Comments on: Shaking hands with the long tail at Borders http://mediavorous.com/archives/shaking-hands-with-the-long-tail-at-borders A blog about where culture, new media, marketing and community collide... in people's heads. Mon, 04 Jan 2010 05:36:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: JohnPearson http://mediavorous.com/archives/shaking-hands-with-the-long-tail-at-borders/comment-page-1#comment-962 JohnPearson Thu, 25 Jan 2007 03:41:03 +0000 http://mediavorous.com/archives/shaking-hands-with-the-long-tail-at-borders#comment-962 Nice Post. That was well said. Always appreciate your indepth views. Keep up the great work! John Nice Post.

That was well said. Always appreciate your indepth views. Keep up the great work!

John

]]> By: David http://mediavorous.com/archives/shaking-hands-with-the-long-tail-at-borders/comment-page-1#comment-786 David Wed, 17 Jan 2007 03:29:03 +0000 http://mediavorous.com/archives/shaking-hands-with-the-long-tail-at-borders#comment-786 My first instinct was "Don't do that -- the sellout ending undercuts any relevant point the film might have made, and besides it sucks," but maybe the movie has a point. Perhaps independent bookstores giving way to giant chains and automated online shops is just progress, and railing against it makes no more sense than candlemakers battling the advent of the electric light. I'm just as guilty as anyone of using Amazon wish lists to quickly and easily finish my holiday shopping. And yet, I don't see any way off the slippery slope we're heading down by placing price and convenience over the exploration and human connection of indie bookstores. Admittedly, I'm not impartial, as my family had a dog in that losing fight for two decades, but every purchase made with a few clicks, or at a megachain better known for its coffee bar than its well-read employees, is another step away from that experience you had in the Phoenix airport, one more vote for simple certainty over serendipity, one more nail in the coffin of a once-treasured institution. Sorry about the rant, buddy. My first instinct was “Don’t do that — the sellout ending undercuts any relevant point the film might have made, and besides it sucks,” but maybe the movie has a point. Perhaps independent bookstores giving way to giant chains and automated online shops is just progress, and railing against it makes no more sense than candlemakers battling the advent of the electric light. I’m just as guilty as anyone of using Amazon wish lists to quickly and easily finish my holiday shopping.

And yet, I don’t see any way off the slippery slope we’re heading down by placing price and convenience over the exploration and human connection of indie bookstores. Admittedly, I’m not impartial, as my family had a dog in that losing fight for two decades, but every purchase made with a few clicks, or at a megachain better known for its coffee bar than its well-read employees, is another step away from that experience you had in the Phoenix airport, one more vote for simple certainty over serendipity, one more nail in the coffin of a once-treasured institution.

Sorry about the rant, buddy.

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