I don't think there will ever be that many people using e-readers. Not for a long time at least.
Don't be too sure. Amazon and Barnes & Noble are the two largest (as far as I know) online booksellers, and, for both websites, their respective ebook readers are their best selling products ever. Furthermore, they both sell more ebooks than they do physical books. I'm sure it'll be a while before physical books are genuinely hard to come by (that would be my definition of "death" ), but it won't be long before ebooks are the dominant medium. Brick and mortar bookstores have been steadily declining for a while now (Borders has already gone under) and, once those go, physical books will be done.
If I had to make a guess, I'd bet that retailers will eventually stop stocking physical books and move to a drop-ship print-on-demand model. Physical books will still be available to those who want them, but at a higher cost. Ebooks will be the mainstream product, and physical books will be the niche market. Or so I predict.
Amazon to Launch Library Lending for Kindle Books
- 20/04/2011 03:18:34 PM
1454 Views
Excellent news!
- 20/04/2011 06:58:09 PM
813 Views
Paper books will not die for quite some time I'm sure.
- 20/04/2011 07:44:39 PM
908 Views
I guess it depends on what you mean by "death."
- 21/04/2011 05:04:40 PM
1142 Views
Of course an online bookshop is going to sell more e-books than physical books.
- 21/04/2011 06:14:51 PM
832 Views
That's exactly right.
- 21/04/2011 06:34:28 PM
1115 Views
I'm talking about the "Amazon sold more e-books than physical books in 2010" argument.
- 21/04/2011 06:39:45 PM
955 Views
Amazon being so successful at controlling the ebook medium makes me uneasy.
- 20/04/2011 07:13:02 PM
901 Views
Also: Terrible news. Another nail in the coffin of physical books. *NM*
- 20/04/2011 07:13:32 PM
499 Views
Not so much. *NM*
- 20/04/2011 07:39:17 PM
387 Views
A bit too melodramatic? Another blow to the desirable dominance of physical books, then. *NM*
- 20/04/2011 10:24:20 PM
398 Views
No. I just don't think this spells the end of physical books at all.
- 21/04/2011 06:11:53 PM
818 Views
Assuming you're right, that will still wreck the business of physical books.
- 21/04/2011 06:47:45 PM
1106 Views
I take perverse pleasure in watching the decline of physical books. 
- 21/04/2011 05:45:59 PM
1138 Views
- 21/04/2011 05:45:59 PM
1138 Views
You are right, of course. But all the rationalizing in the world doesn't make me happy about it.
- 21/04/2011 05:57:12 PM
871 Views
Re: Amazon being so successful at controlling the ebook medium makes me uneasy.
- 20/04/2011 07:41:00 PM
900 Views
I'm not sure I understand how this works...
- 20/04/2011 07:30:51 PM
987 Views
Re: I'm not sure I understand how this works...
- 20/04/2011 07:43:19 PM
896 Views
You download them from the Internet using your library card as an ID. *NM*
- 21/04/2011 01:07:54 AM
526 Views
What Ghavrel said, but...
- 21/04/2011 03:14:07 AM
1040 Views
Obviously none of you have used Overdrive. It's horrifically bad.
- 21/04/2011 01:07:14 AM
845 Views
- 21/04/2011 01:07:14 AM
845 Views
Never heard of it. *NM*
- 21/04/2011 01:08:00 AM
407 Views
It's an already existing library ebook service, and it's terrible. *NM*
- 21/04/2011 02:19:25 AM
393 Views
What makes it terrible? *NM*
- 21/04/2011 02:20:12 AM
370 Views
The selection is awful, the interface is awkward, and it requires bizarre DRM installations.
- 21/04/2011 02:40:55 AM
898 Views
To be fair, Overdrive's problems are software issues, and not inherent to the business model.
- 21/04/2011 05:23:54 PM
1007 Views
I definitely agree; I'm just irritated they're sticking with Overdrive. Ebook libraries make sense. *NM*
- 21/04/2011 07:14:38 PM
416 Views
Will a borrowed Kindle book have "fuck" underlined when it appears?
- 22/04/2011 01:59:39 AM
891 Views