The Future of Barnes & Noble–and what it may mean for media purchasing (1 Viewer)

[Hollywoodaholic]

Yes, my college son rarely has a physical book for a course, but they found a way to keep charging outrageous textbook fees (usually more than $100)... you buy the online book to access a key code you need to take the tests. Clever, huh? Or insidious?

 

[RobertR]

Interesting information about college textbooks. When I was studying for my Professional Engineering license about 8 years ago, I had books. I still have them. I doubt that electronic devices will ever be allowed, because only certain calculators are permitted to prevent cheating.

I have LOTS of bookshelves in my house, with LOTS of books, including Astronomy books and the complete Encyclopedia Britannica. I've always been an avid reader. But I honestly don't miss reading paper editions, any more than I miss the "feel" of vinyl records. The idea of carrying over 1000 books in my pocket is something I find utterly marvelous. It's the words that engross me, not the medium, just as it's the music that engrosses me, not the emotional attachment to a physical artifact.

 

[jcroy]

That will change when they hit college (and maybe even high school, depending on their high school). Almost all college textbooks today are electronic and all assignments must be submitted electronically (with the exception of some art/design projects).

Not too surprising. The end of the line unfortunately.

The foreshadowing started happening almost a decade ago, when the famous CALTECH campus bookstore closed down in 2009 (for example).

https://www.dailybulletin.com/2009/04/11/larry-wilson-what-does-campus-bookstore-closure-say/

 

[gralenk]

It doesn't surprise me as Borders' demise surely helped B&N go long this long.

Unfortunately, book stores will be a thing of the past like video stores although I have three Family Video stores close to me where I can rent new UHD BDs, but I don't expect them to last long either.

I live in Maryland and the only place I can rent a video is a RedBox. I miss the days were I can go to a blockbuster and browse the video and get one with my girlfriend. That is why my DVD/Blu-Ray collection is huge?. What state are you in so I can move. Maryland has no rental places

 

[David Norman]

I'm in NC and FamilyVideo chain is still here. I think FV may be the last surviving Major Rental B&M chain, but it's more regional and only really in 20 states (10 in any real numbers mostly in the Midwest).

 

[Dave H]

I live in Maryland and the only place I can rent a video is a RedBox. I miss the days were I can go to a blockbuster and browse the video and get one with my girlfriend. That is why my DVD/Blu-Ray collection is huge?. What state are you in so I can move. Maryland has no rental places

I agree. The browsing has always been such a treat. So many times my girlfriend and I will stop off and see what we might want to watch - sometimes just unplanned which is fun. Watching something the same night you didn't expect. I feel very fortunate. I'm in Michigan.

 

[LouA]

Yes, my college son rarely has a physical book for a course, but they found a way to keep charging outrageous textbook fees (usually more than $100)... you buy the online book to access a key code you need to take the tests. Clever, huh? Or insidious?

It's the same with Compact Discs . You pay $15.00 for a download and don't get any physical product . They've removed that cost . No disc or booklet , but same price .

 

[zoetmb]

It's the same with Compact Discs . You pay $15.00 for a download and don't get any physical product . They've removed that cost . No disc or booklet , but same price .

The download business is pretty much over in the U.S. In 2017, downloads constituted only 15.7% of industry revenue (even less than physical media at 17.6%). Downloads were down 25.5% from 2016. It's all about streaming now, which constituted 66.7% of U.S. industry dollars in 2017, according to the RIAA. We won't know first half 2018 numbers until late September.

 

[Mike Frezon]

This came up in a discussion currently taking place in the thread about the B&N Criterion sale.

During my last two visits to my local B&N store in Albany NY, there has been no staff in the media section--just this sign:

It actually took me quite awhile to find where they were hiding today's new release of the Dietrich/von Sternberg set. Apparently this is beoming a common situation at B&N stores across the country.

NOT a good sign.

 

[TravisR]

^ I think that sign has been the only employee in the media department at my B&N for about a year now.

 

[Garysb]

Sad Sale.

This weekend all CDs are 50% off. In store only. Goodbye Music except Vinyl.

The sale included a CD/DVD combo. I got the Simon and Garfunkel Concert in Central Park Combo for 50% off. 50% off is off list price not already reduced prices. May work on some of the Beatles Combo stuff.

I have not heard that this is any kind of final sale but it seems to be as the media area is always empty. I don't think they will be restocking.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

It's kind of amazing when you think about it that vinyl might end up being the last physical media standing when all is said and done. A nineteenth century format might out-survive all of the formats of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

 

[Garysb]

There were small black and white photocopies of the 50% off all CD's signs in the two stores I visited rather than professional looking for sale signs like the Criterion sale. Looked like they printed them from an email or from their intercompany website.

 

[David Norman]

There were small black and white photocopies of the 50% off all CD's signs in the two stores I visited rather than professional looking for sale signs like the Criterion sale. Looked like they printed them from an email or from their intercompany website.

Sounds like the signs that my stores put up for the 40% off BD and DVD Fathers Day sale that surprised almost all the BN Managers and Employees. The customers who knew the sale usually started the Tues Pre-FD actually told the store people that the sale was happening and had to prove it by ringing up items on the POS Computer before anyone was even aware of the sale. The signs for the sale didn't actually go up until the next day and most of them looked like they were 5 minute Home-made by some underling on Windows Word and printed on an Inkjet or poorly photo-copied version of last years Sale Notice where you could tell the correct dates had cut out and taped over the last sale dates -- different fonts, not even lined up properly,

 

[Rick Thompson]

It's kind of amazing when you think about it that vinyl might end up being the last physical media standing when all is said and done. A nineteenth century format might out-survive all of the formats of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Moral: Analog rules!

 

[Tony Bensley]

It's kind of amazing when you think about it that vinyl might end up being the last physical media standing when all is said and done. A nineteenth century format might out-survive all of the formats of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Moral: Analog rules!

I guess that RUSH got it right, after all!


CHEERS!

 

[RobertR]

Moral: Analog rules!

Faulty logic. People may migrate from CDs and towards downloading, streaming, etc., but the overwhelming choice for how they listen to music will still be digital in one form or another. Vinyl represented 8.5% of all album sales in 2017, which was 169.15 million copies. Compare that to 600 BILLION audio streams last year. That makes vinyl about 0.003% of all audio listening choices last year. It's clear that what rules is digital, by an astronomical margin.

 

[skylark68]

Faulty logic. People may migrate from CDs and towards downloading, streaming, etc., but the overwhelming choice for how they listen to music will still be digital in one form or another. Vinyl represented 8.5% of all album sales in 2017, which was 169.15 million copies. Compare that to 600 BILLION audio streams last year. That makes vinyl about 0.003% of all audio listening choices last year. It's clear that what rules is digital, by an astronomical margin.

Yes but the masses are not always right... Quality over quantity....

 

[Patrick McCart]

I travel for work a lot, so I've been stopping at B&N when I'm near one during this month.

One of the San Antonio locations seemed to have every in-print title in stock. Great staff. Ended up chatting with the cashier. She said that pretty much anything Asian is popular and they're constantly having to replenish Kurosawa titles. David Lynch, Wes Anderson, and Terry Gilliam are top sellers, too. (Also scared off someone from getting Salo by accident)

 

[RobertR]

Yes but the masses are not always right... Quality over quantity....

Depends on what you mean by "quality". We all know about the Loudness Wars, resulting in idiot record producers compressing the hell out of the dynamic range on a lot of recordings. That's not an inherent fault of digital, though. It's actually a side effect of digital being more forgiving of such compression than vinyl. As for all the objective parameters (distortion, noise, frequency response, channel separation, etc.), even the compressed formats do better than vinyl.