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Unlike JSWolf and basschick, I bought a lot of hardcover books before I bought my Sony Reader and I continue to buy a lot of hardcover books still; in fact, my buying of hardcovers has increased, not decreased, since I bought my Sony.
What has changed in my buying habits is now, in addition to buying the hardcovers, I also buy a lot of ebooks. My ebook purchases are of authors and genres that I would not have previously bought in any form.
The failure of the publishing world is that it hasn't undertaken any comprehensive studies of book buying habits to determine what effect ebooks really have on the market. In my case, inexpensive ebooks has increased the amount of money I spend on books and expanded the field of what I would buy, without diminishing my hardcover purchases. In fact, ebooks have increased the number of hardcovers I buy. For example, until I got my Sony I had never read a single book authored by David Weber. I always found the cover artwork and the dustjacket descriptions off-putting. But I was willing to give him a try from the Baen free library and discovered that I really like his style. Now I buy his books in hardcover as soon as they are available.
A comprehensive study of book buyers and book-buying habits would be money well spent by publishers. If nothing else, there would be at least facts from which to work rather than anecdotal evidence.
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