Quote:
Originally Posted by JackNolte
Very much doubt bookstores will go away. Most will probably transition back to their long ago roots -- selling both new and used, small shops, lots of hand selling. Most experts expect ebooks to flatten out at a max of 50% of the market. I'd say that's about right, over 10 years or so.
~Jack
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Printed Books are analog in what's becoming more and more a digital world. I have stacks with k-printed books in it, but I'm converting, newer books, particularly fiction and history, as much as possible to eBooks. I see 3 things needing to happen:
- Cheap eReaders (Cost of 1 or two books) [This is getting close]
- Quality Color capability (hinted at with the iPad (or perhaps the high-res iPhone 4), but not there yet)
- Large format capability (Coffee table books)
The eReaders are already becoming ubiquitous, very few stores are not carrying them this Christmas (Drug stores!? Bed, Bath and Beyond, etc., etc.), they need to get better and cheaper, more standardized, they will. There has to be a way for non-Computer types to get eBooks. And then that's about it, it won't stop at 50%, maybe 10-15% will be printed, there will be an inversion of the market shares there are now. The eBookstores will be part of that. The traditional bookstore, the printed bookstore, will become what record stores are now, few and far between. The 50% number, and I've seen that too, is just wishful thinking on the part of some publishers. Evolve or perish. Just a matter of time.