Blame it on Apple the creators of iPod or the makers of its predecessor the MP3 player or old Mr. Jim Harris, a computer programmer in Memphis, who landed on the pages of New York Times who was able to read/listen to about 54 Please Login or Register to see this special Members Only link.. People, he only read a small number books, but calls himself a lifelong bookworm.
So what have really made people get hooked to Please Login or Register to see this special Members Only link.? Let us try to review first the concept of reading. Is it in any way better than listening? No, think again.
The modern day world just realised that there’s a simple way for a book to get along with the “cool” concept. It made itself not just hip with its sleek design device; it made itself more portable.
Oh come on, would you rather bring a hardbound Harry Potter Volume 6 than your iPod where you can actually hear great Dumbledore as he reigns over Hogwarts?
It might be why the National Endowment for the Arts said that fewer Americans are reading than a decade ago. A third of them they say are listening to MP3, iPod, CDs and DVDs.
[hidepost]It is said that Please Login or Register to see this special Members Only link. have redefined reading. Where it used to be an activity that requires devoted time; it can now be a part of your daily routine. Digital audio that can be downloaded on MP3 has led into numerous converted readers.
Why it might suffice that the smallest iPod can hold up to four books. You might even like the latest version where you can speed up narrations without increasing pitch.
Technology has a way of changing things, but of course what does the literati think?
They still stand by the written word, saying actors’ breathing on audio might not do the book justice.
But if this is the only way for common people to understand and appreciate literature, then let people listen to the word than never to read it at all.
Deep reading as critics say has become less popular, as it requires the inner and outer ear.
The truth is, reading can still be there, but when it’s almost rush hour and you’re in bottle-neck traffic, who would like to open Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s thick paperback of One Hundred Years of Solitude?
Not Mr. Harris who owns the latest iPod.
[/hidepost]