Exactly what I’ve been saying since I got my Kindle. My reading material is divided in just the same way yours is – informational? Kindle. just-for-fun? Kindle. Anything that would have me miming crtl+F? Kindle. Stuff I love and want to keep forever? Hardback.

I downloaded LJ’s copperbadge’s Nameless in PDF, but I didn’t read it until the hard copy was in my hands because that means BOOK to me :) I own a lot of my favorite books in both formats – I read the paper ones at home, and the Kindle ones on the road….and I’m always grumpy that the Kindle versions has the words in the wrong place on the page :D But my Kindle has 2 different covers, a beautiful skin and gets treated with utmost gentleness – I’m just hitting middle age and am right between the digital and the paper generations.

each new type of device (tablet, papyrus scroll, book, kindle, ipad) is a technological innovation that does not entirely replace the feel of what came previously in how it is used. but perhaps there will one day be an electronic device that is so sensorily perfect that it is more intimate, more wondrous, more convenient than the book, the same way the book buried the scroll. if the technology is completely immersive (tied into ones nerves) than perhaps it could feel more real than the real thing, the way a movie on a screen feels more poignant than regular life.

I still buy physical CDs because I like the packaging and the souvenir aspect of it, and I will still buy the books I care about. But they should really take a hint from CD industry and include access to a digital copy with the purchase of the book, so we don’t have to buy things twice.

Bookstores may end up more indie and selective instead of huge and all-encompassing–I can’t wait for that to happen. And I for one will not miss mass-market paperbacks. =)

The thing is, everyone can also create their own club (that’s what tribes are all about), which means enforcement might be a little difficult. Not that it can’t be done, mind you. For example, people could very easily return to seeing p(aper)-books as a luxury item or art object on a sliding scale–hard bound, collector edition, hand-crafted paper and ink between gilt gold. If a movement constellates around that it could be prestige to be someone worth paying for, in a Dolemite kind of way.

Then again, the system for finding the books you like already exists in a primitive state. Your friends are your filter. That’s what building your “Leonardo DaVinci Workshop” formula is all about. Drawing the people to you that matter and letting them get you in touch with what matters. In a “I’m not going for the best, just going for what’s mine”, 2Unlimited sort of way. Aggregators are going to have to come up with tools that facilitate that.

We have plenty of time, just no reason to waste it. If someone reaches me in the right way, I’ll make time. There’s more stuff out there than ever before and more than I could ever read. I’ll find the right stuff, but the people who lend me a hand with that, yeah they get respect.

Anecdote time. I was in Books-A-Million today looking for a particular bunch of manga. I was like, “well there’s like authors X, Y and Z whose blogs I read today. I’m down to two books in my queue, let’s see if any of their books are here. I couldn’t find any of them (I looked for Bloodangel). If they’d had one of those Espresso printing machines I’d have waited. I walked out of there (without either the manga or the impulse buy ideas) and I thought to myself, “Books-A-Million is the worst bookstore in the world, I hope they go extinct.”

That doesn’t mean I’ve given up, it means Publishers and Chains -1 and people I couldn’t get +1. And I’m not saying this is a bad process (I enjoy treasure hunts that build over time, I have my own ways). But for me, the question is two fold: Do people want your stuff (can you get their attention in a meaningful way) and can they get the stuff when they’re ready (with as few barriers as possible)? The system doesn’t deliver that–they don’t want people buying what they want!

I agree that yes, for the foreseeable future (hopefully the remainder of my life), books will remain as physical objects. You’re right—there’s nothing like being surrounded by them in your home.

Hopefully someone will come along with an e-book reader that somehow mimics the physical reading experience of holding a book. Not sure how this would happen, but I bet someone’s working on it. Apple’s iBooks, announced in conjunction with the iPad yesterday, is a step in the right direction.

Publication will be less about ‘publication’ (which anyone can do now) and more about filtering — I’ll go to Publisher X because I know they’ll have found the high-quality books of a particular genre that I like so I don’t have to search through the oceans of content myself. Who has the time?

I wonder about bookstores…to survive they’ll have to engage people and provide some kind of experience you can’t get online…I know Vroman’s in Pasadena is really working to build a community (they bus people to the LA Times Book Festival, etc.)…I’m losing interest in Borders, Barnes & Noble: the big boxy stores that provide volume & discounts you can get online anyway, so why go (not for the ambiance…)? But there’s an independent bookstore in Venice I just love, for the early-edition books but also for the design of the store, the art in the back, the neighborhood, etc. It’s unique.

I think you’re right on Meyers.

And the e-reader thing — yeah, the first mass-market e-reader will be some inexpensive multi-purpose thing — or maybe kids will just grow up reading on their phones, who knows.