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Bibliopocalypse

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 23:29
by RoboBlue
It seems like we've reached a point of no return for bookstores and paper books. With Kindle e-books outselling regular books on Amazon, and major bookstores' continued financial woes,it looks like books printed on paper may be nearly gone by the end of the decade. What do you guys think?

Also, this is my 666th post.

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 23:52
by DHeadshot
Doubt it. EBooks can never replace paper for readability, just like MP3s STILL have yet to replace Vinyl for sound: anyone who wants quality goes for the traditional medium.

Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 1:30
by TerminILL
pfff, quality? Vinyl can't offer anywhere near the same quality as a nice high bitrate MP3, or better yet a lossless format, but there's a distinctly different feel. The comparison to e-books is justified, though. While e-books may be technically superior, there's nothing like holding a book and turning the pages, really.

Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 2:05
by Paramultart
Such a shame. I knew this day was coming. I was hoping we'd have a few years left, though. :/

- Sad owner of a Kindle

Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 4:05
by Commander Spleen
Until epaper is truly papery, eBooks are still second best to a printed copy. Except for the price, of course.

Then again, laser printer.

Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 4:48
by Pokota
Until mass-produced ebook readers are cheap enough to be cheaper than mass-produced paper books, people are still going to demand paper books.

And I don't know about you all, but I will always demand paper books.

Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 11:14
by DHeadshot
EBooks are good for 2 things: out of print, out of copyright texts (see Project Guetenburg) and Piracy.

Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 14:24
by kuliwil
DHeadshot wrote:EBooks are good for 2 things: out of print, out of copyright texts (see Project Guetenburg) and Piracy.
Project Gutenberg is an excellent resource for Orwell books and historical Australian history :P

Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 16:18
by Paramultart
DHeadshot wrote:EBooks are good for 2 things: out of print, out of copyright texts (see Project Guetenburg) and Piracy.
Don't forget about the struggling new authors. Now, anyone can publish a book with ease.

They're also good for another thing: Saving trees.

While I normally have a hard time accepting change and facing the future, I can't help but see this as a good thing.

Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 21:25
by RoboBlue
But paper is a renewable resource, and plastic isn't.
*hides his VHS collection*

Also, what happens if there's a massive solar storm that wipes out large amounts of our digital infrastructure? Couldn't a whole era of media be lost?

Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 1:06
by TerminILL
kuliwil wrote:historical Australian history
As opposed to all the unhistorical Australian history?

Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 1:32
by Paramultart
TerminILL wrote:
kuliwil wrote:historical Australian history
As opposed to all the unhistorical Australian history?
Why not? There is such thing as unhistorical American History.
They teach it in school.

Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 2:08
by kuliwil
TerminILL wrote:
kuliwil wrote:historical Australian history
As opposed to all the unhistorical Australian history?
As in the books on there are so old, the writers themselves are a part of history!

Seriously - studying Aust. History last year, the people who wrote these books came up as subjects!

Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 6:33
by Flaose
RoboBlue wrote:Also, what happens if there's a massive solar storm that wipes out large amounts of our digital infrastructure? Couldn't a whole era of media be lost?
I think if that happens we'll have more things to worry about than a few lost books.

Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 11:39
by Roobar
Well they might oversell regular books on amazon, but not in the regular world. However, now that Samsung is mass producing transparency displays thick as paper, I foresee that in the next 2 years companies will starting to make and sell transparency e-books and pads thin as paper. But considering the prices they still wont replace regular books for at least 5-10 years. I think the turning point will obviously be when an e-reader will cost as cheap as a harry potter book. Then you can consider the real end of regular books. Considering that iPad is used by ~0.2% of the world population, I don't see e-books replacing regular ones anytime soon.