One final comment thread on the future of print. I'd like you all to rate on a scale of 1 to 5 (one being the afore mentioned horse, five being they'll thrive forever) the fate of the three ink on paper mediums we've considered this week. I'll go first:
Magazines — (-100)One isn't low enough. Magazines are dead tree media walking. The iPad finished them off, they just don't realize it yet.
Books — (3) Big, art or foto driven coffee table books will live on. But mass market paperbacks and most best sellers are moving to tablet devices before too long.
Newspapers (1) — I think small-market dailies such as the Inter Lake face a future of contraction. Weeklies such as the Beacon probably have a brighter future. And a few national dailies will survive for now, NY Times and USA Today, at least until some future tech development pulls an iPad and finisheds them off too.
Post your votes by Friday please. Look for some additional information posts on the death of Steve Jobs and and our upcoming unit on sound media. All for now.
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Posted for Angela Allen
ReplyDeleteMagazines and Newspapers I would give a 2. I think they will meet their demise around the same time and I predict this will occur around the end of the baby boomers. The generations after them have in most cases been raised with technology and therefore have no real use for magazines or newspapers. Baby boomers however, were not raised with technology and are accustomed to magazines and newspapers.
Books- This is a hopeful vote of a 3. I love books and I hope that they survive the tablets. Tablets are brilliant and a great option, but I hope that they stay an option. I think that the baby boomers will help books stay around for the next 20-30 years. Tablets are so new that even people in their 20's and 30's are accustomed to books. I think that sales will decline, maybe even drastically but I think that books will survive for the next few decades. Like I said, this may just be a hopeful vote!
Magazines - (2) Yes, magazine subscriptions are decreasing. Yes, tablet devices are killing them off. However, magazines are likely to stick around for (at least) a few decades before disappearing completely. I just don't see all those doctors' offices and auto repair shops buying a bunch of tablets for people to look at right yet.
ReplyDeleteBooks - (2) I'm giving books a two for the same reason as magazines. They're likely to be gone in at least a few decades. There are still enough people with a preference for physical copies to keep books alive that long.
Newspapers - (3) Note: the only areas newspapers will likely keep any longevity are larger population centers. Big city newspapers and newspapers distributed nationally (like USA Today) will last much longer than the more rural publications.
Sadly, I think that we're only at the beginning of the end of an era. I'm going to have to give Newspapers and Magazines a score of (1) as they each have more internet based competition and rely more heavily on advertising revenue than books. I give Books a score of (2) for the same reasons...I think they will last in the printed form longer as they don't rely as heavily on advertising nor do they have as much internet based competition. I also think the book industry may be revived if the publishers are truly beginning to focus more wholly on the consumer than on the next "blockbuster". However, I definitely see the digital form of books growing more and more popular until the printed form is all but obsolete. Eventually.
ReplyDeleteI would give magazines a 2. I don't think they'll be around much longer, but I do think they will outlast newspapers. There are magazines for every interest - fishing to motor racing to makeup/clothing/accessories - which I think will help to prolong their survival for a little while. Eventually, though, it will become cheaper for them to be only on the Internet. It will be strange to see waiting rooms without them, but that is the reality we will someday face. As for newspapers, I give them a 1. I don't think they are long for the world. They will definitely be completely online before long. Weeklies will last a bit longer, but not by much. I give books a 4. I think they are probably here to stay. They will become more popular online, but I don't think that I can foresee a future in which the printed book does not exist. I think there will continue to be a small fraction of books in print. People like print. Many like holding something and having a tangible sense of how much progress they have made. I think books will exist in both forms, with the majority being online.
ReplyDeleteMagazines (1)... I am actually surprised that these still occupy such a large area of most bookstores. I love magazines and have a small collection lying in the throne-room. After all, it's kind of weird to take the computer in there. Anyhow, the internet is much, much better at giving quick snippets of information and there are far more niche markets available, which is what magazines are all about. Outside of airport concourses, these things dead.
ReplyDeleteBooks (4)... Books are far too dear, to far too many people to be on their way out. I do think that e-books will continue to outpace the legacy product, but they will not kill it... not completely.
Newspapers (2)... Even though the paper as we know it will cease to exist, I still believe that some version of the legacy product has a chance at success. Dailies will be long gone before we know it, but weeklies still have a fighting chance if done right.
Just a side note here: will you be posting our grades on D2L, Rob?
ReplyDeleteMagazines -2- What sports guy is going to go without his Sports Illustrated (swim suit edition)? You can't hold the computer monitor, but you can sure hold on to that magazine. You know they have to have a pin up wall as well - just check out any mechanic's shop! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat about Mother Earth News? I want that in my hands, I've a collection I've read and re-read and still refer to articles, many you would be hard pressed to locate with ease on the internet.
Books -5- Can't go with out them. Portable, convenient, and just something about the feel of a book. You can't feel the Internet, and who wants to print all that stuff?
Newspapers -2- I still think local news will survive. It's community, and as you mentioned Rob, boy was it important when your daughter made the sports pages. Just something about the "original" in your hand. The fact the the family, the community, and the reporters thought there was interest and value, wow! And you had bragging rights!
Books
Molly, I was planning on posting grades after the midterm.
ReplyDelete