I don't think there will ever be that many people using e-readers. Not for a long time at least.
Don't be too sure. Amazon and Barnes & Noble are the two largest (as far as I know) online booksellers, and, for both websites, their respective ebook readers are their best selling products ever. Furthermore, they both sell more ebooks than they do physical books. I'm sure it'll be a while before physical books are genuinely hard to come by (that would be my definition of "death" ), but it won't be long before ebooks are the dominant medium. Brick and mortar bookstores have been steadily declining for a while now (Borders has already gone under) and, once those go, physical books will be done.
If I had to make a guess, I'd bet that retailers will eventually stop stocking physical books and move to a drop-ship print-on-demand model. Physical books will still be available to those who want them, but at a higher cost. Ebooks will be the mainstream product, and physical books will be the niche market. Or so I predict.
Amazon to Launch Library Lending for Kindle Books
- 20/04/2011 03:18:34 PM
1376 Views
Excellent news!
- 20/04/2011 06:58:09 PM
742 Views
Paper books will not die for quite some time I'm sure.
- 20/04/2011 07:44:39 PM
838 Views
I guess it depends on what you mean by "death."
- 21/04/2011 05:04:40 PM
1070 Views
Of course an online bookshop is going to sell more e-books than physical books.
- 21/04/2011 06:14:51 PM
757 Views
That's exactly right.
- 21/04/2011 06:34:28 PM
1042 Views
I'm talking about the "Amazon sold more e-books than physical books in 2010" argument.
- 21/04/2011 06:39:45 PM
882 Views
Amazon being so successful at controlling the ebook medium makes me uneasy.
- 20/04/2011 07:13:02 PM
839 Views
Also: Terrible news. Another nail in the coffin of physical books. *NM*
- 20/04/2011 07:13:32 PM
471 Views
Not so much. *NM*
- 20/04/2011 07:39:17 PM
362 Views
A bit too melodramatic? Another blow to the desirable dominance of physical books, then. *NM*
- 20/04/2011 10:24:20 PM
373 Views
No. I just don't think this spells the end of physical books at all.
- 21/04/2011 06:11:53 PM
750 Views
Assuming you're right, that will still wreck the business of physical books.
- 21/04/2011 06:47:45 PM
1030 Views
I take perverse pleasure in watching the decline of physical books. 
- 21/04/2011 05:45:59 PM
1068 Views
- 21/04/2011 05:45:59 PM
1068 Views
You are right, of course. But all the rationalizing in the world doesn't make me happy about it.
- 21/04/2011 05:57:12 PM
804 Views
Re: Amazon being so successful at controlling the ebook medium makes me uneasy.
- 20/04/2011 07:41:00 PM
833 Views
I'm not sure I understand how this works...
- 20/04/2011 07:30:51 PM
922 Views
Re: I'm not sure I understand how this works...
- 20/04/2011 07:43:19 PM
830 Views
You download them from the Internet using your library card as an ID. *NM*
- 21/04/2011 01:07:54 AM
499 Views
What Ghavrel said, but...
- 21/04/2011 03:14:07 AM
962 Views
Obviously none of you have used Overdrive. It's horrifically bad.
- 21/04/2011 01:07:14 AM
767 Views
- 21/04/2011 01:07:14 AM
767 Views
Never heard of it. *NM*
- 21/04/2011 01:08:00 AM
375 Views
It's an already existing library ebook service, and it's terrible. *NM*
- 21/04/2011 02:19:25 AM
362 Views
What makes it terrible? *NM*
- 21/04/2011 02:20:12 AM
342 Views
The selection is awful, the interface is awkward, and it requires bizarre DRM installations.
- 21/04/2011 02:40:55 AM
830 Views
To be fair, Overdrive's problems are software issues, and not inherent to the business model.
- 21/04/2011 05:23:54 PM
929 Views
I definitely agree; I'm just irritated they're sticking with Overdrive. Ebook libraries make sense. *NM*
- 21/04/2011 07:14:38 PM
388 Views
Will a borrowed Kindle book have "fuck" underlined when it appears?
- 22/04/2011 01:59:39 AM
823 Views