When you buy any type of content, be it entertaining or informative, you’re not just paying for the content: you’re paying also for the channel required for you to get at that content. Normally, that channel isn’t as important as the content itself… but sometimes, the channel pisses you off to a point where you wonder why with our many technological advances (e.g. glue, Internet), we’re still not getting it right.
Books
If I buy a physical book, I’m not only paying for the content, but also the paper the words that are printed on; the very ink printed on those pages; the binding; the cover. Even if you’re paying for the pdf versions of the book, you’re buying into a method that the content is delivered to you; the pdf reader on your local machine.
But indeed, a book is more than just the physical. The reason why one would buy a book isn’t because of the “cover”, hence the adage: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
For me, the saying goes: “Don’t judge a book by its slant printing and horrible binding.”
Why is it that all three books I’ve bought from Pragmatic Programmers (through Amazon and Buy.com) want to make me NOT want to read their content? The content itself seems very friendly and high quality. (except for the TextMate book… if only Buy.com had a better return policy). But why, oh why, can’t the publishers get the simple act of putting enough glue to make the stuff stick? Or, even, print on a straight line? But I digress in my blinding anal-retentive fury.
I returned all three books. Freaking… get the glue right, Pragmatic Programmers LLC.
But more generally, this idea applied to digital content…
Music
Look, I want my music. Now. And I want it cheap (this is yet another post waiting to be written…). I don’t want to have to deal with this industrial-strength sticker to get at my music… albeit, I will be missing that crisp new CD feel and smell. (Hooray: Relient K’s Five Score & Seven Years Ago
With advances in the World Wide Web, why the freak isn’t this easier to do? Heck, even pirating isn’t that easy… recent albums are widely downloaded over peer-to-peer clients or bittorrent, but what if I wanted to get something I heard on some random TV commercial? For me: What if I wanted a Korean music CD? Well… there are sneaky ways around it… but…
I would much rather have a quick, cheap (free, if possible), legal, universal codec/bitrate music.
Not only music… but ANY media.
In the world of media, it’s not only the content, but also the channels in which users get to that content.
/etc/
Wait, what do I categorize this in? I love writing on these things… does “technology” and “culture” fit it? I wonder…
Hey Josh, can you look at my blog. Can you show my how to set it up so that when my images are resized to fit the column that it doesn’t distort it and that it get s resized proportionally? Is that even possible? Or is there a way to make the column just wider so that it doesn’t resize my images? Thanks!