Mashable - The Social Media Guide - Latest Comments in The Death of Tangible Media is a Little Murky

Re: The Death of Tangible Media is a Little Murky

stijlfigurant — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:20:18 -0000

No way. i'm never gonna read something > 15 pages long from a screen.

Re: The Death of Tangible Media is a Little Murky

Vincent — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:53:12 -0000

it's the battle of the affective qualities of fisical media vs the intelligence of the the new digital media.

Add affection to digital media, what comes forth is what rules our future. make it feel good, smell nice, look good, sound great, so much work to be done before what is loved so much for these values is surpassed.

Re: The Death of Tangible Media is a Little Murky

tom — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 15:41:34 -0000

Internet dominates everything!!! YAY!!!

http://shoppingoak.com/free...

Re: The Death of Tangible Media is a Little Murky

Eli Marcus — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 06:10:24 -0000

No way!
I studied with the late great Marshal McLuhan who predicted the death of books and libraries 30 years ago due to two factors - the new electronic world that was coalescing in the world at the time, and the growing trend towards reduced literacy that went hand in hand with the electronic age.
Yet here we are in the next millennium, and a little business named Amazon.com is still selling millions of physical printed books, as well as CDs and DVDs, and guess what? New LPs are being produced again because companies have realized that there is a demand and a market for them. The LP itself was thought to be extinct back when CDs came out, yet people all over the world still buy and sell them more than 55 years after their introduction as a new medium, or is it 85 years if you count the 78RPM disc as the forerunner?
I myself am an iconoclast I suppose, since I am a record collector, and I don't see a decline in record stores, only a shift in how they work and where they are successful or not - for example, a few years ago on a trip to Los Angeles, I had a pile of records I wanted to trade in, and most of the shops on Melrose would hardly give me the time of day, but when I landed in Toronto with my pile, I received a nice chunk of change and found quite a few used record stores there.
I do download plenty of music, and even buy some of it in digital form, but I generally listen to it in CD form (on a home stereo or in my car) or via a PC (at work), and I also prefer to have the original artwork and liner notes in my hands.

I believe that many different kinds of media will co-exist for many years to come, but some of the mass market consumer habits may change due to the way delivery channels and accessibility develop in the coming years.

Re: The Death of Tangible Media is a Little Murky

D. — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 23:38:36 -0000

I'd most certainly have to agree that we're heading in that very general direction. We're just stalling, but eventually, we'll see an exponential increase in the speed. Music.. well, tangible music seems so alien now. Although I still remember when walkmen were used, and when CD players were the new thing (as well as when MP3 players and iPods hit it big), it all seems so long ago. I honestly cannot remember the last time I went out and bought a CD. In fact, the last CD I bought was over a year ago. A great chunk of the music-listening population now owns iPods and/or an MP3 player. They get their music from iTunes, or download it from elsewhere.

The only two I'm not quite sure on are newspapers and books. Although I can see the death (or at least a more mainstream shift to not using actual physical newspapers as much), they won't be replaced with ease, especially with the not-so-tech-savvy group. As much as I'd like to see a more widespread mainstream integration of Kindle and other tablets, it's just not going to happen too soon. Quite a few people find it easier to read a physical copy rather than on a PC or tablet. It's just not going to happen until the tablet-makers find the one thing that will draw the mainstream population in. As the general public begins to accept it, it'll slowly be integrated into our lives, but we won't see the "death of books" quite so soon. Newspapers and school textbooks, however, I can see being replaced.

Re: The Death of Tangible Media is a Little Murky

Steven Rosenbaum — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:15:44 -0000

There should be a distinction between delivery systems and content.

The New York Times is both a newspaper (physical) and a publisher (digital). Much as I love reading the paper with my 10 year old son, I'd be happy if there was a new tablet that didn't kill trees or take trucks to deliver it. But I don't want it to die! In fact, i'd pay more- I suspect - both in terms of ad attention and subscription fees.

Cable and Telco's wont ever break the bandwidth barrier - because they don't want to be utilities, they want to be gatekeepers. So, don't count on them to deliver a better internet. Wireless broadband in the white space is my bet.

So, here's my 2 cents. You can tell already who the survivors are. Media that listens, that invites contributions, that is building a community. Social Media - or old media evolving into social media. Bet on those guys. One way media- bet against.

People like to participate -heck, we even vote some times. Who knew?