Not only the device itself, but also Amazon has painstakingly extended and promoted a series of Kindle applications, so that people like me who have an iPad but don't have a Kindle can enjoy it. Once you enter the Kindle system, you will be deeply attracted by Amazon, just like Apple's iTunes/iPod system. Shopping from Amazon store is so convenient and books are so cheap that there is no need to go elsewhere.
Although I still object to Amazon's digital rights management-in fact, I object to the digital rights management of any e-book, I have to admit that the installation process is so convenient that most Kindle users don't mind that e-books can't be transplanted to other devices.
The development trend of e-books is approaching the peak infinitely. In the next five years, we can predict that more and more people will put down paper books and turn to e-books. But I don't think this means the end of paper books.
Some people prefer printing books. Their bookshelves are full of books they have read and intend to read. They like the feeling of holding books in their hands, and they like to feel books with different weights, fonts and designs. In other words, they like both the physical form of the book and the words in it.
I am in the same boat as this group of people. As I wrote this week, my ideal is that publishers will bundle e-books with printed books-similarly, movie studios can bundle DVDs with electronic hard disks.
There is no reason for us to consider whether paper book lovers will change their minds. As time goes on, the number of this group will undoubtedly decrease, because more people will develop the habit of electronic reading and spend less and less time on paper books.
However, just as some people living in the CD era still love plastic records, there will still be a few people who firmly love physical books.
The reduction of such people means that there will be fewer bookstores and the price of printed books will be higher and higher, but I don't think the prospect is completely bleak. Compared with the mass groups read by Larsson of Steiger, there are more beautifully bound printed books and more bookstores for small groups of book lovers.
With the loss of mainstream readers from the book market, book lovers may even get a better reading experience.