Printed books will not exist after sometime

[webroot]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

Education will always keep them relevant. I don't think we'll ever have a generation that is e-book only.

As for archiving... Yeah, they use a controlled environment.

usage of papers in exams is down-hill for a long time but i agree education will provide lot of oxygen to pbooks.

[danskmacabre]

I fluctuate between vastly preferring electronic books and liking the feel and texture of printed books.
ATM, I'm reading a lot of printed books, as I got loads free from a neighbour who was clearing out his garage.
Still, I like both and I'm 48.

My 12 year old daughter reads paper books and electronic books and prefers reading paper books.
My 14 year old son prefers electronic books.
My wife doesn't care either way.

So I don't think it's particularly an age thing, just a personal preference and probably fluctuates for various reasons.

[Phogg]

The end of paper books...

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Phogg

The end of paper books...

All I see is an error message Phogg.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by JohnRR

Furthermore, in some developing countries, not everyone has the chance to use ebook reader or smartphones as they are expensive. They are likely to choose paper books as the price is lower to them.

Right.

Paper books won't become rare luxuries unless and until it is just as cheap to manufacture an eReader, with a single book, than it is to manufacture a book.

Also needed is invention of an eBook form factor where the cover is equivalent, from a marketing standpoint, to today's book jacket art.

If all that does come together, I do predict the near-death of paper.

One big disadvantage to paper, from the standpoint of the book industry, is the need to remainder and pulp a large portion of the typical original print run. By contrast, a single-book eReader could be reprogrammed, perhaps without leaving the bookstore.

Can I be sure that single-book eReaders are in our future? Of course not. The path of future invention is highly unpredictable. But I do think that paper technology is mature, whereas eReader technology has far to go. The devices that will kill paper aren't here yet.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by crich70

All I see is an error message Phogg.

For future notice, peoples in general :

You put the video ID, in this case "4dO01h3d2xs", in the [YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE] tags. Not the whole URL.

[leebase]

Just like vinyl will never go away and film will never go away. The likely scenario is that paper books will eventually become uneconomical. To few being sold to support book stores for the mass market. Books for the masses will go all ebook. Specialty books will become expensive. It's like with film. Plenty of photographers still liked or preferred film...but the mass market moved away such that film makers could no longer justify the business. We now have fewer sources of film....and a lot fewer stores even sell film. Then the places that process the film started going out of business or raising their prices.

It's just a matter of time

[webroot]

Originally Posted by danskmacabre

I fluctuate between vastly preferring ...So I don't think it's particularly an age thing, just a personal preference and probably fluctuates for various reasons.

While it is true that personal preference play a big role but luxury of physical books comes at the expense of cutting trees, even if the new technology comes with inorganic papers, the mechanics of producing papers will still be complex and expensive over ebooks. We accept things if there are no alternatives. And then mostly it is peoples who are in power and are in business decide direction of future trends. Lets say of govt pass a law the cutting tree is not allowed then?

[webroot]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Right.

Paper books won't become rare luxuries ...

Agreed

[Fiat_Lux]

Originally Posted by webroot

but luxury of physical books comes at the expense of cutting trees,

Trees are used, because the best plant for paper production is illegal to grow in 40+ states of the United States, and in those states where it is legal to grow, legal production is extremely limited.

I read about one guy that was going to start growing it, until he discovered that his little back forty, was going to produce a larger crop than the state allowed. Its pretty bad when a dirt-poor, washed-up ex-farmer owns more land, than the state allows for the crop to be grown on.

[Fiat_Lux]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I don't really know how much the religious market will affect pbooks, although I know a lot of people who would definitely miss them on Shabbos, I don't think we have a huge impact on the market.

If a Rabbi deems reading an eBook on Shabbos is kosher, then pbooks will not be retained. But until such a ruling is made, the Shabbos-reading market might be big enough to sustain pbooks.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by webroot

While it is true that personal preference play a big role but luxury of physical books comes at the expense of cutting trees

But most modern paper production comes from sustainable sources: ie the paper manufacturer re-plants what they cut. There's nothing inherently "bad" about commercial forestry.

[webroot]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But most modern paper production comes from sustainable sources: ie the paper manufacturer re-plants what they cut. There's nothing inherently "bad" about commercial forestry.

Commercial forestry may be very limited to a part of the world because the time required for fully grown Eucalyptus tree or bamboo is much more than production cycle.

One chance for saving printed books I see when all publishers come to a agreement against three culprit Amazon, Piracy and DRM. thereby completely boycott ebooks, if that is possible .

[dickloraine]

Maybe some companies do this. But we use much more paper. It is not possible to sustain the woods. Of course books are just small percentage of paper used.

[Bald Eagle]

Paper will go away when a more convenient medium comes around. We do not do our accounting on clay tablets anymore, laws are no longer set in stone, papyrus and vellum have been set aside for that flimsy, perishable paper thingy.
Any reasonably flat surface can and has been used for writing. Something more durable and easier to 'program' (i.e. to write on) than paper surely will come along.