The importance of being printed

I've been thinking about e-book readers and how they make books less durable. Books (that is, the printed dead-tree kind) and fairly durable. Even cheap acid-paper books from the 1950s are still around. E-books (the electronic books) and ephemeral.

You can keep a book on a shelf, give it as a present, share it with a friend, and will it to your heirs. E-books are transient. You can keep them on your e-reader or in your e-reader account, but you cannot re-sell them, give them to another (effectively selling them for no charge), share them, or bequeath them.

I don't see this as a bad thing. Some may decry e-books as "not as good", but I see them as different and not necessarily better or worse. In fact, I see the electronic form as a better fit for transient publications such as newspapers and magazines. I don't need to keep a newspaper for years and years, nor magazines. They are transient in my life, coming for a short time and then leaving. (I recognize the need for "papers of record" and the permanent storage of information. Just not in my house, thank you.)

I would be happy to read the newspaper on an e-reader. I'm not quite happy enough with the current readers, so I don't have one. What would I like to see in an e-reader? A few things: a larger screen, radio or internet radio, and connections to social network sites. And one more thing: a better name. The term e-reader is clunky. The names "Kindle" and "Nook" are trademarked (and rather dumb names to boot). I think the second generation of readers will appeal to me.

Once we have the readers (the devices, not the people using them),  I think we will see a few trends:

- People will drop traditional newspaper and magazine subscriptions for reader subscriptions.
- People will shift some book purchases to electronic forms
- Some people who don't buy books or magazines will start reading them in electronic forms
- A few people will refuse to buy books in electronic form, on principle
- A larger set of people will split their book purchases between paper and electronic

The last idea interests me. I've read many books, and I have varying opinions about books. Some I enjoy reading multiple times (I'm currently reading "The Lord of the Rings" for the sixth or seventh time), some I read only once, and some I stop reading before I finish.

I think the notions of permanence and transience will apply to books. When I find a book that I enjoy, a book that I want to read multiple times, I will purchase the paper edition. I might use the electronic version as a preview, and purchase only the books that I enjoy. I already have plans to read certain classes of books only in their electronic form: business books like "Selling to Urban Tribes" and "The Seven Signs of a Successful Company", social analysis like "The New Conservatism: How it Can Work for You" and "The Missing Generation: Lost in the Crash". These are not classics and not deserving of second reads. Other books, like Knuth's "The Art of Computer Programming" will have a place on my bookshelf.

If enough other people do this, we'll see a change in the book market. Books will be published first in electronic form, and then in paper form only when there is enough demand. Or perhaps the paper edition will be available as a print-on-demand service, allowing anyone to purchase a paper version of any book.

This change shifts the decision to print books from the publisher to the consumer. Readers will decide which books are worthy of printing, not publishing companies (or editors, or accountants). It will democratize the published content, and open new areas for study. Once The People decide which books are important enough for printing, we can learn about society by studying the printing trends. Which books were printed during the last boom time, or the last recession? Did printing of fantasy novels increase after the latest "Twilight" movie? Our choices will define our culture.

Bring on the readers! (And please bring a new name for them!)