If It Is Not A "Book" It Is a ...

If It Is Not A "Book" It Is a ...
the E-book Reader Crisis Exposed!
©2011 Marcus James Christian

Hello, I ask that this moment find you in ecstatic bliss!

Was that over the top, oh well.

Recently, our local Borders Books, Music and Cafe closed and left our town, the mother of Star Wars (Modesto, CA) with Barnes and Noble as the remaining big box bookstore. I found myself there browsing for inspiration and came across their "Nook" station. The "Nook" is B&N's answer to Amazon's Kindle e-book Reader.

One of the employee's presented a demonstration of the product and showed me the type of book I was most interested in, a book with sound.

When I began inquiring about the sound books I learned that they were made with Macromedia's Flash, the technology behind all those interactive "movie-ish" sites you see on the web. After a few quick moments of considering getting into flash to develop various works for the new e-book reader community that could include music, I had the sudden realization ... "Wait, if this is not a silent book on paper, what is it? It is a wannabe movie or video with limited animation and sound capabilities!"

In fact as the employee (who did a great job by the way) outlined the details of the "special" Nook needed to view the books with sound and "moving images," he made it clear that it was just a few functions shy of my 4 year old laptop. Wow! Just what we all need, another e-gadget that at the end of the day is a wannabe laptop without near the creative abilities a real laptop has - awesome!

Have you ever thought, that sometimes the original idea behind something, is maybe real close to the best?

Another thing to consider about these supposedly "green" e-readers, is how their biodegradability compares to a paperback? Imagine these devices in the landfill side by side 100 years from now. Actually making that comparison is tough because the paperback, post a few rainstorms, summer heat waves and wind, would be most likely completely disintegrated - ashes to ashes, dust to dust. However, the e-book readers would be sitting there in a sun heat amplifying mass of non-biodegradable parts housed in consumer friendly, indestructible outer shells.

©2011 Marcus James Christian