I am continually amazed by how insatiable consumers are for redundant media. The current coverage of Aurora is simply rehashing known details, but readers are lured on by the promise of even the smallest tidbit of new information.
@Strangiato you really think television isn't important and viewing habits don't merit much thought? television and viewing habits both drive big $$$ and are vehicles for politics etc.
having watched both dvds of shows and the same shows on television (same with hulu v. television) I prefer to watch the episode in its entirety minus commercial breaks, except for certain sitcoms. I think that Seinfeld and Friends may play better with the breaks.
I'm not sure it's a bad thing that the competitiveness of literary production will increase.
I think you're 100% right in regards to Shakespeare, but I don't think that has anything to do with e-books. Although many of Shakespeare's contemporaries are studied in academia, Middleton, etc. are rarely read by or performed for the public. The decay rate of net 'great literature' is a natural process. I do wonder though whether e-books will speed it up.
"A serious writer is not to be confounded with a solemn writer. A serious writer may be a hawk or a buzzard or even a popinjay, but a solemn writer is always a bloody owl."