The medium (or carrier, or packing) is marginal and
interchangeable. A CD, an audio cassette, or an MP3 player are
all fine, as far as the consumer is concerned. The listener
bases his or her purchasing decisions on sound quality and the
faithfulness of reproduction of the listening experience (for
instance, in a concert hall). This is a very narrow, rational,
measurable and quantifiable criterion.
Not so with text.
Content is only one element of many of equal footing
underlying the decision to purchase a specific text-"carrier"
(medium). Various media encapsulating IDENTICAL text will
still fare differently. Hence the failure of CD-ROMs and e-
learning. People tend to consume content in other formats or
media, even if it is fully available to them or even owned by
them in one specific medium. People prefer to pay to listen to
live lectures rather than read freely available online
transcripts. Libraries buy print journals even when they have
subscribed to the full text online versions of the very same
publications. And consumers overwhelmingly prefer to purchase
books in print rather than their e-versions.
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