In Praise Of The Yellow Pages

This post is slightly off topic. "Talking About Music and Stuff" is the subtitle of this blog, so file this post under "Stuff."

The other day something showed up on my doorstep. I was quite excited to see it and I always enjoy its arrival. I'm talking about the new phone book. More specifically, the new Yellow Pages. Imagine, every business in the city listed categorically and alphabetically. Need a starter for your car? The "Used Auto Parts" section is the place to check.

Now, some of the younger generation, who shall remain anonymous for the purposes of this post, think the Yellow Pages and the white pages are out of date. Why bother with the bulkiness of these books when you can find the same information on the Internets?

You know, it is a good point. Why bother? Well, despite the fact the Yellow Pages website may purport to have the same information as the printed version, I don't think that's true. My results, when I search yellowpages.ca, seem fewer than the listings in the printed version. I haven't counted them, but it seems the local listings are lacking on the website. There are, however, a lot of national ads. No help there.

And then there's the time it takes to boot up what ever device you use to do your stuff on the Internets, whether it's a computer, an iPad, or a smartphone; it takes time to wake the thing up, start the browser, type in the address, search, look through the results, and not find what you're looking for. And if you're spelling challenged it can take even longer. On the other hand, I can find what I need from the printed Yellow Pages in less time than it takes on an electronic device.

I also realize that getting rid of the printed Yellow Pages makes environmental sense. It's got to take a lot of paper to print all those copies. And I realize that eventually the printed Yellow Pages will end up in the same place as the drive-in movie theatre, rotary dial telephone, VCR, and other technology past its Best Before date.

But, until the Yellow Pages appears on my doorstep no more - long live the Yellow Pages! (the book not the website that is)

Just sayin'.