ThereisacertaininevitabilitythatebooksaleshavenowovertakenpaperbacksalesonAmazon'sUSsite.Amazon'sKindle2issolightandsocheapthatit'seasytoseewhypeoplehaverushedtobuyit.ThoughI'mstillnotkeenonthedesignoftheKindle,itisavastimprovementonitspredecessorandcertainlytolerable.Beyondthedeviceitself,AmazonhasdoneagreatjobofrollingoutKindleapps,ensuringthatpeoplelikeme-whohaveaniPadbutnotaKindle-canstilljoininthefun.Onceyou'reintotheKindleecosystem,Amazonlocksyouintightly-justasAppledoeswithitsiTunes/iPodecosystem.It'ssoeasytobuyfromAmazon'sstoreandthebooksaresocheapthatit'snotworththeeffortofgoingelsewhere.
WhileIremainopposedtoAmazon'sDRM(数字版权管理)-indeed,I'mopposedtoDRMonanyebooks-IhavetoadmitthattheimplementationissosmooththatmostKindleuserswon'tcareatallthattheirebookscan'tbemovedtootherdevices.
Theebooktrendisnowherenearpeaking.Overthenextfiveyearswecanexpecttoseemoreandmorereadersmoveawayfromprintedbooksandpickupebooksinstead.ButIdon'tthinkthatwillmeanthedeathoftheprintedbook.
Therearesomewhopreferprintedbooks.Theylikehavingshelvesfilledwithbooksthey'vereadandbookstheyplantoread;theylikethefeelofthebookintheirhandsandthedifferentweightsandtypefacesandlayoutsofdifferenttitles.Inotherwords,theylikethephysicalformofthebookalmostasmuchasthewordsitcontains.
Icansympathisewiththosepeople.AsIwroteearlierthisweek,myidealsituationwouldbeforpublisherstobundleebookswithprintedones-inmuchthesamewaythatfilmstudiosbtmdieDVDswithdigitalcopiesoffilms.There'snoreasontothinkthatloversofprintedbookswillchangetheirminds.Therewillundoubtedlybefewerofthemastimegoesbybecausemorepeoplewillgrowupwithebooksandspendlittletimewithprintedones.However,justastherearepeoplewholovevinylrecords(黑胶唱片),eveniftheywerebornwellintotheCDera,therewillstillbeadedicatedminoritywholovephysicalbooks.
Sincetherearefewerofthesepeople,thatwillmeanfewerbookshopsandhigherpricesforprintedbooksbutIdon'tthinkthepictureisentirelybleak.Thereisscopeforsmallerprintrunsoflavishlydesignedprintedbooksandbookshopsaimedatbooklovers,ratherthantheStiegLarsson-readingmasses.Withmainstreamreadersoutoftheprintedbookmarket,bookloversmightevenfindtheygetabetterexperience.
