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Print, television to die by 2018
Prepare the elegies now, book-and-newspaper-loving Luddites. In a WaPo interview, Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer blandly predicts the death of all media consumption “not delivered over an IP” in ten years. Yeah, it’s sad. But think of the money you’ll save by not having to buy bookshelves!
Here are the premises I have. Number one, there will be no media consumption left in 10 years that is not delivered over an IP network. There will be no newspapers, no magazines that are delivered in paper form. Everything gets delivered in an electronic form.
And since you’re much too cheap to pony up for subscriptions, you’ll consume “free” ad-choked programming with nary a complaint. Just like now. Take that, Steve Jobs!
Will Internet content generally be available for free, with ad support, or will there largely be fees and subscriptions?
I think there will be some things people subscribe to on the Internet, but I think that’s going be more the exception than the rule.
My favorite TV program, “Lost,” I watch on the Internet now. I don’t DVR it, I just watch it on the Internet.
You don’t buy it from iTunes to avoid the ads that come when you get it for free over the Internet?
Why? Because it’s free. . . . I have to admit that I’m annoyed by the four 20 seconds [of ads], but not annoyed enough to pay a buck . . . I think at the end of the day most people say, “Heck, if I can get something that’s pretty good that’s ad-funded and the ads don’t kill me, I’ll take that over the thing I gotta pay for.”
Media consumers will welcome their new (and, hopes Ballmer, current) digital overlords. Librarians and booksellers may want to begin the transition to alternate employment right away, so as to beat the end-time rush.
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Behold the little g!
Had I known this, I wouldn’t have bothered
Improved RSS for St. Louis Beacon
Unsatisfying feeds
iGoogle feed reader: weak
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Didn’t I just say something like this the other day about television? Maybe not here. I forget.
As much time as I spend looking at a computer screen, it’s really not all that comfy a position for reading. I suppose if I had a Kindle (not tempted; wonder why?) or a laptop (not tempted; know why — hate the keyboards, hate the “mouse”) I’d be a little more inclined to read books electronically.
Nah, not really. Color me Luddite.
But I’m sure that TV and computer are going to merge like the spawn of Satan and Paris Hilton very, very soon. Well before 2018.
I think that libraries will continue to play a role for a while yet. The thing is, there are a lot of old books and other materials that are not likely to be digitized for quite some time, if ever. They are still good places to read in quiet, and they have already branched out into offering classes and other social learning opportunities. I do agree, though, that their role will become increasingly specialized.
TV I won’t miss.
[...] Bring unable to cruise the Web on my laptop (no WiFi), I resorted to the time-worn (and endangered, according to some) tradition of reading a book to while away the [...]