- DVDs
- Home telephone service
- External hard drives
- Smartphone also-rans
- Compact digital cameras
- Newspaper subscriptions
- CDs
- New college textbooks
- Gas-guzzling cars
- Energy-inefficient homes and appliances
The new college textbooks got my attention. I’m teaching a class next week and while I was reviewing the text book I have the option to provide my students with an e-book, and electronic version they can “rent” for a while that is about a third of the cost of the print version.
Well crap – I just bought two more Seagate FreeAgent 500 GB USB drives – I like 'em…………I do use off site backup services for some of my customers. That one time when a tornado hit one of them and tumped their server over and it got rained on when the roof was ripped off…..well, the offsite backup really saved our arses………….
When I read that article I was struck by the mentioning of text books as well. Kinda sad, I think. I understand the convenience of technology, but the experience of a book is nothing that a computer screen can ever capture…
With my classes (all online to fit into my schedule) I pay an extra 49 dollars per class — which covers the book in an online version. I can still access the book, even when the semester is over, but I don't have to worry about it just being another book on my shelf, nor do I have to worry about forgetting the book at home when I need it – I can just access it on my laptop or whose ever's house I'm at's computer.