Assuming you're right, that will still wreck the business of physical books.
Aemon Send a noteboard - 21/04/2011 06:47:45 PM
How many books do you buy for yourself each year? How many do you give away as gifts? What do you suppose the ratio of personal books purchased / books given as gifts is for the average person? I have no statistics to offer as proof, but I strongly suspect that the sales generated from the small percentage of books bought as gifts could not support physical bookstores. I'd be surprised if it could support the traditional publishing business at all, what with its mass printings and inventory distribution.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there will always be a way to get hold of physical books, but shadow's comments about "nail in the coffin" and "blow to the dominance of physical books" seem pretty accurate. Open to semantic interpretation, of course, but accurate overall.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there will always be a way to get hold of physical books, but shadow's comments about "nail in the coffin" and "blow to the dominance of physical books" seem pretty accurate. Open to semantic interpretation, of course, but accurate overall.
Amazon to Launch Library Lending for Kindle Books
20/04/2011 03:18:34 PM
- 1674 Views
Excellent news!
20/04/2011 06:58:09 PM
- 1013 Views
Paper books will not die for quite some time I'm sure.
20/04/2011 07:44:39 PM
- 1086 Views
I guess it depends on what you mean by "death."
21/04/2011 05:04:40 PM
- 1448 Views
Of course an online bookshop is going to sell more e-books than physical books.
21/04/2011 06:14:51 PM
- 1037 Views
That's exactly right.
21/04/2011 06:34:28 PM
- 1452 Views
I'm talking about the "Amazon sold more e-books than physical books in 2010" argument.
21/04/2011 06:39:45 PM
- 1151 Views
Amazon being so successful at controlling the ebook medium makes me uneasy.
20/04/2011 07:13:02 PM
- 1089 Views
Also: Terrible news. Another nail in the coffin of physical books. *NM*
20/04/2011 07:13:32 PM
- 616 Views
Not so much. *NM*
20/04/2011 07:39:17 PM
- 500 Views
A bit too melodramatic? Another blow to the desirable dominance of physical books, then. *NM*
20/04/2011 10:24:20 PM
- 512 Views
No. I just don't think this spells the end of physical books at all.
21/04/2011 06:11:53 PM
- 997 Views
Assuming you're right, that will still wreck the business of physical books.
21/04/2011 06:47:45 PM
- 1436 Views
I take perverse pleasure in watching the decline of physical books.
21/04/2011 05:45:59 PM
- 1473 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
- 1067 Views
Re: Amazon being so successful at controlling the ebook medium makes me uneasy.
20/04/2011 07:41:00 PM
- 1098 Views
I'm not sure I understand how this works...
20/04/2011 07:30:51 PM
- 1179 Views
Re: I'm not sure I understand how this works...
20/04/2011 07:43:19 PM
- 1069 Views
You download them from the Internet using your library card as an ID. *NM*
21/04/2011 01:07:54 AM
- 641 Views
What Ghavrel said, but...
21/04/2011 03:14:07 AM
- 1242 Views
Obviously none of you have used Overdrive. It's horrifically bad.
21/04/2011 01:07:14 AM
- 1056 Views

Never heard of it. *NM*
21/04/2011 01:08:00 AM
- 527 Views
It's an already existing library ebook service, and it's terrible. *NM*
21/04/2011 02:19:25 AM
- 506 Views
What makes it terrible? *NM*
21/04/2011 02:20:12 AM
- 485 Views
The selection is awful, the interface is awkward, and it requires bizarre DRM installations.
21/04/2011 02:40:55 AM
- 1100 Views
To be fair, Overdrive's problems are software issues, and not inherent to the business model.
21/04/2011 05:23:54 PM
- 1342 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
- 530 Views
Will a borrowed Kindle book have "fuck" underlined when it appears?
22/04/2011 01:59:39 AM
- 1078 Views