A Little Pissed Off About a Bankruptcy

[Warfish]

I get how business today works. And I get that technology and user preferences are, in many cases, killing off some of my favorite stores.

And no, I wasn't a huge fan of the Wal-Mart'ing of American Retail in the first place. Small knowledgeable stores > huge stores staffed by 16 year olds who don't care.

With all that said.....

I am really tired of my favorite Big Box Retailers going out of business, while (from my perspective) either no alternative remains, or the sh*tty alternative remains.

Record Stores: Tower Records, dead. No Alternative Exists. Yes, I know this one is the most tech driven, as no one buy old ****s buy actual CD's anymore. Even I use iTunes a ton now.

Guitar Stores: MARS Music dies. Guitar Center (the sh*ttiest guitar store chain in history) lives on and thrives. Horrible service, horrible selection, horrible staff (generally), and yet MARS (who was better in all ways) died a fast death.

And no Book Stores: Broders, who in my area ta least was a stratling well-stocked, well-run bookstore chain (where I bought all my books, generally), who even had the best bookstore coffee chain (Seattles Best in my local stores) is now done, dead, to be liqudated. But Barnes & Noble, a horribad chain with worse slection, store layouts, ordering, coffee, seats, ect, ect, ect is somehow living on.

Rant rant rant, rabble, rabble, rabble, old man, old man, old man.

Getting old sucks sometimes. Guess the day is coming where holding qan actual tree-based-paper book in your hands will be deemed antique.

Meh.

[CTM]

get a kindle

[Warfish]

get a kindle

I've seen them. They suck dick comapred to an actual book tbh.

Sorry, E-Readers are no Replacement for Paper and Ink. With Music, it's different, iTunes/iPod plays teh same quality as a CD generally.

But the Kindle? No thanks, I look at a computer screen enough each day, when I want to wind down and read, especially what I read (Millitary History, Sci-Fi, etc) I want to do it in a nice big paper book, easy on the eyes, and can be placed on my bookshelf when finished.

The change to all-digital-everything is not one I'm enjoying. Worse, where the **** is my iMoviePod ffs? Load your DVD's onto an iMoviePod, THAT I would look forward to.

[slats]

This is the way of the world old man, get used to it.

I have to say, books were the last one I was holding onto, too, but as I get older I'm liking the idea of having all of my media on a couple hard drives. When it comes time to leave this chicken stand, all I'll need is a suitcase full of clothes and my laptop.

The music store thing sucks, and that shouldn't be the case. People should still be going into music stores to hold real instruments before buying them. But I'm no help there, either. I buy all my instruments on the used market, and order pedals and tubes, etc., on line.

[sirlancemehlot]

This is the way of the world old man, get used to it.

I have to say, books were the last one I was holding onto, too, but as I get older I'm liking the idea of having all of my media on a couple hard drives. When it comes time to leave this chicken stand, all I'll need is a suitcase full of clothes and my laptop.

The music store thing sucks, and that shouldn't be the case. People should still be going into music stores to hold real instruments before buying them. But I'm no help there, either. I buy all my instruments on the used market, and order pedals and tubes, etc., on line.

The problem with all-electronic books and music is simply this: you can't browse a store, find a gem, discuss it with a fellow music/book lover or a store employee. The actual discovery of new books/music was a huge part of the enjoyment for me. I remember hearing Candlebox at a Tower records and buying a CD long before they ever hit the radio. "Blossom" is still an awesome tune. The same goes for the "beat" writers. Found an old copy of On the Road by Kerouac and that lead me to Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allan Ginsburg, William Burroughs, Louis Ferdinand Celine, Bukowski and others. Now you target a book/band and download it. The process is so streamlined that it basically ensures Oprah's book club books are all anybody reads anymore.

[Warfish]

The problem with all-electronic books and music is simply this: you can't browse a store, find a gem, discuss it with a fellow music/book lover or a store employee. The actual discovery of new books/music was a huge part of the enjoyment for me. I remember hearing Candlebox at a Tower records and buying a CD long before they ever hit the radio. "Blossom" is still an awesome tune. The same goes for the "beat" writers. Found an old copy of On the Road by Kerouac and that lead me to Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allan Ginsburg, William Burroughs, Louis Ferdinand Celine, Bukowski and others. Now you target a book/band and download it. The process is so streamlined that it basically ensures Oprah's book club books are all anybody reads anymore.

Excellent point.

Finding a good Millitary History book is more than looking at covers and reading he ultra-brief/incomplete descriptions/reviews on a website. It's picking it up, reading a few pages, etc. And I found most of the best music by going to Tower, and just browsing around (In fairness, iTunes isn't bad for this either).

Like I said, a personal dissapointment in two ways, that paper books are headed to history, and that of the two massive chain stores, the one I feel is sh*tty won and the good one is dead. I loves going to a big Borders on a lazy Sat. afternoon, snagging a good coffee, and just browsing through the War & History section.

[slats]

The problem with all-electronic books and music is simply this: you can't browse a store, find a gem, discuss it with a fellow music/book lover or a store employee. The actual discovery of new books/music was a huge part of the enjoyment for me. I remember hearing Candlebox at a Tower records and buying a CD long before they ever hit the radio. "Blossom" is still an awesome tune. The same goes for the "beat" writers. Found an old copy of On the Road by Kerouac and that lead me to Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allan Ginsburg, William Burroughs, Louis Ferdinand Celine, Bukowski and others. Now you target a book/band and download it. The process is so streamlined that it basically ensures Oprah's book club books are all anybody reads anymore.

Just so we're clear here, I'm 47 years old. I used to spend my entire paycheck in record stores, buying albums because I liked the cover, the name of the band, or a couple song titles, just to bring it home and hope for the best. Those days are simply gone.

On the techno flipside is that we now have forums like this where people come to discuss football and wind up suggesting bands, movies, TV shows, etc., to "friends" they've made on line. There's a whole different world of stuff that's opened up to me that wouldn't've been available to me just going into my local shops. Online rating sites, Google searches, Stumbleupon.com, etc. There's just more stuff being thrown at you from every which way, and you get to navigate thru that with your real and virtual friends.

I think there will always be hole in the wall bookstores for people who can't get enough of the printed word. Maybe you'll need to live in a city to get it, but it will be there. In the meantime, there's an endless supply of new things just waiting for you to discover, download, and enjoy in a matter of a couple minutes. Pretty cool, I think.

[sirlancemehlot]

Just so we're clear here, I'm 47 years old. I used to spend my entire paycheck in record stores, buying albums because I liked the cover, the name of the band, or a couple song titles, just to bring it home and hope for the best. Those days are simply gone.

On the techno flipside is that we now have forums like this where people come to discuss football and wind up suggesting bands, movies, TV shows, etc., to "friends" they've made on line. There's a whole different world of stuff that's opened up to me that wouldn't've been available to me just going into my local shops. Online rating sites, Google searches, Stumbleupon.com, etc. There's just more stuff being thrown at you from every which way, and you get to navigate thru that with your real and virtual friends.

I think there will always be hole in the wall bookstores for people who can't get enough of the printed word. Maybe you'll need to live in a city to get it, but it will be there. In the meantime, there's an endless supply of new things just waiting for you to discover, download, and enjoy in a matter of a couple minutes. Pretty cool, I think.

yeah, but doing it all from desk chair instead of getting out and making an afternoon of it = why we are fat and distracted and generally disinterested in the tangible world. There's good and bad in everything of course. And I wouldn't trade my computer for a set of encyclopedias. It'd just be nice if we could still have both. Business is business though. Walking through a video store with my kids, helping them pick out a new movie--that's gone. and browsing on netflix isn't the same thing by a longshot.

[hoping4ASuperBowl]

yeah, but doing it all from desk chair instead of getting out and making an afternoon of it = why we are fat and distracted and generally disinterested in the tangible world. There's good and bad in everything of course. And I wouldn't trade my computer for a set of encyclopedias. It'd just be nice if we could still have both. Business is business though. Walking through a video store with my kids, helping them pick out a new movie--that's gone. and browsing on netflix isn't the same thing by a longshot.

I may not be as old as some people here, but I can understand the arguments on here. I still miss the days when arcades were awesome hang out spots with friends after school and doing laser tag also. But as with all technology, it's gets more and more convenient, everything we want is at our fingertips on our computers, tv, internet. Everything has become so convenient that we don't need to leave the house for anything. We've made ourselves lazy.

[Barcs]

Basically businesses need to get with the times or be left behind. Borders failed to adapt and therefor are going out of business. Everything is online now. Books, music, television, everything. There's no reason Borders doesn't have an ebook site or site to purchase books online and close the physical store. We live in the digital age, get with the times or go out of business.

you can't browse a store, find a gem, discuss it with a fellow music/book lover or a store employee.

There's tons of reading forums on the internet. You're doing it wrong if you actually think you can't discuss books with fellow readers before or after purchasing. Same with music and everything else. In fact, with things online you have a much larger variety of people to discuss it with and might get a better understanding, rather than talking to 1 or 2 select people in your area.

yeah, but doing it all from desk chair instead of getting out and making an afternoon of it = why we are fat and distracted and generally disinterested in the tangible world.

Convenience is no excuse for lazyness. If anything you save the time usually spent going to the store, and have more time to work out and get in shape.

[RutgersJetFan]

The problem with all-electronic books and music is simply this: you can't browse a store, find a gem, discuss it with a fellow music/book lover or a store employee.

A lot of people say this, but there are real, non-nostalgic, logistical problems with e-readers. I think the main problem is simply a matter of convenience. E-books are NOT what MP3 players were to CD's. People don't mark notes in their music, they don't need to reference things quickly throughout their collections of CD's, and most importantly, almost straight off the bat people were able to find whatever music they wanted in MP3 format; because it was done quickly, and albeit illegally.

It's great for new releases and books you want to skim through, and reading magazines and newspapers, but it's still a niche. Regular books are going nowhere anytime soon. I bought a Nook last year and I can't stand the thing. I can't quickly highlight or write a note down, it's a pain in the a$$ to reference things, and I already have enough things in my life that I need to charge and update. I love my iPad to death, but I rarely use it for the reader.

The selection also sucks balls. Licensing isn't somewhat consolidated like it is for music. 90% of the time I can't even find the book I want to read on digital format.

[T0mShane]

All you people are old and sad.

[JerryK]

I'm not giving up books. My degree is in Computer Science; so I realize I shouldn't have this opinion.

But I also remember 8-track tapes. And HD-DVDs.

So let's say for a moment that I 'get cool' and commit my entire library into the new "Google/Facebook Read-o-Matic 2000".

Then let's say 5yrs from now the format changes, and ALL my reading material becomes the new 8-track tape?

Lighten up Jerry, you say. Surely there will be a 'conversion utility' of some kind.

But my library upstairs doesn't need conversion. And I own enough crap in my life that needs to be polished, cleaned, firmware updated, repaired etc, that I don't want to add 'library upgrade maintenance' to that list.

Sorry kiddies, I ain't playing.

[war ensemble]

The problem with all-electronic books and music is simply this: you can't browse a store, find a gem, discuss it with a fellow music/book lover or a store employee. The actual discovery of new books/music was a huge part of the enjoyment for me. I remember hearing Candlebox at a Tower records and buying a CD long before they ever hit the radio. "Blossom" is still an awesome tune. The same goes for the "beat" writers. Found an old copy of On the Road by Kerouac and that lead me to Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allan Ginsburg, William Burroughs, Louis Ferdinand Celine, Bukowski and others. Now you target a book/band and download it. The process is so streamlined that it basically ensures Oprah's book club books are all anybody reads anymore.

Barnes and Noble's newest Nook ereaders have fairly strong social features--sharing books, starting book clubs, etc. I think that covers much of the same thing if you have friends under the same ecosystem. If you don't, there's still nothing stopping you from talking to fellow music/book lovers...

The thing that killed Borders was they refused to embrace the ereader stuff until too late. B&N now has the Nook, which they've cleverly made to complement their in-store offerings (ie. you can only do some stuff, like try out a book, in store). I've always preferred B&N over Border's though. Their signature edition books are very very handy and cheap, and they have a good and nicely-ordered selection of most everything I'd want. There's a certain small bookstore in Stroudsburg, PA that holds my heart, though lol. Great selection, the guy that runs the place knows everything about every book, they have all the rare/controversial books other stores might neglect, and it's just so logically laid out. I could browse that place for hours and it's not that big. Every time I go I leave with over 10 books.

[bitonti]

as war ensemble noted there are many independent book stores that are doing just fine... because they specialize in a niche market, know their inventory, buy exciting or rare things etc.

the failure of borders will only help the little guy.

[Warfish]

as war ensemble noted there are many independent book stores that are doing just fine... because they specialize in a niche market, know their inventory, buy exciting or rare things etc.

the failure of borders will only help the little guy.

Not in my locale there isn't. Perhaps deep in DC, where th big box stores are effectively banned, that may be true. But Barnes & Noble is still strong enough to dominate mid-size towns like those in NoVA. I doubt this will have much effect other than helping B&N.

Small Bookstores, while great (to me) in principle, as I like small busines, doesn;t reallt replace Borders for me. Borders appeal was massive well-stocked sections of the topics I enjoyed most, and employees with at least basic competency (and a kickass magazine section). I will miss it tbh. Small bookstores by nature have tiny sections on specific topics, and generally little to no magazine selection.

Of course, magazines are a dying form as well these days.

[bitonti]

Not in my locale there isn't.

even if that's true most of the independents have online retail stores and you might get an email every month or two to talk about new stock.

by the way Warfish i looked up book stores in NoVa and there's a tremendous amount of Bible Book stores in that area. Not your cup of tea? perhaps it's time you changed areas my friend.

[faba]

Society has gone the way of wanting instant gratification for all things.

I read my books -I want a physical book to read -no Kindle for me

[Warfish]

even if that's true most of the independents have online retail stores and you might get an email every month or two to talk about new stock.

I despise online shopping. I want to look at the thing I'm buying before I buy it. The trend to "all shopping is online shopping" is another bad one IMO.

by the way Warfish i looked up book stores in NoVa and there's a tremendous amount of Bible Book stores in that area. Not your cup of tea? perhaps it's time you changed areas my friend.

Shocking for the VERY blue/liberal Northern VA, wouldn't you agree?

And yes, a move is in the works.

[Plus One]

The book superstore concept was a flawed one from the beginning. Never turned inventory fast enough to generate sufficient sales per square foot to justify the inventory carrying costs. Only hope was if they could make it up on haigh margin coffee sales. But, lets face it, you can't sell enough coffee in a 1,500 square foot cafe to make up for 28,500 square feet of dead space. Only reason they lasted this long was that publishers took most of the inventory risk in terms of markdowns and whatnot.

Unfortunately, the publishing industry is heading toward 100% electronic distribution.

I say unfortunately because I agree with Warfish - I'd much rather read a printed book than a Kindle, IPad, or other electronic device.

[war ensemble]

I despise online shopping. I want to look at the thing I'm buying before I buy it. The trend to "all shopping is online shopping" is another bad one IMO.

Shocking for the VERY blue/liberal Northern VA, wouldn't you agree?

And yes, a move is in the works.

Most places let you read a limited version, or at least a number of excerpts from the book before buying. Amazon preview, google books etc.

One of the best things about ebooks in my opinion is that all the stuff before the new copyright laws (ie. like pre-1954 I think?) are pretty much free. Project Gutenberg etc. are awesome.

[Larz]

when the libraries fail, it's time to worry

otherwise, get a card. my kids go every week

[Plus One]

Most places let you read a limited version, or at least a number of excerpts from the book before buying. Amazon preview, google books etc.

One of the best things about ebooks in my opinion is that all the stuff before the new copyright laws (ie. like pre-1954 I think?) are pretty much free. Project Gutenberg etc. are awesome.

Only thing that sucks about the previews, at least on Kindle, is that they give you the first 20 or so pages of the book, beginning with the introduction, acknowledgements, etc. Doesn't allow you to flip around and get a feel for the book before you buy.

[Barcs]

Then let's say 5yrs from now the format changes, and ALL my reading material becomes the new 8-track tape?

Lighten up Jerry, you say. Surely there will be a 'conversion utility' of some kind.

As a computer science guy, how can you say that? There will always be software you can use to view the older stuff, because it's not a physical device. Even if a company discontinues it there will ALWAYS be a 3rd party utility you can use. Digital media isn't even close to the same thing as physical DVDs and 8 tracks. I hope you aren't a computer tech lol.

[slats]

when the libraries fail, it's time to worry

otherwise, get a card. my kids go every week

This.

If you love holding a book, you can always hold a free one a couple weeks at a time courtesy of your local library.

For me, I love this new digital age - and we're still in it's infancy. I already moved once in the last few years and I'm looking to move again. I've got a number of boxes of books and CD's that I opened to find one or two things, but otherwise they've gone untouched. Someday, I hope to pack up and leave for another country (did someone say, "good riddance"?), and I'm looking forward to having a ton of books, movies, and CD's stored on a couple portable hard drives in my lap top case, ready to be accessed at a moment's notice. It's freakin' brilliant, if you ask me.

[Warfish]

As a computer science guy, how can you say that? There will always be software you can use to view the older stuff, because it's not a physical device. Even if a company discontinues it there will ALWAYS be a 3rd party utility you can use. Digital media isn't even close to the same thing as physical DVDs and 8 tracks. I hope you aren't a computer tech lol.

As an avid video gamer, I can say it.

Until very recently, older games and game systems either required a seperate machine running slower CPU's, or the original console hardware and cartridge, to be able to play. There was no back-tech to play older games or current gen PC's, and apart from Sony's PS systems, not much back-tech to play older console systems games.

Only recently has there been some advances in third-party software to play older things on current systems (in the PC realm), consoles are (generally) still screwed.

A book made of paper is effectively eternal (for far longer than my own lifetime, if treated well). It requires no added technology to utilize or enjoy, it provides full featured content in and of itself.

A Kindle (for example) may be great today, but your Kindle book file in 20 years will almost guaranteed be multiple generations of out-dated and obsolete. You (the owner) will hence be required to constantly update the equipment, software and teh data itself to newer, more current formats and tech as time marches on. You will be required to keep a watchful eye on such things, lest you miss a step, or the conversion software become unavailable, or quite possibly no conversion software is created. Lord knows it's not in the publishers interests to create conversion software, they'd rather you rebuy it in a newer formet for their newest tablet, pod or holodeck-e-reader.

If we both do nothing, my book is as perfect as the day it was printed. Your Kindle is a formerly expensive obsolete paperweight, and the file your book is in no longer supported and may or may not work at all by that point, assuming your 20 year old Kindle still works. If you've upgraded systems over that period, perhaps multiple times, you've invested and reinvested money to do so, and if you're able to convert your files, you likely will ahve also invested into the conversion software (perhaps freeware, but I doubt it).

Beyond all that extra hassle, I have a nice looking library of books in my home, you have a cheap POS plastic pad, hard to read in sunlight or low-light, small, cold and disposable. I have a cherished physical object (objects) to pass along to the kids I have no intention of ever having.

Our pendign future od all-disposable, outdated-in-a-year plastic everything is not always an improvment in quality of life. What you gain in portabillity (an entire libary in your pocket, for cheap) you lose in other places as time and technology marches on.

TLDR: Hurf a Bluf a Durf, Warfish is now OFFICIALLY Grand-pa Simpsom pointing his cane at clouds and yelling!

As for Libaries: No thanks. I'm an owner, not a borrower. I would say more, but this is not, in fact, the JI Poli-Sci section. Lets just say Public Libraries are the very FIRST places that should be 100% digitized and digitally (online) distributed, and the costly physical plants/property/books liquidated.

[ECURB]

And no Book Stores: Broders, who in my area ta least was a stratling well-stocked, well-run bookstore chain (where I bought all my books, generally), who even had the best bookstore coffee chain (Seattles Best in my local stores) is now done, dead, to be liqudated. But Barnes & Noble, a horribad chain with worse slection, store layouts, ordering, coffee, seats, ect, ect, ect is somehow living on.

Barnes and Noble is a better BOOK store... while Borders was a gimmick store with Books...

I've seen them. They suck dick comapred to an actual book tbh.

Sorry, E-Readers are no Replacement for Paper and Ink. With Music, it's different, iTunes/iPod plays teh same quality as a CD generally.

But the Kindle? No thanks, I look at a computer screen enough each day, when I want to wind down and read, especially what I read (Millitary History, Sci-Fi, etc) I want to do it in a nice big paper book, easy on the eyes, and can be placed on my bookshelf when finished.

The change to all-digital-everything is not one I'm enjoying. Worse, where the **** is my iMoviePod ffs? Load your DVD's onto an iMoviePod, THAT I would look forward to.

Have you ever seen a kindle in person? Nothing like a computer screen... literally looks like paper... my g/f who has hundreds of books got one recently and likes it... and she swore she would never get an e-reader...

[JerryK]

As a computer science guy, how can you say that? There will always be software you can use to view the older stuff, because it's not a physical device. Even if a company discontinues it there will ALWAYS be a 3rd party utility you can use. Digital media isn't even close to the same thing as physical DVDs and 8 tracks. I hope you aren't a computer tech lol.

Ok Skippy, first I'm not a 'computer tech'. That's the name for people in an IT dept who chose an MIS degree because they were too stupid, drunk, or lazy to handle a Computer Science curriculum. They're the people who get lots of Microsoft certifications to hide their fear of Unix environments.

You might want to re-read (or read completely) my original post. Things becoming obsolete is the problem, not the physical storage medium (which also becomes obsolete too quickly). With the exception of solid-state storage, digital media is exactly the same thing as physical DVDs and 8 tracks. Hard disks are glass platters coated with the same magnetic material as tape. Audio tapes store an analog waveform rather than binary data, but it's still just a long string of highs and lows dependent on a thin magnetic coating. Whether you decode the information with an amplifier or digital logic device isn't relevant.

Last week I dug thru an old bin and saw some cool vinyl albums my kids would like. Then I remembered I haven't owned a record player in 25yrs. This is the issue: Don't put your life's most critical information in a format you can't pick up and touch at a moment's notice.

I don't want to convert my entire library every 5 years. I have a lawn to mow, cars that break, kids to take to ballgames, and Windows PCs that continually crap down their leg. No time to chase format changes for every book I've ever owned.

I think I'll add something I didn't put in my first post. Electricity. If the world S**ts the bed, via politics, comets, or anything else, how are we going to power up our gizmoids to read anything? And if the great invention on my Ipod is found 300yrs from now, what if electricity's around but nobody's used wires or batteries in 100 years?

Resistance is not futile. I will not be assimilated. The only threat to my books is water and fire; I'm good with that.

[Aten]

Free market leaves millions without access to health care = them's the breaks.

Free market leaves Warfish without access to von Clausewitz = big tragedy.

[Warfish]

Barnes and Noble is a better BOOK store... while Borders was a gimmick store with Books...

As I tried to make clear, in my area Borders is excellent, well-run and exceptionally well-stocked.

Barnes & Noble is a messy poorly-stocked annoying pushy (especially for e-readers, where they acost you at the front door) salesman-filled fail.

Since I only really care about me, it's the local stores in my locale I care most about, but I freely admit other areas may experience other things in re: these two.

Have you ever seen a kindle in person? Nothing like a computer screen... literally looks like paper... my g/f who has hundreds of books got one recently and likes it... and she swore she would never get an e-reader...

I'm pleased your gf is pleased. I have seen them, and I do not like them in any form. Just not a fan of many of these new portables, I don't own a blackberry or iPad either, and have no interest in changing that.

Free market leaves millions without access to health care = them's the breaks.

Free market leaves Warfish without access to von Clausewitz = big tragedy.

Tragedy? Not exactly, I assure you, I'll make do just fine, just have to adapt to internet-ordering like many others.

I was unaware Poli-Sci was permitted, Max had informed me it was not, so I'll refrain from replying to this further. Obvious bait-troll is obvious.

[HessStation]

This thread is so right up my alley. I've been a collector nerd for, like, ever. I have a finished basement which I lined with bookshelves for books and DVDs. I did finally get an ipod few years back and tossed the CD's.

But I LOVE my room I can go in and see basically all these books and movies that take up two full walls. Makes me sad and sorta angry.

I'm 1000% with Warfish. that's just me.

[Warfish]

This thread is so right up my alley. I've been a collector nerd for, like, ever. I have a finished basement which I lined with bookshelves for books and DVDs. I did finally get an ipod few years back and tossed the CD's.

But I LOVE my room I can go in and see basically all these books and movies that take up two full walls. Makes me sad and sorta angry.

I'm 1000% with Warfish. that's just me.

Indeed. I too got an iPod, and I enjoy the hell out of it tbh. But with that said, I still miss buying and owning CD's and having them displayed in my bookcases. In fact, generally speaking I still buy the CD of bands I really like (if possible), even tho iTunes is cheaper.

For me I just don't see the same revelation for a Kindle as an iPod was. Music is far less tangible than a book is, to me.

[HessStation]

Just so we're clear here, I'm 47 years old. I used to spend my entire paycheck in record stores, buying albums because I liked the cover, the name of the band, or a couple song titles, just to bring it home and hope for the best. Those days are simply gone.

On the techno flipside is that we now have forums like this where people come to discuss football and wind up suggesting bands, movies, TV shows, etc., to "friends" they've made on line. There's a whole different world of stuff that's opened up to me that wouldn't've been available to me just going into my local shops. Online rating sites, Google searches, Stumbleupon.com, etc. There's just more stuff being thrown at you from every which way, and you get to navigate thru that with your real and virtual friends.

I think there will always be hole in the wall bookstores for people who can't get enough of the printed word. Maybe you'll need to live in a city to get it, but it will be there. In the meantime, there's an endless supply of new things just waiting for you to discover, download, and enjoy in a matter of a couple minutes. Pretty cool, I think.

LOL that was so me too. I used to be so proud of my collection. Then I shared 3 hard drives and have every single song you can think. So I guess it worked out for music but I still miss looking for used CD's...and books for that matter. Not the same doing it on the internet.

And I've bought almost all my guitars from Guitar World...overpaid for them and then needed them set up to boot...yep.

Again, I really do agree with Warfish. Nothing I can do about it, I get it, but it still sucks imo.

[HessStation]

as war ensemble noted there are many independent book stores that are doing just fine... because they specialize in a niche market, know their inventory, buy exciting or rare things etc.

the failure of borders will only help the little guy.

There were 3 really good used book stores I could get to within 30 minutes from my house. All 3 have closed this past year.

Your post is so glaringly wrong and misinformed I don't know where to begin other than saying you are wrong.

[war ensemble]

Only thing that sucks about the previews, at least on Kindle, is that they give you the first 20 or so pages of the book, beginning with the introduction, acknowledgements, etc. Doesn't allow you to flip around and get a feel for the book before you buy.

The only thing I really have experience with is Google Books, which lets you start from anywhere and kind of limits you as you keep turning pages. Some sections are occasionally completely removed but it works well enough. You don't know how many book quotes I've found for papers based off remembering a word/phrase and searching that in the book--even for copyrighted stuff.