Heh, even Jean Luc Picard reads actual books, and that's centuries from now! XD

What if there's a fire in your house and it burns your entire collection.

If you're responsible and back up your digital libraries (I know I have digital libraries for music, books and games, and I maintain at least 2 copies of each), they're actually MORE SECURE than physical media.

@ the shpydar - that's just a consumer re-education process, and it is happening. More and more, people are turning to digital music, and adoption curves for films suggest a similar thing will happen.

Let's not forget that physical retail shopping is a cultural thing that has been a part of human culture for some 2000-3000 years. It's never going to go away entirely, and like with vinyl music, there will always be a niche audience for physical media, too. Considering we've only had one generation of digital download platforms, I think it's very obvious that it will be the dominant form of games entertainment in the near future (20 odd years if you listen to the analysts)

I'm stubborn tho', and shall cling onto physical media as I do my books. FOREVER!!!

_{well, until this eventual unavoidable digital era I hear of takes over, pfff}

That'd be convenient as far as storage goes, but it would take away from the system's power and memory. And as far as books go, the last thing I want to do is read a book on a crappy screen made to look like paper. Other media will inevitably move to digital storage, but I don't want to read books on a screen.

Missing out, dude! As an early adopter of this digital frontier, I can honestly say I love having a few hundred years of entertainment stored on a few devices. It means my house will be filled with less clutter, it means I always know where everything I want is, and it means (thanks to iPhone, Kindle, iPod and DSi) for about a KG of devices I can take everything with me when I travel or commute - which I do a lot of.

And as far as books go, the last thing I want to do is read a book on a crappy screen made to look like paper.

You haven't used a Kindle or other e-reader, have you?

@WaltzElf: No, and I don't plan to. Call me stubborn, but every time I try out one of these e-books, it seems worthless and a waste of money. Instead of buying a kindle for a couple hundred bucks, I could buy quite a few books. Plus, it is always nice to see the cover of a book, and to read actual material instead of a little computer screen. The experience is nicer, in my opinion.

@WaltzElf: I don't travel much, and when I do, I wanna get away from all that stuffz. Each to their own.

I've had serious issues with Steam (early on admittedly, but I still lost out), lost two hard drives full of music, and truly believe that one day the internet will break. xD Right now, I'm not ready, but like you say in 20 yrs I may think differently.

Still love goin the shops, havin lunch, buyin stuff. It's silly yeah, but I don't get the same feeling when buying online.

It's also nicer to be able to share your books with friends as opposed to telling them to check it out from the library or buy it themselves, because i know i'm not too keen on loaning out an expensive piece of technology to anyone, lol. also, when all your books are on it, if someone else is using it you're kinda eff'd if you wanna read something, y'know. :/

Good point. Borrowed books/movies/games are were surprises are found. I fear this digital age were everyone goes by reader reviews & popularity ratings, instead of trying for themselves. _{and making their own mind up}

The more I think about it, the more I wanna stay were we are.

AND BRING BACK VINYL!!! xD

@WaltzElf: No, and I don't plan to. Call me stubborn, but every time I try out one of these e-books, it seems worthless and a waste of money. Instead of buying a kindle for a couple hundred bucks, I could buy quite a few books. Plus, it is always nice to see the cover of a book, and to read actual material instead of a little computer screen. The experience is nicer, in my opinion.

That's why I asked whether you had used a Kindle. You haven't, because it is a huge push to suggest that it's a 'computer screen' at all. As someone who can't read big blocks of text on screens (I get headaches pretty easily), I was initially wary of the Kindle, but the reading experience is, if anything, better than that of a book. The only thing you lose is the smell.

Also regarding the cost - Kindle books are cheaper to buy than print books. Therefore, if you buy 30-40 Kindle books over the course of a year (as I have) and factor in the occasional freebie that pops up, you've actually saved significant amounts of money.

I've had serious issues with Steam (early on admittedly, but I still lost out), lost two hard drives full of music, and truly believe that one day the internet will break. xD Right now, I'm not ready, but like you say in 20 yrs I may think differently.

Still love goin the shops, havin lunch, buyin stuff. It's silly yeah, but I don't get the same feeling when buying online.

For sure, I agree that there is that shopping experience, and those lingering concerns over the security of the media. But I do wholeheartedly believe that when it comes to music, books, movies and games, digital download platforms will occupy 60-80 per cent of total sales within a few decades... if not more. There are just a lot of benefits that people don't realise yet (such as the example above of the actual price of a Kindle + books or the quality of E-Ink technology for reading).

It's also nicer to be able to share your books with friends as opposed to telling them to check it out from the library or buy it themselves, because i know i'm not too keen on loaning out an expensive piece of technology to anyone, lol. also, when all your books are on it, if someone else is using it you're kinda eff'd if you wanna read something, y'know. :/

And this is another example of the education the market needs to do on people before they will adopt - it's quite possible to loan digital books to friends.

For instance with the Kindle, you are allowed to attach up to five devices to the one account. Kindle devices include iPhone, Blackberry, PC, Android and the Kindles themselves. Anyone who has access to the account can download any book on that account.

So I often give people temporary access to my Kindle account so they can read books from my collection. Simple lending solution.

Anyway, point is, the market at general doesn't proprely understand the benefits of digital media. It will, it's just a process that needs to take time, and of course, in that mean time there will be a whole lot of resistance from the more traditionalists.

I am a stoic traditionalist, clinging on for dear life. xD But this multi-device shared account you speak of shows what is possible and gives me hope. To the future, n stuff!

I may be a late adopter, tho'.

@Waltz: and if they don't have a computer with internet access, an iphone, a blackberry, or a droid? If I want someone to read a book, I'd rather let them borrow it right then and there as opposed to having to wait a month until they can afford to have their cable/internet service turned back on. not to mention the fact that I don't want to get mugged for walking down the street with a Kindle or pestered by people interested in it because it's new to them; i'd rather be unobtrusive with a plain old book. I also don't want to be limited in only allowing five people to borrow my books -- i've got a lot of friends, and back at my old workplace even we'd all pass books around to one another, maybe twenty people in the same group sharing one or two books a piece between us all. it just wouldn't be feasible with what you're describing.

honestly, you're not going to convince me that digital is better in this case, lol. if it works, why fix it? :3

I totally agree with you. I enjoy physical things also, I love collecting game cases and the game itself, books, posters, comics. I know for a doubt that Nintendo will not stop making game cards. The only thing I like about digital downloading is downloading free music and movies and also photos of Justin Bieber, Jonas brothers, Miley Cyrus, Victoria Justice, MJ, Star Wars, Animals, Shakera FIFA South Africa world cup to my PSP, that's it.

I didnt mean that they should entirerly do everything didgital but it will happen maybe not now but it will happen and i didnt mean that they should get rid off the retail but it would be nice nice if u u cood buy games online i mean just buy a memory card for like 20 dollars u all say u rather ur cartiges and thats fine, but what happens when it falls out ur pocket lil brother lost u would have to go back to the store and get another one or dont even bother digital game should be sold in the 3ds because u can easily get it back if u lose it and u cant be allways be afraid of hackers cause ur gonna grow up using a credit debit or whatever and people can just hack u whwnever they feel like it so please dont doubt the 3ds ware going for cartriges

@ray62: or... i can not carry my cartridges in my pocket, and i can not let my little bro anywhere near them. problem solved :3

also, 'please don't doubt the 3DSWare going for cartridges'? Nintendo hasn't really made much DSiWare that went from 'Ware to retail (usually it's the other way around, isn't it?), so I do believe i will doubt the 3DSWare will do the same -- it'll probably stay digital, which is fine by me. most of it's just not meaty enough for a full retail release, lol :3

If the DS was a little thicker, there should be a slot to put 3 game cartridges in it so they can stay handy with you.

That would be unnecesery take up space no point sorry

@ray62
First, punctuation and grammar are your friends. Use them.

Second, i'm assuming you are a younger fellow, as many of the complaints you have (eg, not having a ride to the store, needing instant gratification when wanting a game) seem to be predominantly youngling issues. Nothing wrong with that; i'm just saying. To each their own.

Books. For. The. EDUCATION.

Also, I've used a Kindle before (read about a book and a half actually) and it reminded me of a story a history teacher told me.

He was in class with a kid who had an early e-book reader. You know, the kind that used to eat cartridges. And the kid pretty much verbally attacked him, "Books are so yesterday, e-books are the future, they're not even going to be printed anymore." So, the teacher started asking him questions. Can't you only read one book on those things? The kid whips out a cartridge, stuffs it in. Can't you only read like comic books on that? The kid takes out cartridges of all his textbooks. Can you read in the dark? Kid presses a button, the screen lights up. What about if you want to read outside? Presses another button, screen dims. How much does that thing weigh? Kid says a little less than a single text book. Stumped, the teacher pauses. Then, he gets one more question. Can it do this? And he takes a thesaurus (or something, poem book, whatever) and CHUCKS it against the wall. The kid's eyes bug out and he's lost for words. "I'll stick with books for now," are the teachers last words.

Sooooo, yeah. Books are righteous. Especially The Name of the Wind. :3

Wow never saw that 3DS cartridge image before. It looks kind of strange with that notch on the top. I suppose it's there to physically prevent the cart from being inserted into normal DS slots - kind of like how the GBA carts were half the size and had a ridge to prevent them from being fully inserted into the old GB slots.