@gara56 --then there is this argument: it seems most people here think a book is simply a vehicle of conveyance for information but it is much more and supports several microeconomies. Books are also collected--Modern Firsts are collected by author, by bindings, by illustrators, editions, by materials used to design the books, by colophons, and yeah--by design and cover art work. These are tangible items--things not available when a book is virtual.
I have a library of over 7K hard bound books. Many of them are medieval or 18th C -19th Texts but I also have modern books. I love books. I read them but I also buy them for the bindings, the designs and all the other stuff mentioned above including (for some) the fonts. For me, the only thing that interests me about Kindle vs Nook or epub is being able to get my books (mostly reference books of arcane matters) in a format that is more portable. That is not there--not at a library level, not as an Amazon or Nook level. I am not computer savvy but it certainly ALWAYS is money as the bottom line--and in America, that view is often myopic, self centered and short sighted. In the case of converting to any type of e reader the cost to present microeconomies is not even considered. It is believed progress is King. But as Amazon proved, what they give can be taken away and there is no TANGIBLE., TACTILE item to be traded, reviewed or dissected in an aesthetic sense.
Books are conveyors of information like cars are conveyors of people--because like cars--what is in them is a given, but how they look, operate and the artistry of each is a genre unto itself. I need to decide between a Kindle and some other reader--but I am not interested in reading simply for entertainment--most bibliophiles require a bit more and for us--all of these techie toys portend not only the loss of places like Borders--but the death of not only an industry but in truth, perhaps, the contraction of an art and a demise in those with access to such art.
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