More E-Books
Do you still repress your farts?
Go on a first date and farting is taboo. Live with someone for a few years, and you’re ripping them on a regular basis.
Or how about sex? Ever postpone it because there’s something really good on TV?
Can’t say I’ve ever discussed these topics with a buddy, but I was nodding my head in recognition when I came across them in Jonathan Tropper’s "This Is Where I Leave You".
This is my fourth Tropper book.
Last year I had no idea who he was.
Wasn’t even aware of him four months ago.
But checking recommendations of similar titles in the Kindle Store, I discovered him. The first book I read, "Everything Changes", was too much like a movie script, but since I bought two books at once, I delved into "How To Talk To A Widower" thereafter and found it much more sensitive, I ended up reading "The Book Of Joe" too.
And now I’m reading his new novel, the aforementioned "This Is Where I Leave You". I needed something light after "Revolutionary Road."
I know, I know, they made a movie out of it. But I didn’t see it. I just don’t get Leonardo DiCaprio as an adult and Kate Winslet, although a phenomenal actress, doesn’t resonate in the role of a fucked-up Connecticut housewife.
I downloaded the sample chapter because of something I read in the Sunday "New York Times" Book Review. I never bothered to more than skim it previously, but now I’m an avid reader. I’m looking for fulfillment.
And that’s what I got with "Revolutionary Road". Do we need meaningful work? Do our lives run on rails of their own, and we’re just passengers? Exquisitely written with a phenomenal, unforeseen by me ending, "Revolutionary Road" creeped me out. There were parts that were just too close to home. I immediately started a new book to shake the willies.
And "This Is Where I Leave You" begins almost too close for comfort too. It revolves around a Jewish family that’d rather be ironic, make jokes than be sincere. My mother has never sent a sincere card in her life. Nor do I. We laugh at those weepy cards in the drugstore. Could the laugh be on us?
Then again, I was laughing out loud when the protagonist found his wife in bed with his boss on her birthday, and ended up shoving her beloved chocolate-strawberry cheesecake, with 34 lit candles, up his ass while they were doing it.
You can depict this stuff in movies, even on TV shows, but it’s just not the same. It’s not as intimate.
In other words, I’ve become addicted to books.
I used to buy a hard cover a year. I had to be truly convinced it was great. Now I’m downloading sample chapters constantly, and I’m angry that I don’t have a complete other life, so I can read full time.
And I found out I’m not alone.
According to Amazon, in today’s "New York Times", Kindle owners now purchase 3.1 times more books than they did before they owned the e-reader. This is up from 2.7 in December. In other words, Kindle owners are reading a fuck of a lot of books.
Are people listening to a fuck of a lot more music?
Some are. Those who are unafraid of the RIAA, and are using BitTorrent and RapidShare to steal what they want. But most people are buying less music. That’s what the statistics tell us. They want the track, not the album. And who’d want the album? Of these faux artists with records made by committee?
Have you been checking out the statistics on Pandora? They’ve got 35 million listeners and they’re getting 65,000 sign-ups a day and the service sucks. Well, it’s not terrible, it’s just not what most people want. Most people want to be able to pick and choose amongst everything. They want to be able to sample what they hear about, what they read about, immediately.
You can do it on your desktop. But it’s cumbersome. Going from YouTube to MySpace Music to the band’s site to the aforementioned BitTorrent and RapidShare. But there’s not one satisfying place that’s got everything.
Rhapsody’s pretty good. Napster too. But their uptake is slim.
Yesterday I downloaded the Spotify app to my iPod Touch. Utterlyfuckingamazing. The Rhapsody app is just about as good (except for the inability to download tracks for out of wireless range play). You’ve got to pay for both. But Rhapsody uptake is slim and Spotify is not available in America. But people would pay for Spotify if they could just experience it. But they can’t, because one major label doesn’t want it to be free on desktops in America. Because the people running that company are as out of touch with reality as book publishers.
What we want is more people listening to more music. Of course, we want them to pay for it. But the best way to get people to purchase Spotify Premium is to let them experience the free desktop app. And why shouldn’t labels be in favor of this, especially now that all deals are 360? Since they share in touring revenue?
The music business has got it all backward. Once buying a Kindle, I’m eager to buy books. Once buying a smartphone, people will pay for excellent music services like Spotify.
The iPhone minions are a cult. Extremely large, but they walk around tapping their screens in superiority. Like people used to talk about bands. But now, no new act reaches critical mass. Because either they suck or most people don’t know about them or both.
I’m dying to read Stieg Larsson’s new book. I’m backed up on my Kindle. I’m passionate. The same way we want people to be passionate about music.
In a world where there can be instant availability of all music, the major labels want to sell CDs. They’re afraid to piss off Wal-Mart, and they’re sacrificing their audience to other forms of media. The transition to digital distribution is wrenching. But you’ve got to see the opportunities. Believe me, if Spotify launched its free version in America, there’d be instant hysteria. Akin to the early days of Napster.
Don’t think Spotify doesn’t pay for the music. It does. It’s just banking on building a bigger business, willing to lose money now in order to make tons tomorrow. The music business is unwilling to risk, labels and publishers are desperately trying to keep their old creaky business model functioning. This is a recipe for death. We’re on the cusp of a golden age of music. The only people standing in the way are us.
