Everywhere you look you see increasingly paniced headlines that ebooks are killing printed books. In some areas they are… in some other they’re bringing books TO print that would never have seen the light of day before. Don’t worry, the printed book will still be around… but it’ll be less a mass consumer product and more of a experience for those who truly connect with a book. But there will be shakeups in the distribution portion in the meantime. sometimes painful changes.
Like any new technology, it can bring about big changes. First early adopters try it out and it either then trickles down to the masses or withers on the vine. Then someone cracks the technology to ensure consistency of experience. Then comes the format war, as the market fights over what will become the “standard” version consumed by the masses. Then comes a lull as the standard is enhanced, refined, or made cheaper.
Ebooks were around before the Kindle. You could get portable readers for them, But they were expensive and weren’t very user friendly, from either the production or consumption end. The quality was inconsistent. The same was true with digital music for a long time. And video. The internet constantly lowered the cost of entry at BOTH ends and also made consumption so much easier.
