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The latest Facebook stats are in (and look pretty impressive according to this infographic. In the 20 minutes per day users spend on the site, they click 2.7 billion “likes” and upload 250 million photos. We were also surprised to learn... Read the rest of this post

Just to beat the dead horse a little more

The discussion I brought up yesterday about copyrights of different book formats is really about the only thing going in book news right now so that is what you get to hear about.  This morning's Jacket Copy was quoting more music industry history lessons.  This time dredging up that that before cassettes were going to ruin the music business it was records... 

"That was a time when people thought records were really bad for musicians," said Gary Calamar, the co-author of "Record Store Days: From Vinyl to Digital and Back Again," a new history of (and unashamedly geeky paean to) the culture of the record store. "People were just getting used to electricity, and many artists resented the presence of records. They thought nobody would buy sheet music anymore."

It's not that the music industry is the only comparison for the book industry; it's just that changes they faced are a little fresher in our minds.  Thinking about this makes me wish I could travel back to 1500, just to hear a first-hand account from monks screaming about how Johannes' device was the work of Satan, and that the printing press would be the ruin of the written word.

I'm sorry, I swear I'll be off my soap box any second now...

[Now Reading: Heat by Bill Buford

How to Start a Band, Book Gigs, and Get Rolling to Rock Stardom by Jessica HarperWorkman Publishing 2009I'm really torn over this book. On the one hand, this book is a perfect tonic for all those girls (like the author) who were told or felt that the world of Rock & Roll and all it has to offer is a secret club populated by boys who insist that "Stairway to Heaven" is be-all, end-all in rock.