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Originally Posted by PurpleStar
A lot of people can't afford fancy e-readers or have credit cards to buy the e-books, or even money to buy the e-books.
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Predicting is often a fool's game. But I think, twenty years hence, eReaders will be less than US$5 (in 2012 dollars), and new English language papers books will be an expensive luxury item. Other languages will be behind on that curve, but moving in the same direction.
If anyone has a big problem with that, well, complaining on the internet will not help. The only thing that will help is to buy paper, not eBooks. I'm not recommending this, as I consider the transition to eReading inevitable.
Why twenty years? Well, a lot of readers prefer paper, and it will take time for them to move over to the cheaper ecosystems.
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What would happen to public libraries then, if paper books were gone?
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The twentieth century was a stupendous period for publishing, and libraries will keep on housing those books for centuries, and keep lending them out for many decades.
Libraries have many missions other than handing out current books. So we're not talking about library extinction. eBooks do, however, create a challenge for them, and I think we will see branch closings.
My neighborhood public library has a sign asking folks to volunteer for the board. I wonder if this might indicate that eBooks are already drawing community interest away from the library.