As most of us could have guessed with the rise in new technology and our world trying to be "green" that the fall in paper "book" sales would go down. As this NY Times articles states "E-books accounted for just 1.3 percent of all book sales. But their sales skyrocketed 176.6 percent over the previous year." This rise in sales will only increase as this new technology grows.
One of the first devices to take over was the Barnes & Noble Nook. The nook is the first electronic book reader to be based on the Android platform. You can purchase and read books through the Nook instead of buying individual books and wasting the paper. One great feature of the nook is the "LendMe" feature where some books are licensed for sharing. In those cases, the purchaser is permitted to share a book once, with one other user, for up to two weeks. Users will be able to share purchased books with others who are using Barnes & Noble's reader application software for iPhone, iPod Touch, Mac, and Windows.
Another device that can not only decrease book sales but also has an impact on the advertising world. Less than 2 weeks ago the i-Pad was born. The iPad is a table computer which is smaller than a labtop and is a larger than an iTouch. It runs iPad-specific applications as well as those written for the iPhone and iPod touch, including e-book readers. The iPad uses WiFi or Wireless WAN to browse the Internet, load and stream media, and install software. I have had a chance to mess around on the i-Pad and for it's main features that it's made for it's awesome.
I have a Kindle, and I love it. Not only does it save me money on books that I might have purchased, I can get free books, and it also, in a small part, helps the environment. I didn't know the Nook had a sharing option, that is a feature the Kindle doesn't have. Now that the iPad is around, I feel that the world of e-books and the world of advertising will be different. There might even be advertising on the pages of the e-books in the future. With the way the advertising industry is today, I would not be surprised if ads made their way on our books too.
ReplyDeleteI just find it so funny that company's are basically making the same product. The Nook and the Kindle seem to have the same type of features. I had no idea that Barnes & Nobles even created such a product. I just know about the Kindle because of all the promotions/advertisements that Amazon.com has done. Like you said, the iPad only premiered a couple of weeks ago and I have heard HP is coming out with something just like it. At the end of the day, it is putting book sales down. But we have to look at it as, are we going paperless or just having people lose their jobs all to save the environment? I think it is a lose lose situation.
ReplyDeleteI knew this was going to happen. It seems as once something comes out then something bigger and better comes out the next week. But I agree with Allison that these are great ways to save money and save some trees. But I will not be surprised the day that advertising makes its way to these products.
ReplyDeleteI think the Kindle is such a good idea! We are trying to save the world by going green and this can save alot of trees : ) I also think that it is more convieniet for many people because you dont have to go to a book store and purchase the books, you can just download them, so it saves you time and money in the long run.
ReplyDeleteWhat else are they going to come out with? I personally think it's great that they are making these new gadgets, although it may seem ridiculous to some, they are being very smart about it. Everyone is into "going green" and the IPad and Kindle are great ways to do so. I even see now at school, since finals are quickly approaching, the paper that we waste printing out pages upon pages for essays and things, and it just seems so ridiculous. Now that the Internet has become so advanced and technology in general is growing, we might as well save trees and use this amazing system for what its worth. I know that I have a huge packet for one of my classes I just finished up, and guess where that thing is going? IN THE GARBAGE! (Okay, recycling, but STILL) It is completely unnecessary to waste paper when the Earth is already slowly dwindling away. YAHOO for these new toys!
ReplyDeleteI also wrote a blog about this. It seems as the actual type of advertising including print in magazine is slowly disappearing. Its just the way it is ... There was black and white and now there's color, there was once walkmans and now we have Ipods. It will be interesting to see how advertising is incorporated into these products and if it works or not.
ReplyDeletePrint advertising is becoming a lost art in a way. While the same advertisements you see in magazines can be seen online, there's just something very different about turning a page in a magazine and clicking a button on a browser or touching a touch screen. I know as soon as I'm able, I'll have a nook or Kindle, because I'm as environmentally conscious as I can be- heck, even my laptop is made of recyclable materials.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice that we as a society are taking a step in that direction, but it stinks that it's at the cost of something I consider to be an art on occasion.