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Yes--they're the way of the near future.

Yes--they will provide lots of interesting developments, and may phase out dead-tree books eventually.

Yes--they will provide a second market. Both eBooks and dead-tree books will remain on the market.

Yes--they'll make an impact on the industry, but dead-tree books will bounce back.

No--they're a gimmick.

No--books are dying out, anyway.

No--dead-tree books are the only true books, and everyone will agree with me!

It's too early to tell, and I'm a pansy, so I won't make any predictions.

[bjlong]

At the risk of sounding boring and out of it, I'm wondering about eBooks and eReaders, and the future of publishing print media. So, here's a poll! And a short history!

HISTORY:
A while back, someone thought it would be interesting to move books into the digital age. This idea was horrible, terrible, no-good, and very bad, and was called eBooks, as this was back when the vowel prefix of choice was "e", not "i". Then someone came up with the idea of making the books free, and Project Gutenberg was formed, and was pretty successful.

Now, "free books" sounds wonderful. But reading them off of a computer screen? Most people said forget it--.txt files don't hold notes well, they don't keep places, and they don't have page numbers. This says nothing about the screen, which was limited to the current computer screens, or the portability issue--generally, one would have to be at a computer to read the book.

Enter the eReaders. These books could be stored on a small device, no bigger than a large paperback, and read from there. That was good. Specialized software allowed them to make annotations, treated the files as actual books with pages rather than a long column of text. That was better. Then, recently, there was eInk. For those not "in the know," eInk is practically digital paper. I say this because it apparently has all the qualities of paper, while remaining digitally re-writable. eInk makes incredibly low-power, high-res black and white images possible, which in turn makes eReaders seem a lot more like books.

Recently, both Amazon and Barns & Nobel put forth eReaders: the Kindle and the Nook. Both of these have been fairly successful, especially considering that the Kindle came out years before the Nook. Both have the eInk display, both have an online bookstore that you can browse and buy from from your eReader, much like an iTunes system, and both claim to be similarly awesome. However, they have hidden competitors--mobile computers and smart phones. Both have a lot more functionality when it comes to sheer usefulness, and both are able to access the web and eBooks. "People read text on LCD screens a lot, so why not a whole book?" seems to be the argument of choice for these "competitors."

Now, my query: are eBooks substantially changing the publishing industry? What's the future of cover art, for instance? What sort of marketing gimmicks will be used to make people think that buying this book is a good idea? Is this a good thing? Will there be more use of pictures in books, now that we can "print" these pictures for free? More fundamentally, what does this mean for authors and readers?

Discuss!

[Heron TSG]

The main issues with e-books include their need for a power supply and the fact that staring at a screen for hours hurts.

.PDF versions for quick reference online? THAT is useful, as my .pdf D&D books can attest.

[ChairmanPoo]

The main issues with e-books include their need for a power supply and the fact that staring at a screen for hours hurts.

Wrong on both accounts. Electronic ink consumes very little power (I dont bother turning off my Hanlin, and I only have to recharge it once a week or so), and is not tiring to the eyesight.

Personally I love my ebook reader, as it makes it viable to carry around my huge computer library (or, for that matter, makes it viable to have a 20000 book library in the first place).

[Cruxador]

(or, for that matter, makes it viable to have a 20000 book library in the first place).

I have roughly that many dead tree books around my house. But in all honestly, most people won't read that many books over the span of a few decades. And I doubt even the hardiest ebook readers last longer than that.

[Rose]

I read on my desktop all the time.

[ChairmanPoo]

I have roughly that many dead tree books around my house. But in all honestly, most people won't read that many books over the span of a few decades. And I doubt even the hardiest ebook readers last longer than that.

*shrug* to each his own. I love having my books avaiable. And I like reading. Thus, I like having a portable huge library. I also like not having to dedicate a major chunk of my house to hold it.

[Cruxador]

I have roughly that many dead tree books around my house. But in all honestly, most people won't read that many books over the span of a few decades. And I doubt even the hardiest ebook readers last longer than that.

*shrug* to each his own. I love having my books avaiable. And I like reading. Thus, I like having a portable huge library. I also like not having to dedicate a major chunk of my house to hold it.

But surely you're not trying to read them all simultaneously? Otherwise, I don't see why such mass portability is any sort of issue. Even flying halfway around the world, you shouldn't end up finishing more than maybe two books of decent length. What are you doing that takes longer than that?

[piecewise]

I prefer my books tangible when I can get it. I have several walls covered in bookshelves and always love getting new books. There are several problems I have with ebooks, the biggest of which being that there isn't a large enough library for me. My reading tends to be rather esoteric while ebooks generally only exist for pretty mainstream things. Of the last books I've read

Before the fallout: No ebook
Book of Poisons: No ebook
Discarded science:No ebook
Elephants on acid:no ebook.

That plus the fact that the books that I do read that are on kindle tend to actually cost MORE on the ebook then the actual physical book. Plus, I just like books and the feeling of holding a book and flipping a page can't be replicated by a pad. I may eventually get one of these pad things for reference or for occasional use when I really need to carry a ton of stuff, but as for now I'm fine. If they really want to make money they should have college books on those things. Sell them for 50 bucks a pop, still better then the $350(!!!)bucks I have to pay for one fucking book.

I have roughly that many dead tree books around my house. But in all honestly, most people won't read that many books over the span of a few decades. And I doubt even the hardiest ebook readers last longer than that.

*shrug* to each his own. I love having my books avaiable. And I like reading. Thus, I like having a portable huge library. I also like not having to dedicate a major chunk of my house to hold it.

But surely you're not trying to read them all simultaneously? Otherwise, I don't see why such mass portability is any sort of issue. Even flying halfway around the world, you shouldn't end up finishing more than maybe two books of decent length. What are you doing that takes longer than that?

Thats basically my mentality on the huge ipods and stuff. Yeah, you can hold 30 million songs, but you're only ever going to listen to a handful at a time so whats the point?

[MrWiggles]

I just listen to books.
And a good size library is great if your a fast reader. I can finish a 400 page novel in about 10 hours, if I'm really liking it. If not, then about 14-12 hours or so.

I'm currently really into the Dresden Files. I started reading them in the middle of April when I sprain my ankle sorta bad. They're between 300-400 pages long, and I'm on book nine. I finish one about every three days give or take.

[ChairmanPoo]

But surely you're not trying to read them all simultaneously? Otherwise, I don't see why such mass portability is any sort of issue. Even flying halfway around the world, you shouldn't end up finishing more than maybe two books of decent length. What are you doing that takes longer than that?

Actually, I do sometimes read more than one book simultaneously, or temporarily abandon one in favor of another, or simply get tired halfway there. Plus, as MrWiggles pointed out, it's quite possible to finish a book in a day

[bjlong]

I know that I personally have problems with a too-small library. I can read a book in an afternoon, and, with that done, I need another book. And another. And another. This adds up, and I have to keep shelling out $10-30 for new books. It seems like eBooks would be much cheaper, and save me a trip to the bookstore.

But, that said, not everything is available on the Kindle or Nook. And some classics I do want dead-tree variants lying about, so I can easily hand 'em off to a less-literate friend. The problem there is that I'd have to buy a second copy. >_> Coming down on a side here is hard.

In any case, how do people decide what eBooks to buy? I've found that the back-cover blurb and first page tell me if I'm going to like the book or not, but it's my impression that you can't see the first page or whatever when buying these things. (Cover art also helps, but that's prolly just me.)

[MrWiggles]

Though eBooks could be cheaper, probably, they wont be. They'll be the same price as the dead tree kind.

I cant really read books on the computer, or long bits of text without taking lots of breaks. I need tactile books or audiobooks. I do love having PDF references though for rp books.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

www.manybooks.net

They have free downloads of public domain books. Only downside is they're stripped of images, so the furniture-making books I downloaded aren't doing me a whole lot of good.

But it basically means don't go out and buy Huckleberry Finn or Dracula or Frankenstein. Spend those sawbucks on used books not in the public domain instead.

Or, I dunno, a pornstar's autobiography. I don't know your reading habits.

[eerr]

More expensive eh? with no bookstore and no paper cost, and infinite mass-produceability?
I really wouldn't know what to do with an ebook reader if I had one.
How does buying books work?

Also, I think the share of ebooks vs real books will go from whatever small percentage of ebooks we have now, to 60/40, and then to 80/20. Given lots of time. Perhaps lots and lots of time.
What option do I pick for that?

[LeoLeonardoIII]

I think "impact on the industry, but then books will bounce back" although in your model (admittedly a likely one) the paper book doesn't bounce back completely as that answer suggests.