Yeah, I’m pausing before comparing it to any kind of other medium. Books are infinitely more embedded than vinyl ever was — never mind tapes or cassettes. It’s a whole extra thing. Perhaps this is the first time they’re challenged in that way.

Like the people spend a fortune on vinyl/cd for the album art etc (I couldn’t imagine buying music that wasn’t entirely portable 1s and 0s), I’ll always want the book, to have and to hold. But even the vinyl purists own mp3 players. Obviously there are differences; not least that I can’t read a book in the time it takes to play an album. But, going on holiday for a couple of weeks, I might just be tempted by those literary 1s and 0s.

I think the e-reader revolution is speculative, and already mired in pricing arguments and functionality issues. Here’s something else: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2009/10/reading_the_kindle.html

Anyways, I don’t see how, given that books are a foundation of so much, they’ll be easily replaced. CDs replaced cassettes because quality was massively enhanced — but with writing there’s just no sense in suggesting that could happen. A story is a story is a story — format isn’t as big an issue.

I really hope it opens doors for small presses, though. And similarly, I hope reduced costs (or what should be reduced costs) won’t harm writers’ royalty cheques.

I believe that this will open the doors to many small-press folks, but at the same time it’s just like everything else on the internet, and we as a society are already overwhelmed with shit.

Thanks,

Carrie aka @shadowsinstone