New Media Reflections

Amazon has just announced their Kindle 2 electronic reading device. I have to admit, I never paid much attention to the original one. I kind of wrote it off as one of those electronic book wannabe’s. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I still love my books, and things in print. I couldn’t imagine holding an “Etch-a-Sketch” device and reading books from it.

For some reason the Kindle 2 caught my eye and I actually read the details. It’s quite an impressive device. It’s so thin and small, I could actually see myself wanting to use it.

Here is a pic that shows how thin it is:

Here is a  pic of how book-like the screen is:

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You could store a whole library of books and read for up to two weeks without a charge. Very impressive!

But alas, the price of $359 puts it in the category of “ridiculously expensive” for me. Geez, I could buy a netbook computer for that price. Unless they come up with a better price-point, I don’t think we have to worry about the printed book disappearing anytime soon.

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I am truly concerned about the potential loss of newspapers from our increasingly online world. While I do enjoy having cyberspace as a part of my daily routine, I think the traditional newspaper still serves a role in our society. It is still more portable than a computer, although netbooks may change that. Still, it’s not just the physicality of the newspaper itself, which does have a certain tactile charm, but it is really the whole idea of reporting and its accompanying imagery. Media in general is evolving, and undoubtedly so will the newspaper industry. The big papers all have a strong online component. But just having cyberpresence isn’t going to save them. They have to rethink their whole structure and business model. Ads, even on the front page, won’t carry the papers to profit.

According to David Swensen and Micheal Schmidt, in a recent New York Times article, the way to salvation for the newspapers is paved in endowments. If wealthy philanthropists would endow the newspapers, who will adopt a not-for-profit status, the papers could not only survive, but thrive. They could provide our society with unbiased reporting, since they won’t have to answer to boards and stockholders. They could do what they do best, deliver pertinent and interesting news. I don’t think the public will ever outgrow it’s need for that. Let’s hope enough people still care to preserve this feature of our society. It just seems wrong to let the newpapers suffer and die. We would lose a part of our national heritage.

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