Now, I will probably not give up print books entirely. There are some books that I personally prefer that way, but I am definitely using the readers a lot more than I’m reading traditional books.

Secondly, the full-sun reading of an e-reader using an E Ink screen — which is about 99.97% of them — is in many ways superior to reading from paper. So much for skipping the use of them at the beach.

Thirdly, what does a smell from a bound book have to do with the story? Did Dickens consider what plot-line twist would benefit most from the off-gassing of tanned leather? The notion that the loss of “the book smell” reduces the appreciation of literature is the single best indication that the person espousing it has lost track of what a book is. Books aren’t fetish objects, they’re pieces of paper sewn together, with words on them. The words are what counts, not some romanticized twaddle about the touch and the feel of things. I could lapse rhapsodic about the feel of the polished rubber on the back of my Kobo eReader, but I don’t; it doesn’t matter a toss when I’m reading.

Fourthly, the power question is moot, frankly. “When the oil runs out” makes no difference to the supply of Hydo-Electric power, nor does oil have any influence upon the supply of Solar-Electric power. Supply of oil does, however, effect the provision of printed books which need to be delivered by trucks and / or trains to your door or a bookshop near you; and how are you getting to that shop, by the way? How are those trees getting to that pulp & paper plant, where they are to be converted into rolls of paper stock which are then transported to the printers and then to the publisher’s warehouse, then to the distributor’s warehouse, and then…

It’s an open secret in the publishing industry that up to 2/3 of a title’s print run is pre-destined to be thrown away un-read. In order to get a cheaper per-unit production cost, the print run for a title balloons and the ‘extra’ which is already known to be never sold is stored for a short time (in case the title becomes ‘hot’), then the copies are stripped and pulped.

Given our present concern about natural resources, how does the printed book serve anyone’s interest and the electronic book does not? I submit that the printed book is the one who needs apologizers.

I have my own issues with such misuse of technology, but I think the best argument against such was recently put forth by none other than Jeff Vandermeer who essentially pronounced them dead as door nails once the oil runs out. Considering how soon that’s going to be happening, I think I can safely ignore the investment.

You ask what the differences are between a REAL book and a fake one and answer it in a manner that ignores all of the most important differences:

you need electricity to run it. No battee, no readee.
books have a smell. fake books smell of ozone (if they smell of anything other than fried wiring)
here I am being semi-serious: there are all kinds of reading angles that e-books do not accomodate and many of them still have trouble in very bright sunshine. So much for the beach read.

There’s no two-fisted reading appeal and, perhaps most egregious of all: I am sick to death of pushing buttons and touching contact areas. I’m forced to do it every day with phones, screens and what-not and will not do it on a book: rolling a scroll and turning a page are very similar physical activities. Touching is not.

My gut feeling is that story heavy / complex games will not succeed, the problem is “attention span” as much as a lack of creative game design. Having played “Heavy Rain” over the weekend I have to say it was beautifully done, the story was not bad either (though full of cliches), but the game mechanics were not very compelling.

The future for any of the “old” industries is quality, not cheapness and interchangeability.