The future of books
Not bound by anything
Mar 22nd 2007
Now that books are being digitised, how will people read?
How, physically, will people read books in future? Will technology “unbind” books, as it has unbundled other media, such as music albums? Will reading habits change as a result? What happens when books are interlinked? And what is a book anyway?
Change is least likely in the physical medium of books.
The biggest changes are likely to be seen in what becomes a book in the first place.
has eaten into sales of paper-bound alternatives. So books that people would not traditionally read in their entirety, or that require frequent updating, are likely to migrate online
is arguably already being created by “residents” of online worlds such as Second Life.
will never find a better medium
because readers immersed in a storyline want above all not to be interrupted, and all online media teem with distractions
clipped from: www.economist.com