The April 2005 issue of Wired magazine has an article by Robert Capps entitled "Discs Are So Dead." In the article, Capps says that the future will be high-speed download of high definition movies and not the purchase or renting of DVDs via mail or at your local Blockbusters. His futuristic outlook announces the death of the mom & pop video store--unless they learn to survive by specializing in hard to find videos (anime, selling soda, popcorn, whatever it takes...).
What's my take on all this?
I believe in the digital future. I remember when I was fifteen years old and I had a Smith Corona typewriter. I had saved the money up to purchase it and even spent money on buying special keys for characters with accents (foreign characters like the accent ague in the French language). What a pain in the ass it was to have to type up a manuscript. My correction tape was worn thin. Correction tape. Just think about that for a second. My son will grow up in a world in which he will most likely never need to use a typewriter and he'll have no idea what I'm talking about.
But I would sit at the typewriter and press on the keys and then hit the correct key. The typewriter would shift up, go back one space, and then I would hit the mistaken key I had typed. The key would strike the white correction portion of the typewriter ribbon and “erase” the wrong character I had typed. After a good amount of typing, you’d have to buy a new printer ribbon because either the correction tape or the black ink portion of the ribbon would be used up (you’d type and the letters would be faded on the page).
I grew up in a world in which I used a Commodore 64 computer with a cassette tape to load programs into the 64K RAM computer. 64K! The computer I’m working on right now has 512MB of RAM. It's only been twenty years that I used the C64. How time flies. But let me get back to my story. I wrote up my “The Islands of Durear” Dungeons & Dragons module that I submitted to Dragon magazine on that typewriter. I sweated and worked hard typing on that machine. When you type on a computer, it’s nearly effortless, but on a typewriter, you had to hit the keys hard enough to move the key to hit the page. If you hit too lightly, the character on the page would be too light.
Now I live in a world with mp3s (listening to Moby’s new CD “Hotel” now), iPods, BitTorrent, high-speed Internet access, pen drives, ftp servers, gmail accounts, and other technological marvels. I embrace the technology. I know that some writers fought technology or refused to use it. I know this sounds lame, but it’s the truth: I’m left-handed and find it extremely difficult to write with a pen for a long time. My hand cramps up and my printing (I never handwrite—only my signature) isn’t good at all. But if you put me in front of a keyboard, I can stream away my ideas. My images. My sounds that echo off within my mind. They’re there. And it all comes to be.
I have been typing on a computer for over twenty years now. I started my first “digital” journal on the Commodore 64 when I was sixteen years old. Now I’m keeping a blog. Technology can change, shift, and advance, but I still enjoy embracing technology.
I welcome downloading songs, movies, content, and whatever. I do not fear using machines to make my life better. I need not talk about the need for moderation—I don’t want to live in a machine, but I do want to use them to work, express my ideas, and to imagine.
Capps' article that explains that “Discs Are So Dead” is right on the mark. I was talking to my wife last night in bed and I wondered out loud: “Imagine all the college students right now who are using all the new technology to listen to music, watch movies, and to communicate. They consider all of these things as the norm.”
The music and movie industries better wise up and find a way to market the new technology or they’ll also fade into obscurity like a typewriter….
What's my take on all this?
I believe in the digital future. I remember when I was fifteen years old and I had a Smith Corona typewriter. I had saved the money up to purchase it and even spent money on buying special keys for characters with accents (foreign characters like the accent ague in the French language). What a pain in the ass it was to have to type up a manuscript. My correction tape was worn thin. Correction tape. Just think about that for a second. My son will grow up in a world in which he will most likely never need to use a typewriter and he'll have no idea what I'm talking about.
But I would sit at the typewriter and press on the keys and then hit the correct key. The typewriter would shift up, go back one space, and then I would hit the mistaken key I had typed. The key would strike the white correction portion of the typewriter ribbon and “erase” the wrong character I had typed. After a good amount of typing, you’d have to buy a new printer ribbon because either the correction tape or the black ink portion of the ribbon would be used up (you’d type and the letters would be faded on the page).
I grew up in a world in which I used a Commodore 64 computer with a cassette tape to load programs into the 64K RAM computer. 64K! The computer I’m working on right now has 512MB of RAM. It's only been twenty years that I used the C64. How time flies. But let me get back to my story. I wrote up my “The Islands of Durear” Dungeons & Dragons module that I submitted to Dragon magazine on that typewriter. I sweated and worked hard typing on that machine. When you type on a computer, it’s nearly effortless, but on a typewriter, you had to hit the keys hard enough to move the key to hit the page. If you hit too lightly, the character on the page would be too light.
Now I live in a world with mp3s (listening to Moby’s new CD “Hotel” now), iPods, BitTorrent, high-speed Internet access, pen drives, ftp servers, gmail accounts, and other technological marvels. I embrace the technology. I know that some writers fought technology or refused to use it. I know this sounds lame, but it’s the truth: I’m left-handed and find it extremely difficult to write with a pen for a long time. My hand cramps up and my printing (I never handwrite—only my signature) isn’t good at all. But if you put me in front of a keyboard, I can stream away my ideas. My images. My sounds that echo off within my mind. They’re there. And it all comes to be.
I have been typing on a computer for over twenty years now. I started my first “digital” journal on the Commodore 64 when I was sixteen years old. Now I’m keeping a blog. Technology can change, shift, and advance, but I still enjoy embracing technology.
I welcome downloading songs, movies, content, and whatever. I do not fear using machines to make my life better. I need not talk about the need for moderation—I don’t want to live in a machine, but I do want to use them to work, express my ideas, and to imagine.
Capps' article that explains that “Discs Are So Dead” is right on the mark. I was talking to my wife last night in bed and I wondered out loud: “Imagine all the college students right now who are using all the new technology to listen to music, watch movies, and to communicate. They consider all of these things as the norm.”
The music and movie industries better wise up and find a way to market the new technology or they’ll also fade into obscurity like a typewriter….
Starting Over
My most recent blogs were missing, my ftp access had changed, and I could not get the database connected to my blog. All not good.
Needless to say that after trying for two days to solve the situation, I opted to purchase a new hosting plan with another company. I was able to sign up this morning for new service and get my blog running in about 25 minutes.
The picture above is of a flower bed that I saw while I was in Disneyland last week. While on a business trip for work, I was able to spend a half day in Disneyland. I am not a lover of all things Disney, but I must admit, for the record, that I enjoyed myself and had a good time.
Unfortunately, all that I had written about Disneyland is forever lost (since I had not backed up my database locally). The moral of the story is: Blogging is great, but be sure to back up your data or pay for a service that will back up your blogs for you. The good news is that I had all my files from March 22nd, 2005. Things could be worse.
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