[zacheryjensen]

To weigh in on a couple interesting points:

On Art Books: Depends on the art. If the point is a reproduction of works by a particular artist (the only type of art books I own) then I would far, far prefer them in digital form. I would prefer them delivered at super high resolution scans of the original works that I could zoom and pan and discover at far more detail than some printed book. Remember, art books are printed in pixels now too, they aren't giant photographs or something. Of course, I wouldn't use an e-ink reader for this. I would use my high resolution computer screen. You need to use the right tool for the job and a super high resolution image on a nice computer screen beats a book any day.

On Physical Books as Ornaments: I actually think this is a more important point than any others. People adore their books for the simple and immediate association the sight of its unique visage produces. It's nostalgia. I honestly think that the future of printed books lies in this area. I think paperbacks and your boring run-of-the-mill hard covers are going to shrink to obscurity and be replaced by eBooks. I believe publishers are attracted to greater control over their wares. I think swapping sites and used book sales are the real motivation behind eBook support from publishers. Oh by the way. I work for a publisher, largest in the world, so I have a little insight. I think that physical books will become, out of necessity, works of art on their own. I expect a person in the future will only buy printed books when they really love them and won't mind spending a larger sum for getting something unique, perhaps signed or hand stitched.

On Browsing Libraries: I have cover images on all of my eBooks and I quite enjoy browsing them in coverflow on my iPhone in Stanza. There is absolutely no reason browsing electronic media can't be made as enjoyable or more-so than physical browsing. It's a matter of getting the software going and a lot of it is there if you look in the right places.

Right now eBook Reader technology is fledgling and suffering from a rush to market as a long sought-after opportunity for them is finally opening up. This will change, just as digital music players improved, so will electronic reading experiences.

But, and here's the real kicker, you shouldn't worry about paper books. They only exist now because they were the logistically most practical method of disseminating ideas. The fact that they are the size they are, a balance between how much can be printed without wasting time and money and how much a person will be willing to pay attention to is not an aspect unrelated to the technology itself. In reality, I don't think the book as you know it today has much of a life left.

I think we'll see more arbitrary forms of communication of stories, facts, etc. The short story, for example, is far more practically distributed in the digital realm. You don't need to worry if it's enough pages to warrant a book, or find a set of them to warrant a book, or find a publisher, you can just post your short story on a blog site and point people at it.

A novel can be distributed chapter by chapter, serially, like the old digest magazines. I don't think people should be so tied to the status quo. The status quo of books only exists because that is what works best for the tech.

A point was made during an Apple keynote about how fewer than 40% of Americans read more than 1 book in a year. I think that's interesting because other statistics show people are now reading more than every before, historically. But they aren't reading novels. They're reading websites, articles, blog posts, some are fictional some opinion, some facts, etc. Authors of fiction are showing up in these same realms. Short stores show up on Tor's website monthly and some of my favorite authors like Doctorow post their short works for free all the time.

What's important is that the consumer not lose control. ebook reader, paper, computer screen, tablet, netbook, whatever it shouldn't matter. You should be able to consume a story however you like. All that is required is standard formats. Standard html, standard ePub, even *shiver* PDF. Nobody has to give up their precious paper books if the efforts in electronic books are focused on standards and openness. Got a book you and your wife both like? She hates ebook readers? Go to kinko's and use the POD machine to make a paper copy for her.

The future could be bright and there's no reason whatsoever to think that people afraid of change will stop technological progress. They never have, and never will. So enjoy your eBook experience however you like it best and stop trying to sell every random jerk on the idea. Let Amazon, Sony, Cybook, Barnes & Noble, Plastic Logic, iRex, Best Buy, Penguin, Tor, Harper Collins, etc. etc. do it. They have millions of dollars at stake here and their business is dying a painful death. The technology WILL move along whether those naysayers join us or not.