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I'm not sure why the choice was 1-2 hardcovers as opposed to hardcovers without limit. Before I received my Sony 505 3+ years ago as a holiday gift, I bought new hardcovers only (the only exception being if a new release was available in paperback only) or if it was an older book, I would buy it in Fine or better condition (often new) in the antiquarian market. Sometimes I would buy 1 or 2 hardcovers at a time, but more often it was 4-6 every month. Nearly all were nonfiction.
This habit has not changed with the advent of my Sony reading devices. The change the dedicated devices have brought about is that I read more fiction and sample a broader range of fiction authors. However, I continue to buy new release nonfiction in hardcover. Recently, I have begun to buy new-release nonfiction in both hardcover and ebook (that is, of the same title) -- the hardcover goes on my library shelf and the ebook version is what I tend to read.
The consequence is that I am buying fewer new nonfiction titles because the prioce of the ebooks essentially doubles the cost.
In my case, which I recognize is the exceptional case and not the rule, the publishers are wrong insofar as they think ebooks cannibalize hardcover sales and thus they need to price ebooks like the hardcover. For people like me, they would be significantly better off pricing the ebook at 1/4 to 1/3 the price of the hardcover if one buys both versions. With pricing like that, I would resume buying more hardcovers supplemented with ebooks.
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