medical texts, and sometimes the print is so small it's hard to tell one 20-letter, 4-syllable medical term from another (especially when you have complex terminology where a single letter changes the meaning between two almost identical words.)

I'm sorry Borders is going out of business, though. I knew it was inevitable but it's sad, never-the-less.

[mckeesport_alum]

You can't compare reading a book on a laptop, smartphone, or tablet to an e-Ink reader like Kindle or Nook (not the Nook Color). Development of e-Ink over the next couple of years is going to be great.

[MathmanMathman]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

And when the technology goes out of date, buy the book all over again for a different format.

You have the same issue with vinyl records and CDs. You have to have specialized machines to hear them. But don't worry, electronic file formats are becoming standardized and even if the format is changed, there will be software to do the conversion.

Same reason I don't go for digital music. I'll have my CDs and book collection the rest of my life. Books never go out of date and CDs pretty much last forever. Hell, I still have vinyl and 78s from the 1920s.

I'm convinced that "modern" technology developments for reading and listening to music are gimmicks created by an industry trying to re-sell us things we already bought.

I can remember when people thought of CDs as that "new technology" but they can't compare to my vinyl records.

Digital music and books are good for people who just want to read something once, or listen to something until they grow tired of it. Real books and tangible mediums are for book-lovers and collectors who want to hold something for posterity.

Personally, I prefer scrolls to those new fangled "books". Nothing has the same look and feel as a scroll. That and stone tablets. Bet a stone tablet lasts longer than those danged paper books.

[fleetiebelle]

. I like the smell of a store full of books--that's one thing a Kindle can't duplicate.

That, and the random browsing, where you pick up a book just because it's blue or the cover looks interesting or because it was next to the book you were looking for. That's harder to do on a device.

[MathmanMathman]

Sorry guys, but I think e-readers will win out in the long run. They have overwhelming advantages such as cost and convenience. Authors write and submit their works electronically so why take that and turn it into a paper printout and bind it in a hard cover which then has to be boxed and shipped in a truck and then sit in a heated/cooled store and if it doesn't sell, it is shipped back to the publisher or drastically marked down. We can skip all that and send an electronic copy straight to your low-power e-reader that can be reused to show thousands and thousands of other books and even the newspaper. Talk about being "green". People with e-readers often end up reading many more books than they would have otherwise.

If not this generation, I'm sure the younger up-and-coming generations will embrace ebooks.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

That, and the random browsing, where you pick up a book just because it's blue or the cover looks interesting or because it was next to the book you were looking for. That's harder to do on a device.

Completely agree with this, there's many a book i just randomly picked up because say the cover looked cool that ended up being excellent but which I otherwise would not have looked for. I fear that if everything goes electronic in the book world the only books available will be those that are either written by already established authors or heavily promoted in some way. It's not like in music where you can here an obscure artist play live or on the radio & then spread the word to download the song.
I also like to physically see how many pages i have left to read.

[fleetiebelle]

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

Sorry guys, but I think e-readers will win out in the long run. They have overwhelming advantages such as cost and convenience. Authors write and submit their works electronically so why take that and turn it into a paper printout and bind it in a hard cover which then has to be boxed and shipped in a truck and then sit in a heated/cooled store and if it doesn't sell, it is shipped back to the publisher or drastically marked down. We can skip all that and send an electronic copy straight to your low-power e-reader that can be reused to show thousands and thousands of other books and even the newspaper. Talk about being "green". People with e-readers often end up reading many more books than they would have otherwise.

If not this generation, I'm sure the younger up-and-coming generations will embrace ebooks.

I don't think it's an either/or situation. People can have a Kindle or a Nook, and still love real books. After all, people have iPods, but they still go to concerts, and people with DVD players still go to the movies.

[MathmanMathman]

Originally Posted by UKyank

Completely agree with this, there's many a book i just randomly picked up because say the cover looked cool that ended up being excellent but which I otherwise would not have looked for. I fear that if everything goes electronic in the book world the only books available will be those that are either written by already established authors or heavily promoted in some way. It's not like in music where you can here an obscure artist play live or on the radio & then spread the word to download the song.

Ebooks might in fact promote more authors. They can upload their novels or short stories to sites and for a small fee, a person can download their work. For $1, a new author might have a lot of takers. Just take a look at the explosion of app writers for iPhones and Androids.

I also like to physically see how many pages i have left to read.

Eh...a progression bar could show you that.