I killed borders

[Mars_ax]

The Borders bookstore and record store chain will close all it's stores it announced yesterday.

I'm the reason. For six or seven years I spent $5000-$6000 annually at the Borders here on Maui.

With the rise of Itunes and the IPOD my music purchases fell to zero very quickly three years ago. That was probably 15% of my spending there.

I purchased my first Kindle, almost reluctantly, early in 2009 thinking it couldn't be all it was cracked up to be. And it wasn't. Reference books were clumsy, it didn't deal with maps and photos very well, and if you wanted serious books the selection was only OK. But within a week it had become my go to source for my mindless beach reading, Spy stuff, detective stuff etc. That took another 25% of my Border's spending.

Last spring I sprung for an IPAD and that ended the game for Borders. By now overall selection was expanding, the IPAD handled maps and photos and drawings in books very well. This allowed me to now download serious works of history, biographies etc in a useful way. It also makes reading books about music or art really fun as it is easy to jump between programs and listen to a song you don't know while reading etc. That wiped out my Borders spending entirely.

Now Amazon fills whatever need I have for tangible books or unavailable CD's.

I've always loved bookstores and idea of the printed word. But not enough to forego the immediate gratification and convenience the new technology provides. I suspect it is folks like me, book and music junkies, who are deserting these bookstores and killing them.

The Internet has changed everything, I can't remember the last time I read a book, unless it had something to do with business. I get all my information from either Cable TV or the Internet, it works for me, I look at it like having the world's largest Library at your fingertips.

R.I.P. Borders