Thursday, October 07, 2010

I Have Seen the Future at the NY Times

I have seen the future at the New York Times. And it’s not pretty for those of us who love real newspapers.

Now I’m no Luddite; I Tweet and Facebook like all you other addicts. I truly love my iPhone 4 and I read the Times as well as many other digital news sites via their very convenient apps. But there are times when nothing but the real thing will do.

Although it’s somewhat thinner these days – the Sunday Times is still the benchmark all other news outlets must match. I remember lining up at the nearest Manhattan newsstand waiting for 9PM on Saturday nights. That’s when the Sunday paper hit the stands – and you could take it home and sit on the floor with a glass of wine (and perhaps a boyfriend) and discover the weekend world. It was pure indulgence. That mess around you of sections read – or skimmed and kept for later – was a ritual I shared with all my friends and most of my fellow workers. It defined Saturday night in the city – when as often as not you read the Times first, and then headed to a midnight showing of a film – or down to some tiny cellar restaurant in Chinatown for the real deal.

And the future? It’s called Times Reader 2.0. Not, apparently, a totally new offering but now powered by Adobe Air. Bottom line, with 2.0 you can download the entire day’s edition of the NY Times to your laptop in – well – in a Flash. And take it with you to read whenever. Essentially what you can do on the regular website –but without the need for an internet connection –unless you want to keep your “paper” updated.

Remember a couple of weeks ago when Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger said flat out there will be no more printed version of the paper at some time in the future? He didn’t say when, but with advertising and readership continuing to fall, that time is probably sooner rather than later. Times Reader 2.0 is free for two weeks – and then you’ll need a subscription – priced cheaply for now at $4.62 a week.

I’m gonna miss those Saturday nights in the city even more when newsprint becomes extinct. Something to look at in a museum. Under glass. Remember how it feels, folks. Especially when you’re eating that greasy New York hot dog with one hand and holding that nicely absorbent newspaper with the other. Try doing that with your laptop’s touchpad. Or – Heaven forefend – your iPhone.

Friday, October 01, 2010

The Record Industry Deserves to Die

The recording industry deserves to die a long and miserable death. Not because of its long-standing talent policies. I don’t have a garage band. Not because of copyright issues. I don’t share my music indiscriminately over the internet. Not even because recordings cost too much. I am probably one of iTunes’ best customers and also have an active Amazon.com account.

No – the recording industry deserves to die because it is so paranoid about someone “stealing” a track or an album that when someone does buy a CD ---it simply can’t be opened! Or to put it another way --- “It’s the packaging, stupid!”

Now as I already said – I can download with the best of them; my iPhone’s iPod is expanding exponentially. But when I’m driving long distances – I still like to slip a CD into the player. My Mini Cooper has a fantastic sound system.

Except – I can’t.

A new CD arrived in the mail a few days ago – and without thinking I wrestled it out of its seemingly steel-clad Amazon cardboard mailer (another column perhaps?) and put it in the car. Without removing the cellophane from the CD album cover itself.

What was I thinking? Or NOT thinking?

Of course I couldn’t open the CD. Couldn't play it when I wanted to. Had to bring it back to the house and spend 10 minutes with a knife trying to get the cellophane off first – and then the really impossible seal that covers one side of the plastic cover-- keeping the CD intact from the prying fingers of the person who legitimately bought the damn thing and legitimately expects to play it.

Why, I asked myself for the 100th time, would anyone want to buy a packaged CD when you can download one in a couple of minutes for less money – and enjoy it immediately???

As far as I’m concerned the record companies killed themselves with impenetrable packaging. They took all the joy out of buying a recording you can actually hold in your hands. Their way of doing business is as dead as the Dodo. And despite my collection of 78’s, 45’s, LP’s, tapes and CD’s (don’t bother Merv Block; I know but they just don’t look right without the apostrophe) I’m ready to give up on the hard stuff.

As I said earlier – the record industry deserves to die and I hope the merchandising wizards are interred wrapped in their own preposterous packaging.