The Future of Reading

What is the future of reading? I honestly couldn't tell you, but evidently other people can.

One of the soothsayers is David Pogue–the personal technology columnist for the New York Times. I was watching a talk with him from the Boston Book Festival recently.

Video has been removed. Bummer, man ...

A Few Quibbles

Pogue is clearly a smart guy but I disagree with two of his points. First, he claims that all technology is additive and nothing is displaced. Oh, really? Try to find 8-track tapes or typewriters these days. I'm not saying that I'm going to buy a Walkman tomorrow, but I don't see how a learned guy like Pogue can claim that new tools and toys displace old ones.

All technology is not additive.

Second, Pogue isn't happy with the restrictions of e-Readers. In his view, e-Readers should allow for easy transfer of digital books to different media–iPhones, PCs, and the like. Disclaimer: I don't have a Kindle or equivalent and may have hit my limit with digital devices.

Still, I can understand why publishers and authors don't want their work so easily "loaned" to others. I suppose that this is the same issue that musicians and record labels faced back around 2000 with Napster.

Thoughts?

What do you think about the future of reading? Will books go the way of so many technologies or will you always want to feel a physical book in your hand?