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Assuming you're right, that will still wreck the business of physical books. Aemon Send a noteboard - 21/04/2011 06:47:45 PM
How many books do you buy for yourself each year? How many do you give away as gifts? What do you suppose the ratio of personal books purchased / books given as gifts is for the average person? I have no statistics to offer as proof, but I strongly suspect that the sales generated from the small percentage of books bought as gifts could not support physical bookstores. I'd be surprised if it could support the traditional publishing business at all, what with its mass printings and inventory distribution.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there will always be a way to get hold of physical books, but shadow's comments about "nail in the coffin" and "blow to the dominance of physical books" seem pretty accurate. Open to semantic interpretation, of course, but accurate overall.
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Amazon to Launch Library Lending for Kindle Books - 20/04/2011 03:18:34 PM 1532 Views
Excellent news! - 20/04/2011 06:58:09 PM 884 Views
Paper books will not die for quite some time I'm sure. - 20/04/2011 07:44:39 PM 962 Views
I guess it depends on what you mean by "death." - 21/04/2011 05:04:40 PM 1178 Views
Re: I guess it depends on what you mean by "death." - 21/04/2011 05:40:28 PM 1034 Views
Re: I guess it depends on what you mean by "death." - 21/04/2011 06:04:16 PM 1346 Views
Of course an online bookshop is going to sell more e-books than physical books. - 21/04/2011 06:14:51 PM 897 Views
That's exactly right. - 21/04/2011 06:34:28 PM 1185 Views
I'm talking about the "Amazon sold more e-books than physical books in 2010" argument. - 21/04/2011 06:39:45 PM 1029 Views
I understand. - 21/04/2011 07:26:28 PM 1093 Views
Amazon being so successful at controlling the ebook medium makes me uneasy. - 20/04/2011 07:13:02 PM 957 Views
Also: Terrible news. Another nail in the coffin of physical books. *NM* - 20/04/2011 07:13:32 PM 528 Views
Not so much. *NM* - 20/04/2011 07:39:17 PM 410 Views
A bit too melodramatic? Another blow to the desirable dominance of physical books, then. *NM* - 20/04/2011 10:24:20 PM 422 Views
No. I just don't think this spells the end of physical books at all. - 21/04/2011 06:11:53 PM 872 Views
Assuming you're right, that will still wreck the business of physical books. - 21/04/2011 06:47:45 PM 1173 Views
I take perverse pleasure in watching the decline of physical books. - 21/04/2011 05:45:59 PM 1210 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 938 Views
Yeah, I hear you. - 21/04/2011 06:16:24 PM 1145 Views
Considering you can print out an ebook, your argument is silly. - 21/04/2011 01:09:18 AM 885 Views
I'm not sure I understand how this works... - 20/04/2011 07:30:51 PM 1048 Views
Re: I'm not sure I understand how this works... - 20/04/2011 07:43:19 PM 948 Views
What Ghavrel said, but... - 21/04/2011 03:14:07 AM 1103 Views
That's pretty cool then - 21/04/2011 06:25:03 AM 900 Views
Yes and no. - 21/04/2011 05:10:24 PM 1201 Views
Obviously none of you have used Overdrive. It's horrifically bad. - 21/04/2011 01:07:14 AM 921 Views
Never heard of it. *NM* - 21/04/2011 01:08:00 AM 434 Views
It's an already existing library ebook service, and it's terrible. *NM* - 21/04/2011 02:19:25 AM 420 Views
What makes it terrible? *NM* - 21/04/2011 02:20:12 AM 396 Views
The selection is awful, the interface is awkward, and it requires bizarre DRM installations. - 21/04/2011 02:40:55 AM 957 Views
I'm not a fan of the interface, either. - 21/04/2011 03:08:53 AM 1034 Views
I agree. *NM* - 21/04/2011 01:35:12 AM 389 Views
Will a borrowed Kindle book have "fuck" underlined when it appears? - 22/04/2011 01:59:39 AM 952 Views
Better than it being written on the margins - 22/04/2011 05:27:12 AM 881 Views

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