Quote:
Originally Posted by BWinmill
While I personally think that ebooks are here for the long run, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss Katsunami's mama. She's probably been around long enough to see things come and go with the times.
|
Yes of course; music went from record to CD to digital files, and (for some people), to streaming. Movies went from tapes in different formats to Laserdisc, to DVD, Blu-Ray, and (for some) digital file and/or streaming. (Some unlucky guyes even have some HD-DVD's lying around.)
I fully
expect the e-reader as we know it today to disappear. Maybe, in 10 years time, we will have some sort of technology that creates a double 6 inch screen (two pages), that can be folded in half twice. If you want to upload a book, you just send the book through wireless means (not using a provider such as Amazon). It could be as simple as having the device check an e-mail address for incoming messages and extracting the attached book. (There are many printers that do this already.)
So yes, the e-reader will disappear, but I think it will be replaced by a superior device. Thinner, smaller, foldable, possibly so flexible that it's nearly unbreakable.
I don't see a complete return to paper books without any means of e-reading, which is my mom seems to think will happen (or at best, the e-reader will be a tiny niche again). I just don't see it happening. It would be as if suddenly no DVD's/Blu-Ray's were sold anymore and everybody would return to VHS. Nope. Doesn't compute.
Quote:
|
The thing about ebooks is that they're great at what they were designed for. They are great for people who buy books and keep them as a part of a personal library. They aren't so great at things that they weren't designed for, such as sharing books. How people respond to what they gain and lose from ebooks is going to make or break the technology. At the moment, it's hard to tell what that reaction will be. It's too early to tell whether people will hold onto a technology that they've just started using or if they will go back to the old ways because it doesn't meet their expectations.
|
When buying €30 hardcovers, I can understand people saying: "OK, lets swap some favorites." At the prices I buy ebooks for, often around or even under €1, I'm not going to wait until sombody finishes a book. At those prices, I'll just buy it.