Get with the times

During my class today a man, whose name I cannot remember, gave a presentation on how the I-pad and the Kindle were going ruin books and the publishing industry. This is not the first time I heard how the digital age would be the end of books and literature, as we know it. But, I remember when the internet was going to ruin the music industry and the movie industry. Yet movies and musicians still make millions of dollars. This goes back even further than the Internet, there was a time when people cried about how television would ruin radio, when VCR’s came out, Universal Studios went before the supreme court, claiming that if people could record movies at home, then they would no longer go too movies in theaters. Did any of these things happen? No, all it did was force the industries to change and adapt to new innovations. I feel that if anything, the Internet will improve literature; the Internet allows authors to self publish fairly cheaply and easily. It’s what happened to the music industry, when the Internet came around music did not end, the only thing that ended were a number of record companies. Now, if a band wants to be popular and make money they release their music on the internet, which brings people to their live shows. I feel that this same change is coming to publishing. If an author can produce good content then people will buy it. I feel that saying that the internet is going to ruin an industry would be like someone complaining that the light bulb would ruin the torch industry, or that the car would ruin the horse industry. It’s the future and you must adapt.