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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.
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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 1206 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 1639 Views
Re: I guess it depends on what you mean by "death." - 21/04/2011 05:40:28 PM 1338 Views
Re: I guess it depends on what you mean by "death." - 21/04/2011 06:04:16 PM 1811 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
I understand. - 21/04/2011 07:26:28 PM 1584 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
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
Yeah, I hear you. - 21/04/2011 06:16:24 PM 1607 Views
Considering you can print out an ebook, your argument is silly. - 21/04/2011 01:09:18 AM 1210 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
What Ghavrel said, but... - 21/04/2011 03:14:07 AM 1446 Views
That's pretty cool then - 21/04/2011 06:25:03 AM 1211 Views
Yes and no. - 21/04/2011 05:10:24 PM 1661 Views
Obviously none of you have used Overdrive. It's horrifically bad. - 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
I'm not a fan of the interface, either. - 21/04/2011 03:08:53 AM 1381 Views
I agree. *NM* - 21/04/2011 01:35:12 AM 565 Views
Will a borrowed Kindle book have "fuck" underlined when it appears? - 22/04/2011 01:59:39 AM 1240 Views
Better than it being written on the margins - 22/04/2011 05:27:12 AM 1186 Views

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