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spin

(17,493 posts)
46. Digital readers are not conductive to long attention spans? ...
Thu Apr 12, 2012, 04:13 AM
Apr 2012

What exactly is a long attention span? I often go to bed at 11pm and read my Kindle until 5 or 6am before finally deciding to sleep.

I normally do not search a book for a formula but I do search a novel to find who an obscure character is. I would be willing to bet you $10,000 dollars (although I am not Mitt Romney) that I can find that information far faster than you can searching through a dead tree book. I don't happen to have $10,000 dollars laying around, but since I would win that's irrelevant.

For example how long do you believe that it would take you to find out who Perth is in the novel Moby Dick? On my Kindle it took 15 seconds to find the 36 times his name appears and that includes the time that I used in going to the menu, picking the search function and typing his name in the box. (Perth was "the begrimed, blistered old blacksmith" on the Pequod.)

I will agree that e-readers offer less "aesthetic and tactile qualities of a beautiful full format art book or an early edition work of literature." They are also lighter and more convenient and I don't have to worry about damaging the spine of the book or damaging a page by accident.

Am I a walking advertisement for e-books? Yes.The best advertisement for any product is a happy customer. I qualify, however I am retired and my endorsement of e-books will gain me no profit.

If some old fart like me who is 65 years old finds some significant advantage to a very new piece of new technology and endorses it with enthusiasm, then maybe a much younger person might be wise to consider trying it.

You say that you have used different formats and you find advantages to each. That's fair as people differ. For my use I'll chose my Kindle or Kindle Fire for 99.9 percent of my reading.

I would also chose my cell phone over the black rotary dial phone that was the only choice when I was growing up.





Ever wonder why Amazon no longer has a monopoly on eBooks? onehandle Apr 2012 #1
nice spin, but price fixing is price fixing :) Vehl Apr 2012 #2
And Amazon wants to build they empire on the backs of authors and publishers. onehandle Apr 2012 #3
lol nice strawman! Vehl Apr 2012 #5
They made the same kind of deals with record companies when they introduced itunes. girl gone mad Apr 2012 #42
Amazon is leading Direct Publishing. joshcryer Apr 2012 #18
+1 Direct/Self Publishing is the future, and the Publishing houses dont like that Vehl Apr 2012 #28
"On the backs of authors and publishers.." -- you don't know many authors, do you? X_Digger Apr 2012 #20
+1, publishing is dying off, very quickly. joshcryer Apr 2012 #21
Exactly! nt Vehl Apr 2012 #29
Heh. 2ndAmForComputers Apr 2012 #24
Damn right it is.... truebrit71 Apr 2012 #14
A little more info from before the suit: The Straight Story Apr 2012 #13
illegal ebook downloads are just as prevalent as illegal mp3 downloads DisgustipatedinCA Apr 2012 #4
yep Vehl Apr 2012 #6
Why not sue Amazon? frazzled Apr 2012 #7
The issue is twofold Vehl Apr 2012 #8
Examples of your #1? emulatorloo Apr 2012 #9
A Game of Thrones Vehl Apr 2012 #27
I think the right price is somewhere in the middle rebecca_herman Apr 2012 #38
The right price 2ndAmForComputers Apr 2012 #53
Depends on the book/genre/type Spike89 Apr 2012 #61
Just read this Nation article on Amazon's bullying and illegal practices frazzled Apr 2012 #17
Nah, more profit couldn't have had anything to do with it. joshcryer Apr 2012 #19
Apple wasn't exactly offering generous terms. girl gone mad Apr 2012 #39
Yes they were. 100% price control for 30% revenue sharing. joshcryer Apr 2012 #51
Publishers went to Apple cos they wanted to keep their margins Vehl Apr 2012 #30
I wouldn't say they're obsolete rebecca_herman Apr 2012 #37
You can have your self-published vanity books frazzled Apr 2012 #49
Good quality should not be a barrier to the market place. joshcryer Apr 2012 #55
Yowza! And I thought Amazon prices (something 90% of paper versions) were bad! 2ndAmForComputers Apr 2012 #23
yep, check post 27 Vehl Apr 2012 #31
I have both a Kindle and a Kindle Fire ... spin Apr 2012 #10
I have an original Kindle and a Fire as well and follow basically the same policy.. truebrit71 Apr 2012 #15
How absurd rebecca_herman Apr 2012 #22
I have no problem with your calling e-books, "fake books" ... spin Apr 2012 #25
Again, how absurd to assume everyone would feel the same as you do rebecca_herman Apr 2012 #26
I Agree Vehl Apr 2012 #32
Yep, to each their own rebecca_herman Apr 2012 #33
If you have a pc, you can read almost all ebook formats Vehl Apr 2012 #34
yeah, I read free short story type books on my computer rebecca_herman Apr 2012 #36
This message was self-deleted by its author seaglass Apr 2012 #50
Where did I say that I have any problem with your reading dead tree books? spin Apr 2012 #43
it's the terminology you use rebecca_herman Apr 2012 #44
If you lived in north Florida where I do ... spin Apr 2012 #47
The other thing to consider with "dead tree books" kentauros Apr 2012 #45
You're like a walking advertisement. girl gone mad Apr 2012 #41
Digital readers are not conductive to long attention spans? ... spin Apr 2012 #46
It varies by person. However, going out over my students every bit of tech.... Pholus Apr 2012 #48
I think that is in part a human->computer assimilation. joshcryer Apr 2012 #59
+1 (Own a Kindle and a Nook myself) The Straight Story Apr 2012 #11
Great news. For a split second, I considered the Kindle ecstatic Apr 2012 #12
AAPL is toast on this and should have settled long ago taught_me_patience Apr 2012 #16
Thank you for posting this! kentauros Apr 2012 #35
Thank you! Good blog! joshcryer Apr 2012 #52
I just posted there, kentauros Apr 2012 #62
wow, DOJ is going after price collusion on E-books... ibegurpard Apr 2012 #40
The entire publishing industry needs to be occupied, imho. OneGrassRoot Apr 2012 #54
I think we'll have an OPDS + music + games + Bitcoin style setup in the future. joshcryer Apr 2012 #56
You're right. OneGrassRoot Apr 2012 #57
If you look at media we have iTunes (music), Netflix (video), Amazon (ebooks), Steam (videogames). joshcryer Apr 2012 #60
That's actually a pretty cool vision. :) OneGrassRoot Apr 2012 #63
As someone who prefers regular hand held books Xyzse Apr 2012 #58
An FYI for this thread: Publishers Weekly article OneGrassRoot Apr 2012 #64
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