Every form of technology that's become digital has also been transformed by its users/audience.Explain how at least three "old" media ( Books, tv, film, radio, newspapers) have adapted to new digital media forms, and how they have been changed by the process of becoming digital. Also describe the ways people use and change digitized media as consumers. Show some examples on your blog. Which "old" media do you think have promising futures in digital form, and which do you expect will die out soon? Support your answer with good arguments.
Each piece of technology that has changed from analog to digital has also been transformed by its audience. Three pieces of media which have adapted to new digital media forms are books, the radio, and newspapers. Each of these media have required an adjustment in order to stay current and stay relevant as a result of the trend that lends itself towards more digital media. They have each been changed drastically by the process of becoming digital in order to still be deemed useful to consumers. The first piece of media that has been forced to adapt to new digital media forms are books. In recent years, books have been less and less popular because of the digitized sense of books. Now, you can read books online, preview books online, and buy books online. Bookstores are going out of business and less and less people are reading actual physical books. This is where technology such as the Kindle and applications on the iPhone come into play. Now, we can take books anywhere we go quickly and efficiently. It is now made extremely easy and portable. The process of obtaining books to put on your device and the actually act of reading the books on your device are easy. I have seen more and more people reading on their devices. Money is no longer being made in bookstores but rather online on websites such as Amazon where people can buy books to put right on their Kindles. Some people wonder if books will go away completely but I disagree. I, for one, enjoy going to bookstores and reading magazines and books in print right in front of me physically. It is a joy for me. I think that there are still people who agree with me so that is why I do not think books and bookstores will completely go away. Unless the technology gets better, cheaper, and more efficient, I still believe this about books. Another piece of media that has been forced to adapt to new digial media forms is the radio. The radio has been around for a very long time so it has had to learn how to adapt to the changing times. It has gone through many reincarnations from AM to FM and now to internet radio and other music sources and websites such as Pandora. Because more people are listening to their iPods in their cars, radio has seen a serious hit in listeners so they had to figure out a way to get back into the mainstream. Now, nearly every radio station has a website where you can hear a live streaming version of what plays on the radio. Moreover, there is an application for the iPhone and iTouch, which streams live radio feed from all across the country that you can hear on the go. In addition, websites such as Pandora, similarly to the radio, makes playlists based on music they believe you will also like. I feel like internet radio will not take off as much as the iPod. It is just so much easier to listen to your iPod for instance. The final piece of media that has been forced to adapt to new digital media are newspapers. Newspapers have become virtually obsolete in recent years mostly because of the Internet. We can get any information and insight that we could ever want to know on the Internet. Newspapers realized that they were not making as much money as they used to so they had to digitize newspapers. Now, nearly every newspaper has its own website where you can find the latest headlines, past headlines, video, games, comics, and a variety of other things. Recently, Newsday has decided to charge people to visit and partake in the information that they broadcast on their website for a small fee just as if you were getting a newspaper delivered to your house. I do not think that charging to use newspaper services on their website will take off but something needs to be changed in order to make a profit.
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