[quote comment="317064"]How about we change that last part to “our hope to find a system of fairy compensating artist and content creators for their hard work and ideas that arguably make the world a more interesting place”[/quote]

I guess I also should be clear that I know that largely the “want to control and turn profit from” information overshadows anyone out there trying to do it in a more respectful and appreciative way… (I have never sued anyone for example heh) but Its not as black and white as your statement would imply… or as mine either. I work to promote respect for independent artist outside of the old system. I think that respect is an important component of any future that works well.

I hear edit buttons are cool… heh

You are very correct, that would have been incorrect. So no, I was not suggesting it was no longer with us only that it was with us in a greatly reduced (not necessarily less important) way. Just like I think that books as we know them are destined to change form and largely be less used by most people due to factors of convenience, cost, and ecology. Thats certainly not to say that good old paper books wont ever be printed in the future. I am absolutely sure they will, as a smaller but dedicated number of people will want to collect them or simply prefer the experience of reading a good book in a physical form. That choice will be modified by what you want to display on your shelf as a representation of you. people do it now but I think will become more aware of it and more selective. I bet your Vinyl collection says a lot about you as well. : ) If its a digital file, who cares… As rude and inappropriate as it is, its like that old joke dicks used to tell in high school about fat girls being like mopeds… “yeah, they are fun to ride, but you wouldn’t want to be seen with one.”

I imagime it will go like this…
Moby Dick = 50% hard cover sales, 50% digital download
Stephen Kings “It” = 2% hard cover sales 98% digital download

I like your assertion that we will have “books” based on digital paper. I am aware of this technology and have been keeping an eye on it. When that happens, it will really be the tipping point. I was having a bit of trouble following you but I think I you were maybe saying readers will never have the effect I describe. In other words, there will never be a perfect reader until we have digital paper. If that was indeed your point, I see it, and you may very well be correct. I don’t know though, one device on wich I do work, view video, read books, chat, listen to music, I think we may change our habits and abandon the “perfect form” at least while we are mobile.

So maybe you buy the hard cover of Moby Dick and it comes with the PDF. : )

[quote comment="316904"
The larger issue is still how we will reconcile information's desire to be free and our want to control and turn profit from it...[/quote]

How about we change that last part to “our hope to find a system of fairy compensating artist and content creators for their hard work and ideas that arguably make the world a more interesting place”

Are you insinuating vinyl is no longer with us? I hope not, because that would be incorrect, and it’s growth as a fetish-object will only continue to grow right along-side the digital media, because unlike all that it is something “real”, an essence-object, but I digress. We’ll have pure-digital “paper” before the “perfect” book-reader ever comes along. You cannot curl up with a computer, unlike a book. The form is perfect, the problem is our technology simply isn’t there yet, but last article I saw on Wired put it within 10-15 years for digital paper…

The larger issue is still how we will reconcile information’s desire to be free and our want to control and turn profit from it…