I don't know about print going obsolete -- but I do worry about the price of printed books skyrocketing. When enough people start buying ebooks rather than the print versions, demand for the print versions will decrease, and therefore there will be smaller print runs. The smaller the print run, the more expensive it is. I see print books becoming a luxury item, and those cheapo grocery store paperback genre books simply ceasing to exist altogether as people download the even cheaper ebook versions instead.
It's kind of fitting, in a way. Back before the printing press, books were highly coveted and unique works of art. Maybe that's the state they'll ultimately return to. Maybe, someday, the most anticipated ebooks will have a limited number of printed versions, which will be numbered and autographed by the author -- kind of like high quality art reproductions.
|