NYTimes.com – All Boarded Up
Rather lengthy article about the mortgage & foreclosure situation in Cleveland, where “The city estimates that 10,000 houses, or 1 in 13, are vacant.”
Well written and interesting articles like this make me want to read the newspaper more frequently and more thoroughly, though the quality of our local papers leaves a lot to be desired. Thank God for the Internet.
I’ve been looking around at eBook readers recently and praying we see something like Amazon’s Kindle released here soon. Its Internet connectivity via an internal mobile phone network data modem and the subscription service to newspapers and magazines are very inviting, though lack of an Australian Amazon.com.au outlet don’t have me holding my breath.
Having spent a decade loyal to Dymocks, the past 2-3 years I’ve almost solely shopped at Borders for their massive and varied stock and perhaps more because of their longer opening hours and my lifestyle.
Dymocks has popped up on the radar again recently with news of on demand printing, promotion of audio books via Audible and eBook offerings, as well as eBook readers. Unfortunately these most geeky devices are still very expensive and Dymocks’ electronic sci-fi/fantasy offerings are, to be kind, thin.
The future is almost here. Just need to watch how the antediluvian book publishing industry deals with their customers’ demand for alternate formats against the existing insular structure of publishing rights and firm borders between markets.
Oh how I wish to read smart things from smart people and be excited to pay for their work. Currently, $1.10 for the daily paper feels like a losing bet every time.
March 17th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Damn regwall. It’s annoying enough that I don’t go to any nytimes.com links.
I wouldn’t hold my breath for the book industry to respond much differently to the other content industries either. Why wouldn’t books go to P2P the same way as TV, movies and music?
March 19th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Hey, updated the link to get you through.
I don’t understand the P2P comment. Are you saying the content will be ripped off? Just as the delivery mechanism changes, so too will the way to monetize the content, it’s already happening. Free pdfs, of introductory chapters or whole books, are driving paperback sales. I don’t know how long this will last, the paperback book will last a lot longer than any other printed media because of the experience and duration of the interaction.
Magazines and trade/scientific journals will find charging for their online content easier than newspapers, though NYTimes and others are already seeing their opinion, editorials and long pieces respected enough to have readers pay for online access. Instantaneous news has been so widely syndicated in an open way that it will take a long time to lock down that part of the industry.
March 22nd, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Ripped off? Probably. Why would books be immune to what has happened to other content once they’ve gone digital?