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I will always want real books, I can't imagine that ever changing. It's more than just words on a page, it's the feel of the paper, the smell, getting it in the sunlight in one hand as you turn the page with the other. It's almost romantic. Moreover, I have a few rather old books that I treasure, too. But I don't have them due to "stylistic range", and I don't think the digital print revolution will threaten anything like that.
Go to a Tower Records and then go to the iTunes gift store. Shoot, go to some old record store, your very favorite, and then go do Amazon music. There's simply no comparison in stylistic range. None. The great digital libraries of music are legion and they are all truly massive. I cannot imagine that won't soon apply to the millions and millions of books out there.
As much as I adore my books, and books in general, I have no doubt somewhere down the road I'll be using an iPad for it's electronic books. It's incredibly convenient—I can have a hundred libraries worth of books on one small pad—and we've already seen it happen with music, and to a lesser extent movies.
What do I think of these pieces? They're interesting, I suppose. I disagree the assertion that there's no money to be made in online publishing. That's already rubbish. As for the totalitarian concerns of the second, I'd again offer online music as an example. It's very, very easy to get your music on iTunes (there are indi distributers that will do it for you).
How do I see the transition into electronic publishing? It will probably happen over the next year or two to begin with. The iPad and other readers are doing that job well enough.
Do I think it's a bad thing that more people see themselves as writers? That there are more publications? Nah. There have been myriad shit books since the beginning of publishing. Sarah Palin wrote (or had written) a book for christ's sake. As far as I'm concerned, shitty books don't take anything away from good books. Goin' Rogue doesn't make Old Man and the Sea and less incredible.
How do I determine what stuff I read is and is not "good" or "important"? By reading it? You can't judge a book by its cover, after all, and you can't really judge a book by someone else's opinion. I've read good books and bad books. That's kinda how it works.
Neither of the articles seems like anything but "eBooks are hot right now, try to make controversy out of them." I'm surprised they don't include information about Tiger Woods. Sensationalism is rarely sensational.
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