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An Acerbic Look At the Future of Reading

Posted by kdawson on from the drm-weaver dept.

theodp writes "Using Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' own words against him, Mark Pilgrim offers his chilling take on The Future of Reading with a mash-up of Bezos' Open Letter to the Authors Guild, the Amazon Kindle Terms of Service, Steven Levy's Newsweek article on the Kindle, 1984, and Richard Stallman's 'The Right to Read.'"

11 of 318 comments (clear)

  1. Naw by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    It's all books on tape from hear on in...

  2. Nice! by InvisblePinkUnicorn · · Score: 2, Funny

    This looks more like a Daily Show script than anything else. Maybe they can just scrap their current writers and rely on blogger analysis.

  3. Re:Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Reading? What's that? Is that some kind of new data bus? No, it is actually Reading, UK. A fine city that has a wonderful Pub called The Hob Goblin. Its ales are brilliant!
  4. What future of reading? by Mesa+MIke · · Score: 2, Funny

    At least here on Slashdot, everybody just comments, nobody reads.

  5. Where's the video? by Garridan · · Score: 2, Funny

    I scrolled to the bottom, and didn't see a video on the page. Does anybody have a link to the video?

  6. Re:Fair compensation in a digital world by urcreepyneighbor · · Score: 2, Funny

    This is nothing new: there was never any physical impediment to sitting down with a paper book and a Xerox machine, or even writing it out by hand. But it was laborious and time-consuming, sufficiently so that few people bothered. It was easier and cheaper to just buy a copy of the book. woo hoo! I'm one of the few! I'm special! My life has meaning!
    --
    "The fight for freedom has only just begun." - Geert Wilders
  7. Re:Yes, it is. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Damn. That had to hurt. :)

  8. Re:Ok, but... by DeadChobi · · Score: 2, Funny

    If degredation of real-world objects is an issue, why not just randomly delete a letter or two per page evry time soone reads the eboo. That way, there would be a ubstantial oss i retal vaue after ony a fw sles.

    Genius!

    --
    SRSLY.
  9. Re:Is this really news? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Never attribute to wit that which can be adequately described by typo.

  10. Re:Is this really news? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Freak accident. Guided missile to the forehead. Closed casket funeral. Very sad.

  11. Moar books ! by MrNatas · · Score: 2, Funny

    When I was a kid, I hated books.

    I am the kind of near sighted mole that fall asleep after thirty minutes reading. Eye fatigue.

    One day, my dad bought me this strangle little piece for Boris Vian, about werewolves and killer lesbians.
    I was thirteen.
    I loved it.

    I went to my dad and screamed "I CAN HAS MOAR !". He just showed me the bookshelves. "Has moar, my son, hundreds just waiting for you."

    The reading room was wonderful, fresh, sunny. The kind of place I'd now stay in for a smoke and some pages. Browsing the shelves was an experience, reaching the top ones was another, it sealed my relationship with books.

    I don't want to imagine what I'd have become had my father said : "Sorry son, I have 13.000 books on my kindle, but by law, I cannot lend them to you. And stop speaking lolctaz."