So many dead people....

[BillyG]

B&N has been in trouble longer than Borders, but the Nook has shown that they will adapt. Amazon will destroy them though. I love Amazon bc 1) Prime, B) I think of a book while I'm reading others and before I know it I have a backlog of like 7 books sitting on my nightstand.

[Master Shake]

"Take it, 'Tale Of Two Cities'. Take it, you dirty bitch. Fuck yeah, best of times."

[Matt]

Where's Rob?
Oh, don't worry...he's just in the bathroom with 'Great Expectations' again.

[Timothy225]

Fucking hate the Kindle. I mean for like school books and stuff sure. But I love the smell and feel of books.

I too love cracking open a book and reading it, and yes, no way in hell the Kindle or other doohickeys of it's ilk will ever capture those sensations. However, as time goes on, I do see the Kindle or something similar replacing books much the same way as digital downloads have replaced CDs, which replaced cassette tapes, which replace 8-track cassettes, which replaced reel-to-reel tapes, which replaced LPs/vinyl albums, which replaced phonograph cylinders.

The content/literature isn't going to change. The way it's delivered will. Again, might not happen in any of our lifetimes (maybe when we're old and creaky), but maybe in our kids'.

[Ed Hocken]

Welp, they're shutting down the store down the road from me.

I went over there on Saturday, it felt depressing.

As for books? The medium has been around for 500 years. I don't really think it's going to go away. Remember, there are places where you can't find an outlet for your damn Kindle.

[Matt]

My wife has taken to her Nook Color like a fish to water. Thank God. Having to drop off boxes of cheesy romance novels to Half Price Books and getting $5 was getting really tiresome.

[BillyG]

Once the Kindle hits $199 I am probably getting it. Apparently the Nook is set up to borrow "books" from the Houston Public Library online though, so that's tempting.

[Ed Hocken]

Matt,

Please tell me the clerk had the common decency not to loudly announce the titles of the books you were selling.

[Matt]

Yep, there's a 'checkout' feature that enables you to do that from most major libraries. My wife hasn't tried that YET, but she's really picking up on all of the functionality pretty fast.

I'm rather proud of her, actually...I bought this for her in an effort to catch her up with the current technology of the day; she doesn't have a smartphone and doesn't even know HOW to text. She's scared of all of this high-tech stuff that's out there, and I pretty much FORCED her to embrace the Nook. She was wary at first but has really gotten into it. God bless her.

[Timothy225]

Welp, they're shutting down the store down the road from me.

I went over there on Saturday, it felt depressing.

As for books? The medium has been around for 500 years. I don't really think it's going to go away. Remember, there are places where you can't find an outlet for your damn Kindle.

Newspapers as we know them have been around since the 1600's. They're slowly going away thanks to the internet. Eventually, books as we know them may very well do the same, probably becoming valuable as collectables or curios.

As for outlets for your Kindle, I just want to say two words: Battery packs. Also, plastics! Invest now, m'boy!

[Matt]

Matt,

Please tell me the clerk had the common decency not to loudly announce the titles of the books you were selling.

That isn't what they do. You go in, drop off the books, and wait for them to make you an offer. The page you over the store intercom and let you know that your offer is ready. You go up, they offer you a pittance for all of your shit, and you take it or leave it. I kid you not, they don't offer squat for books, especially romance novels.

[Ed Hocken]

Ah, the days of trying to sell back college text books all over again. The first true experience of being fucked over by the man.

[Timothy225]

Heard that, Ed. I'd be lucky to get half of what I paid for back. Any money I did get back wound up getting banked for the next semester to offset my student loans.

[Ed Hocken]

Tim, I'd disagree about books going away. But I would agree about newspapers since that's an information device that realies on constant updates of content.

And at least I got somewhat smart to resell books on Amazon. I could at least get a couple more bucks out of it.

[Timothy225]

Eh, books probably won't go away completely in our lifetimes, Ed. It's early yet, but Kindles and Nooks are like the first bongs of the death knell. Still, I could be full of shit for all I know. I'm just going by my gut here.

I'm on the same page (HA!) with you re: newspapers. Also, never even considered reselling any books via Amazon (as I usually crack open my older books every so often - just found my folks' complete James Bond paperback run from the 60's, so those are getting reread soon). Might try that out - thanks, Ed!