Why is that any different to the medium of music, telivsion or films, yet people still get them via digital distribution.
In my mind, they're not replacing printed media, but suplimenting it. I still buy magazines and books, and I still buy digital versions. Sometimes I want to be able to open up my ipad and have something there-and-then, and sometimes I want to pick up something printed. Depends on my mood.

If it does kill off bookshops, and ignoring the fact that online stores are doing more damage, then it'll be because the public find the digital copy more favorable to buy. But for the reasons you said, that's why they'll always still have book shops.
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Thu 13 Oct 2011, 11:08, 2 replies, latest was 13 years ago)

And there are other advantages to digital too.
I could produce work that people will read and possibly buy, anyone can with digital, because the investment is so much less and the buisness model doesn't require shelf space. It's giving an opertunity in that respect that wouldn't happen without it.
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Thu 13 Oct 2011, 11:10, Reply)

but will they?
waterstones is the only main high street retailer left, and compare that to 10 years ago. and waterstones' value has just been slashed by about £150M!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Thu 13 Oct 2011, 11:10, Reply)

The kindle is only, what, 2 years old? You can't blame the demise of the highstreet book shop on Kindle when the decline has been going on for a lot longer.
I think it's more to look to society, look at the riots and how waterstones was the only retail that wasn't touched.

Look at WH Smiths, they've adapted to the market, and without adapting, that's where we get failure.
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Thu 13 Oct 2011, 11:16, Reply)

WH Smiths don't really sell books anymore
they sell them as a small overpriced mainstream collection.
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Thu 13 Oct 2011, 11:17, Reply)

Huh? I don't think I've been to one where at _least_ 30-50% of their space wasn't dedicated to books.

( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Thu 13 Oct 2011, 11:41, Reply)