Why e-books are bound to fail

Why e-books are bound to fail. – ComputerWorld.com

The author of this article believes that the reason e-books is because people LIKE books – they like the paper, the feel, the smell, etc.  Maybe that is so for many people, but I believe that as we move forward as a society, that “love” would go diminish.  My daughter likes to read.  She’s happy to read on a PC, a phone or a PDA. Its all a matter of what you grew up with and are comfortable with.  Don’t get me wrong – books have many advantages over e-books.  You never run out of battery and they’re easy to read in bright light.  But storage and ease of use in many situations is certainly a down-side.

I believe the biggest problem with e-Books is the lack of a standard format. eReader.com has a great library with easy to use digital rights management, but certainly doesn’t have the library that exists in Amazon.  I can’t find some of my favorite authors right now in electronic form.  To me, this is inexcusable, since we know all books exist in electronic form back at the publishers.  Make them available, AT A LESSER PRICE than paper books and I believe you’ll see a much bigger up-take in e-books.

What are your opinions about e-books?  Have you used them?  What was your experience with them?  Love to hear from you.

Will DRM-free music and new subscription services threaten iTunes?

Will DRM-free music and new subscription services threaten iTunes?.

This is an interesting question, but specifically, I think the real question is “Will DRM-free music and new subscription services threaten the iPod?”  Many people use iTunes and purchase music from iTunes because they have an iPod.  You need iTunes in order to make your iPod work as its intended (yes, I know there are hacks). 

The fact that Mr. Jobs has stated that (for the time being) there will be no Apple subscription service will cause some people to reconsider.  I’d like to get an iPod and some of its accessories.  But I really like using Yahoo! Music and URGE subscription services to discover new music and keep my devices fresh.  Because I can’t use these services with an iPod has kept me from getting an iPod.  I don’t buy that much music, but with the subscription services, I have access to more music and a more variety of music than I would ever think about buying.  Maybe in the long run it may not be a lower cost to use a subscription service since I don’t own the music I download, but it certainly meets my budget requirements much easier.  I can only buy 12 CDs worth of music a year (at $10/CD), but I can (and DO) download a heck of a lot more than 150 tracks a year by “renting” them.

So the question really becomes, if you could buy DRM-free music and use subscription services, will that make you reconsider an iPod purchase?  If you could use DRM-free music and subscription services ON an iPod, would you buy the iPod?  Hmmm…

Texting Makes You Dumb? – I don’t think so…

Coolsmartphone.com has the article (http://www.coolsmartphone.com/news3207.html) that talks about the decline of standards in writing and State Examinations Commission in
Ireland feels that it is being caused by texting.  I’ll admit that texting entices you to make short-cuts in your messages, but to claim it lowers our standards of writing is stretching it WAY out.

Technology in general has made it possible to be more “lazy” (and I use that term very loosely), but I don’t believe it lowers our standards. WE, as in the universal, collective WE, lower our own standards by not enforcing those standards. Spell checkers have allowed us to become less adept at spelling by not having to remember how to spell many words, but having a spell checker doesn’t force us to tolerate spelling mistakes.  There is a person I have worked with in the past who would write emails that you had to read 3 or 4 times just to understand what they were saying.  Mis-spelled words, grammatical errors, missing punctuation – you name it, his emails had it.  Is that caused by technology?  NO!  It was a result of people allowing this high-level manager to continue to write in this way without calling him on the carpet and demanding that he improve his communication skills.  By the way, this person is over 45 years old, so while I don’t know what his excuse is, it certainly isn’t texting.

The same applies to our youth of today.  If we do not tolerate poor communication as a society, then our children will rise to the standard. No more excuses.