page 14 2014 TECHNOLOGY TODAY LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com September 30, 2014
library. Comic books and
magazines have also become a
popular purchase on the Internet.
Companies such as Marvel and
DC comics, or popular magazines
such as People, have offered digital
subscriptions for the past few
years.
An overall benefit to these digital
purchases comes in the form of
repetition. It is entirely possible
now for someone to download a
book or a magazine multiple times,
so long as they have purchased it
once. Even if a reader’s hard drive
is destroyed, they can rebuild their
library with a click of the mouse.
For those readers who want to find
older pieces, such as teachers and
students, the technology of the
Internet has also allowed for access
to the texts of the past. Archives
like Project Gutenberg contain
thousands of texts that we often
consider to be “classic,” so long as
there is no current copyright issue.
For example, if a teacher wants to
assign a reading of Shakespeare, but
they do not want to make the class
purchase another book, an archive
like Project Gutenberg will have
multiple copies of Shakespeare’s
work available for a free download.
On the part of the author, it has
become easier for those who wish
to write to post their material
online with new methods of self-
publishing. Web services are
offered through Amazon, Lulu, or
other similar websites.
These websites allow for would-
be writers to submit their own
written files, complete with
options for covers and bindings.
Some websites provide access
to a network of editors who will
review material for a fee. Due to
the increase in popularity of these
services, publishing companies
have begun scouring these
databases for new talent.
Music and audio entertainment
Related to reading,
audio books have
continued on into
the new world
of entertainment
because of the
Internet. In
the past, books
could be
bought on tape and
listened to with a portable tape
player or in a car. While these
types of audio books have not gone
away, they are no longer the only
method of hearing a book read
aloud.
Services such as Audible.com
allow for narrated books to be
purchased and stored online in
a manner similar to electronic
documents. Not only are books
sold this way, but articles can be
purchased and listened to as well.
In addition, there are other services,
such as Librivox, which allow for
volunteers to narrate books (under
public domain) for free downloads.
In addition to books, audio
technology has allowed for a
greater access to radio channels
and music catered to the listener.
Following in the footsteps of
satellite radio, the Internet has
become populated with websites
that allow for listeners to create
their own radio playlists based on
genre or artist.
Listeners can also tag songs they
like in order to hear more music
that is similar. For example, using
the Pandora radio app, one can
create a station solely for classic
rock or country or even classical
music. In addition, these genres
can be mixed together into one
station.
Another popular audio-based
piece of entertainment media
is the podcast. A podcast is
similar to NPR in the sense
that most podcasts focus on a
discussion among a group of
people over certain topics. A
search for podcasts yields results
in discussions of politics, science,
history, movies, video games,
music, art and … almost anything
one could have a discussion about.
Podcasts can be saved on a hard
drive and listened to repeatedly.
In the vein of radio, technology has
allowed for audience participation
in podcast discussions. With
the availability of Twitter, it has
become common online for
popular podcast creators to inform
their listeners of when they will
be recording. As a result, it has
become common to listen to a
recording live and contribute via
text messages in a manner similar
to callers on a radio show.
Video
Technology
Video cameras
have become
increasingly
prevalent in
today’s devices.
Phones, laptops, tablets -- it seems
like most devices come with a
camera of some kind built in. As
a result, it has become easy for
people to find entertainment via the
recorded escapades of other people.
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