Electronification of Books/Harold Pinter’s Legacy

The Google Revolution
The media has feared the advances of the Internet on their territory for years. It started with MP3 files and the music industry. It has progressed to DVDs. Lately Google has been digitizing books. Publishers are angry and frightened of its economic consequences. In a wonder essay for Guardian, Richard Wray and Dan Milmo take a careful look at theses consequences. What they don’t investigate is the question that has plagued music and movie producers for a decade: Why haven’t the individuals responsible for traditional media find out how to exploit the Net? If you have not already done so, you might want to read John Updike’s take on the topic, which appeared a while back in the New York Times.

iPoding of Books
“The iPod comes along and suddenly digitally downloaded audio becomes a much bigger marketing [for book publishers]….It is one of the first areas of the digital world that, rather than just talking about it, we are actually earning money from it,” says Peter Bowron, group managing director at Random House, in an article by Dan Milmo. The ideas of this article tie in with those of Motoko Rich’s essay about how authors are changing the face of audio books. The intent of audio books confuses me. Aren’t stories read aloud actually plays or screenplays, such as Pinter’s. Read the next item.

The Legacy of Harold Pinter
“Full of adultery, alcohol and menace, Harold Pinter’s screenplays have given actors their best roles—and directors the opportunity of a lifetime.” That’s the thoughts of David Hare in his essay about Pinter’s gift to cinema.