Bye Bye Bookstores: A Prediction

Where do you go to buy music?

If you're under, I don't know, 35, your first instinct is probably to iTunes or Amazon. On the off occasion that you want an actual CD, you might still buy it off Amazon, or you might check Target or Wal-Mart. If it's a little more obscure and you're feeling hip, you might go to Grimey's, or your local equivalent of the indie hole-in-the-wall.

Know where you don't go? Tower Records. Or Virgin Records. Know why? They don't exist. Not anymore. Not in this country, anyway. The last Tower Records store closed in 2006, including the infamous one in West Hollywood. Virgin Records shut down their last remaining stores - including the huge flagship location in Times Square - in 2009. (Both chains still operate international franchises and as online retailers.)

Now, on to my next question.

Where do you go to buy books?

The answer to this question five years from now might be eerily similar to what you'd say about buying music today. I currently work in a chain book store, and everywhere I look, I see the sad parallels to what happened to music retail.

Here's why I think book stores are headed down that same road. I broke down my thoughts by equating the major players in music retail with their counterparts in book retail.

Kindle (and all its competitors, including the iPad) = iPod (and all its competitors)

The book industry pretended for too long, as did the record industry before it, that the digital revolution would never be enough to affect physical product sales. The record industry was wrong. So was the publishing industry. Amazon now sells more ebooks for its Kindle than it does paperbacks. "I still prefer holding a real book; I could never read off of a computer screen all day." Tell that to your CD collection, wherever it sits collecting dust. I can remember saying essentially the same thing when iPods were first introduced, scoffing at the idea that someone would want to buy something without having a physical item to show for it.

Amazon = iTunes

Low prices and no real competition worked for iTunes with mp3s, and it works for Amazon with eBooks. Funnily enough, now it is Apple who wants a share of what Amazon has cooking, hoping the iPad and iBooks can take a bite out of Amazon's monster ebook market share.

Amazon, Wal-Mart, Target, Sams = Amazon, Wal-Mart, Target, Sams

Amazon has the additional advantage of also selling physical product, for cheaper than you can find it in a store. If you do want it from a store, you're going to go to a big box retailer. You can pick your favorite, but from the perspective of the dying bookstore, they're all villains. Did you know big box retailers sell music and books for a loss? 50% off that just-released best-seller is merely a way to get you in the door. They'll gladly take the hit there, while you fill your cart with other stuff. $14 instead of $19, plus you can pick up toothpaste and new shoes? Who wouldn't take that deal?

Indie Bookstores = Indie Record Stores

Maybe you're a buy-local advocate. Maybe the thought of shopping at the Evil Empire turns your socially-conscious stomach. That's okay. There will still be indie bookstores. There just won't be as many of them. And they will struggle to stay in business. And they'll most-likely cater to a particular niche of reader. And they won't always have what you're looking for. But the ones that breed loyalty and maintain a cult-following will still be around, as a haven for old souls. Which leads me to...

Real Books = Vinyl (and, for now, still CDs)

Music freaks still love their vinyl. They like the way it sounds. They like the way it feels. They like that it is cool to have a record player. And real books? They'll become the LPs of book lovers. Or, for now, at least the CDs of book lovers and people who roll old-school. Plenty of people with iPods still buy the occasional CD, and plenty of vinyl-enthusiasts also have iPods. There's room for overlap. Books aren't going to disappear or stop being printed. But the ebook revolution has officially arrived. And it's not going to disappear, either.

Borders, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million = Virgin Records, Tower Records

So we come to this. Will bookstores, like the one you might go to if you needed a book today, go the way of the record store? Every argument to the contrary is an echo of the now-defunct reasons people gave 10 years ago for why record store chains wouldn't go under. It's starting already. Both Borders and Barnes & Noble closed stores in the past year, no doubt with more to come, and rumors of bankruptcy swirl around one or the other ever week.

Bigger and brighter and more economic and industry-savvy minds than mind have been looking at this issue for a while. What do you think? Where do you buy your books and your music? Have you joined the ebook revolution?

Talkin' 'Bout My Generation

This afternoon Ben, Heather, and I went to go see The Social Network, finally. Bonus of waiting so long: we got to see it at the dollar theater here near the house. Technically the tickets were $1.50 each and popcorn was just as much as ever but I cannot stress how awesome it was to see a movie in the theater (albeit a kinda ghetto one) and not have shelled out an arm, a leg, and my soon-to-be firstborn son to get into the joint. We even snuck in our own Icees! Yay for big purses.

This movie certainly gave me a lot to think about. It was strange to see a movie made, based on the life of a real, still-living person, without that person's consent or input. (In this case, the real person being Facebook creator and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.) In a way, this is what happens when movies are made about historical figures, but those people are already dead and wherever they've ended up I'm guessing their earthly reputation is no longer of any concern. Their living friends and families may have a bone to pick with how their dearly departed was portrayed, but even then this is assuming there are enough of those people around to care. But I was sitting there trying to imagine how it would feel to know there was a movie out there, portraying me as a certain kind of character, and I didn't get to have a say or give my approval. Then again, I've never done anything quite so monumental and so publicly defining as inventing Facebook.

I was really kind of baffled to be reminded that these events took place as Mark and his cohorts were in the same exact life-stage as me. These people are my contemporaries. In 2004, Mark created Facebook while a sophomore at Harvard. In 2004, I was a junior at Belmont. I can remember walking across campus one day and fielding a cell-phone call from my friend Cara who was a student at Mizzou. After chit-chatting for a bit, she asked me, "Does Belmont have Facebook yet?" And after explaining to me what it was (which I was fairly befuddled by), telling me, "You've got to petition your school to get it too!" Which is so weird because it is exactly that social, friend-to-friend-like-wildfire spread which is documented in the film. I was a part of that. It took Belmont a little while to get Facebook and I don't think I joined right away (still not understanding its purpose), but the sentiment remains. The advent of this social media which is now a part of our everyday life was something experienced first-hand by our generation.

Which led me to the following thought. Do you think our generation (without getting too technical, I guess I mean people in their late 20s/early 30s) will be the one which sees the most technological advancement ever, in our lifetimes? I mean, from the span of our births till our deaths, in comparison to the lifespan of our parents, our children, and so on? We are the last generation born before the Internet. Most of our younger siblings can't even say that. When I was born, there weren't cell phones, DVDs, or even CDs, let alone mp3 players. Not only was there not any Internet, but heck, the computer as an item available to purchase and use in one's home was still essentially a novelty. I'm not tech-savvy enough to know what else was and wasn't available at the time, but it seems to me we have come so far just in the 27 years since I was born. I feel like the technology my generation has seen become obsolete (or is seeing become obsolete) is piling up just as quickly. Of course, my parents have seen all the technology I've just described come and go as well, but when I think of where we might be by the time another 60 years rolls around, I wonder if on the whole I'll have seen more change in my overall years than they did in theirs.

This isn't even dipping a toe in the "is all this technological advancement good, or bad, or both" waters. Although I'm inclined to think it is both.

I wasn't kidding when I said this movie gave me a lot to think about! What do you think, fellow members of my generation? Were we born at just the time to be living in an era of technology advancing at never-to-be-rivaled speeds?

I Love Technology!

You guys, I am writing and posting this blog WHILE SITTING IN BED. I know that doesn't sound that exciting, but as a first-time laptop owner I find it delightful.

Yes, that's right. It is 2011 and I am just now experiencing the joys of not being chained to a desk for my computer needs. I'm freeeeeeeee!

Ben got me this adorable used MacBook for Christmas. I had my first big lesson in it last night. He was very patient as I asked questions. Lots and lots of questions. I don't know how to do much yet, but I am excited to learn.

My Apologies

I have to apologize to you fine people for a couple things. First, it has been way too long since I blogged. Every time I sat down to write something I either a) realized I was late for work or b) found I didn't really have anything to say. Both of those things are still true right now, but I am sorry anyway! I did post an awesome video that they played at church on Easter, but that's kind of a cheat way to blog.

My second apology is that for a long, long time, my blog has been seriously ugly. Plain and boring. However, despite what people might think due to my fondness for online social media, I'm not really all that technologically savvy. I don't really know how to make my blog look awesome, and I don't even know if Blogger is the best blogging platform to be using. Still, no excuse for a fugly old blog that even I don't like looking at. So I'm trying a downloaded template that I kind of liked. We'll see if it makes the cut after a few days. If you like/dislike it or have any other suggestions I'm happy to hear them!

I hope everyone had an awesome, blessed Easter and I promise to try to do more regular blogging in the future. I do have an inspiring topic, as BASEBALL starts again today!!! Wooo!!!

Twitter!

Okay, I don't know why I do this stuff. I am a bit of a technology-skeptic, but I still find myself doing things like trying to maintain three separate blogs, Facebook, and now... a Twitter!

If you aren't familiar, Twitter is a strangely fascinating little internet gizmo that consists of leaving 140-word (or less) updates about what you're doing. That's it. The whole point. It's kind of like Facebook status, but more constant.

The interesting thing is that it stays succinct. Just one or two sentences about what different people all over the world are up to. We humans are a curious (nosy?) bunch so Twitter makes the most of that. The other cool part is that many celebrities and organizations also Twitter, so you can get all these tiny updates in one place. For example, on my Twitter feed now, I can learn that right now:

• Charlie from Jars of Clay is listening to the new U2 album
• My friend Rachel is eating at Pei Wei
• Jimmy Fallon felt like his second show went better than his first and is soliciting questions to ask Cameron Diaz
• Needtobreathe is in the studio working on a new album
• There's a new Lost theory I need to check out
• Amazon's mp3 Deal of the Day is Joshua Radin

Isn't that kind of cool? I think I might like this. Bonus: Twitter has one of the internet's most simple and adorably designed interfaces. Cool color combinations, rounded corners, lots of white space... I mean, this is the graphic you get when the site is bogged down and taking a lot of time:

How cute is that? Plus who couldn't like something that involves the words "twitter" and "tweet"?!

If you want to come follow me on Twitter, you can find me at http://twitter.com/amybethjames. I'm going to try and figure out how to add my Twitter feed to this blog's sidebar, too.

Want.

This is the Epson Stylus Photo 1400. It can print borderless 12x12 pages. In other words, it can make all a scrapbooker's dreams come true. And I want one.

I haven't even had a working printer in my home for two years, because... I have no idea, just never got around to replacing my broken one and if I desperately needed something printed I just had to do it at work. Suffice to say, it would be a big jump, going from no printer to this sweet sweet piece of machinery. But you know what? I think I can handle it.

So, Santa Clause Claus*, if you're reading this, Amy wants to see this under the tree come Christmas morning. I promise I'll be good.

*Thanks Heather for the catch!