E-book readers

[eytanz]

There will always be books, just in tiny little specialist shops for $100's each.

Not for quite a while. People like tactile things they can own. People still have CD collections even though it's easy and cheap to get digital music. People still buy vinyl record - true, they do have to go to speciality shops, but it's nowhere near $100s to buy one. I'm not saying it won't happen, but don't overestimate the impact of new technology on the old.

One of the reasons for the CDs is that downloadable music sounds like shit on a decent system and vinyl sounds even better.  I'm just too lazy for vinyl.  The claim of the e-readers is that they look as good as a real book.  I haven't seen one so I'm only going by reports.

I've seen one. The screen takes a while to refresh when you switch pages, which is a bit annoying (there's some flicker involved) but something you can get used to when you're reading. When you're trying to leaf back and find something in earlier pages, it is a major issue. I don't dislike e-book readers, but I think they're are still a few generations away from really being able to rival a book experience. Which isn't to say they won't start getting popular before that happens - the niche will grow, and before too long they may well be the dominant form of reading. But there's a difference between dominating the market and totally marginalizing books. That will take a whole lot longer.

[Russell Nash]

There will always be books, just in tiny little specialist shops for $100's each.

Not for quite a while. People like tactile things they can own. People still have CD collections even though it's easy and cheap to get digital music. People still buy vinyl record - true, they do have to go to speciality shops, but it's nowhere near $100s to buy one. I'm not saying it won't happen, but don't overestimate the impact of new technology on the old.

One of the reasons for the CDs is that downloadable music sounds like shit on a decent system and vinyl sounds even better.  I'm just too lazy for vinyl.  The claim of the e-readers is that they look as good as a real book.  I haven't seen one so I'm only going by reports.

I've seen one. The screen takes a while to refresh when you switch pages, which is a bit annoying (there's some flicker involved) but something you can get used to when you're reading. When you're trying to leaf back and find something in earlier pages, it is a major issue. I don't dislike e-book readers, but I think they're are still a few generations away from really being able to rival a book experience. Which isn't to say they won't start getting popular before that happens - the niche will grow, and before too long they may well be the dominant form of reading. But there's a difference between dominating the market and totally marginalizing books. That will take a whole lot longer.

Agreed.  I think things that are time sensitive like newspapers and news magazines are going to be the first victims.  I also think this will hurt the paperback book market quicker than the hardcover.

[Russell Nash]

I haven't been keeping up on this Kindel thing at all, but I just heard today that the things were sold out by early december and that they were going for as much as $1000 on Ebay.  I think it's crazy, but maybe this is the tipping point that will start making it an interesting market for the electronics companies.