EdiscoveryCanada.com

Today I read on Google News (not in the newspaper) that on my upcoming birthday, the Canadian edition of TV Guide will cease publication as a paper magazine and will remain only as an online service. Apparently subscriptions have fallen drastically, since many cable TV subscribers now have interactive guides onscreen, and many others use the Internet and even Internet-connected devices to find out what's on, plan their TV watching, and control their TV sets.

Though paper clearly has its affordances, which I would never deny, digital services have their own unique charcateristics that are indispensable.  With the proliferation of channels and shows, it is difficult to navigate through a printed volume without search tools, or the ability to sort listings by time, date or program.  Online guides are interactive, allowing users for example to select programs for recording, while the printed version is never anything better than a reference.

Paper and electronic information will co-exist for a long time, but sometimes the purveyors of paper know when they are beat.