I think it’s becoming increasingly cool to be anti-technology, anti the move towards a digital realm. Heck, I’m partly that way, as I still prefer my books to an ereader, and my dvd’s to a digital download. But to me that is a personal choice. I see nothing wrong with the people whose entire collection of music only take up a thumb drive worth of space, and not an entire bookshelf. They’re doing more to save the world then I have with all my plastic and yellowing paper graphic novels.
I think what people who resist the tech are not realizing is that the two can exist together. Sure maybe some books will only come out in epub format in the future, but others will still come in the good old paper sense. In fact I think the ones that do come out in paper will be more designed, more crafted, because they will be more than just a commercial corporate product. It will mean something if you buy the print edition instead of the download. Just as CDs and Vinyl have become less relevant during the itunes era indy labels are still cranky out decent profits from their fans because of quality and attention to an art aesthetic. It’s just another option for a new world. And really do we need to fill the landfills with Harlequin romance novels, if they could just as easily be a small 8kb file?
I’ve heard many authors complain about the ebook files. I’ve yet to see one of them refuse to release there books for sale that way. Show me one willing to sacrifice profits for the love of books, please!
The below from
Warren Ellis really kind of sums up my thoughts on the matter.
Dave Eggers:
I don’t want to wake up and look at a screen. I feel like as a society, we try to put everything on that same goddamn screen, and pretty soon we’re going to be eating on the screen or, like, making love through the screen. It’s just sort of like: ‘Why does everything have to be on the screen?’
Some beardy druid from the oral tradition, a few thousand years back:
I don’t want to wake up and look at paper. I feel like as a society, we try to put everything on that same (Brythonic swear word) piece of paper, and pretty soon we’re going to be eating on paper or, forsooth, making love through paper. It’s just sort of like: “Why does everything have to be on the paper?”
