Print is Dead: Books in Our Digital Age

From the “Print is dead; long live print!” files comes this article on the UK Cnet website about vinyl records making a “comeback.” It seems that more and more bands are producing records, especially 7″ singles, which were long thought to be extinct. Of course, records are indeed extinct in terms of them being a mass commodity, or being the way most people get their music. Instead, vinyl records are an artifact, an artform, a boutique item that people want to own and hold and, I’m sure, occasionally play (although I don’t see a related story on the resurgence of record players). But in terms of records somehow taking back the sales charts, I don’t think it’s going to happen. Looked at in the “Print is Dead” light, it shows that what happened to vinyl will also happen to books; books will never go completely away, not even in the most digitally advanced society. Instead they will continually be sought out by collectors and people who want to hold and touch pages, covers and dustjackets. But they will no longer be the primary way that people get their information.

Cnet article