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
1890 Views
Excellent news!
- 20/04/2011 06:58:09 PM
1207 Views
Paper books will not die for quite some time I'm sure.
- 20/04/2011 07:44:39 PM
1286 Views
I guess it depends on what you mean by "death."
- 21/04/2011 05:04:40 PM
1640 Views
Of course an online bookshop is going to sell more e-books than physical books.
- 21/04/2011 06:14:51 PM
1196 Views
That's exactly right.
- 21/04/2011 06:34:28 PM
1649 Views
I'm talking about the "Amazon sold more e-books than physical books in 2010" argument.
- 21/04/2011 06:39:45 PM
1327 Views
Amazon being so successful at controlling the ebook medium makes me uneasy.
- 20/04/2011 07:13:02 PM
1275 Views
Also: Terrible news. Another nail in the coffin of physical books. *NM*
- 20/04/2011 07:13:32 PM
706 Views
Not so much. *NM*
- 20/04/2011 07:39:17 PM
581 Views
A bit too melodramatic? Another blow to the desirable dominance of physical books, then. *NM*
- 20/04/2011 10:24:20 PM
598 Views
No. I just don't think this spells the end of physical books at all.
- 21/04/2011 06:11:53 PM
1166 Views
Assuming you're right, that will still wreck the business of physical books.
- 21/04/2011 06:47:45 PM
1615 Views
I take perverse pleasure in watching the decline of physical books. 
- 21/04/2011 05:45:59 PM
1686 Views
- 21/04/2011 05:45:59 PM
1686 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
1260 Views
Re: Amazon being so successful at controlling the ebook medium makes me uneasy.
- 20/04/2011 07:41:00 PM
1313 Views
I'm not sure I understand how this works...
- 20/04/2011 07:30:51 PM
1365 Views
Re: I'm not sure I understand how this works...
- 20/04/2011 07:43:19 PM
1259 Views
You download them from the Internet using your library card as an ID. *NM*
- 21/04/2011 01:07:54 AM
724 Views
What Ghavrel said, but...
- 21/04/2011 03:14:07 AM
1446 Views
Obviously none of you have used Overdrive. It's horrifically bad.
- 21/04/2011 01:07:14 AM
1226 Views
- 21/04/2011 01:07:14 AM
1226 Views
Never heard of it. *NM*
- 21/04/2011 01:08:00 AM
616 Views
It's an already existing library ebook service, and it's terrible. *NM*
- 21/04/2011 02:19:25 AM
607 Views
What makes it terrible? *NM*
- 21/04/2011 02:20:12 AM
577 Views
The selection is awful, the interface is awkward, and it requires bizarre DRM installations.
- 21/04/2011 02:40:55 AM
1279 Views
To be fair, Overdrive's problems are software issues, and not inherent to the business model.
- 21/04/2011 05:23:54 PM
1531 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
619 Views
Will a borrowed Kindle book have "fuck" underlined when it appears?
- 22/04/2011 01:59:39 AM
1240 Views