To Hell With Books - New Technology Is Much Better

This is great, now everybody is walking around staring at gadgets all day and now books will be turned into gadgets as well. What was good enough for your father and your father's father is not good enough for YOU. We need a whole new bag to put that book in to get you to read it.

I'll say from experience, when it was a really big book, a pain in the ass to carry around, like "Don Quixote," when you finished reading it you felt like you EARNED that shit. Because it was so heavy.

So the new readers will be weak, and unable to lift the really heavy volumes of the classics like "War and Peace," and the even more revered and pointless "Remembrance Of Things Past."

O new world, I HATE THEE! And the old world is not far behind, in terms of my hate. For thee.

What happens when a pioneer like Borders goes out of business? Depends on who you ask.

A day after the bankrupt Ann Arbor, Mich.-based chain said it would seek court approval to sell off its assets and shutter its remaining 399 stores, everyone from publishers to consumers is assessing what it would mean if the company that started the big-box bookseller concept vanished. The move could have a wide ranging -- and different ---- impact on everyone from authors to consumers to competitors at a time when the industry is desperately trying to adapt to a new generation of readers who'd rather browse on an electronic book or tablet computer than turn the page of a paperback.

The biggest changes could come to the book publishing industry: As Borders stores disappear, other booksellers could benefit.

Jennifer Romanello, executive director of publicity at Grand Central Publishing in New York who stopped sending authors to most Borders for book signings after they declared bankruptcy in February says she already looks for other places to promote authors' work.

"It's one less outlet to use in promoting our authors," she said. "There are still other things out there; we see if there's an independent bookstore nearby. But the number of bookstores has been contracting, not expanding, so we're selective where we send out authors."

That ultimately could lead to more business for Barnes & Noble, a 705-store chain and one of Borders' main competitors. In fact, while at first Barnes & Noble revenue could be hurt initially as shoppers flock to Borders' liquidation sales, Barclays Capital analyst Alan Rifkin predicts ultimately the chain could gain $220 million to $330 million in revenue, or about 10 percent to 15 percent of Borders annual revenue if the chain closes.

Still, Rifkin said even though Barnes & Noble has more aggressively and successfully pursued the e-book space than Borders did ---- with Barnes & Noble's Nook e-reader and e-bookstore ---- it still faces the same stiff competition from online retailers.

"As the demand for physical books continues to decline, the need for big-box physical bookstores will likely continue to decline as well," he wrote in a client note.
That sentiment is being echoed by analysts and consumers alike who say the demise of Borders could close a chapter for bricks-and-mortar stores and open a new one for digital reading. To be sure, brick-and-mortar stores have not gone the way of the dinosaur, but some say it's only a matter of time.

[Associated Press]