this thread might have been done before.

but with all this talk of e-readers and tablets, is that a step further?

i don't think i could ever see it happening, and this isn't the same as listening to music digitally vs. records/cds. a lot of people (me included) still buy records/cds out of preference for having the physical object but unless you're really into your audio (which i'm not), there isn't a huge point in doing so, except a sort of soft fetishism of the objects - do bear in mind that this sweeping generalisation probably applies less to users of this site than it does to the public as a whole.

books though, is it the same thing? there is an element of that object fetishism - getting a nice edition, the smell, all that about the physical thing, but reading seems really different to listening to music, i can't read a book off a screen, it just doesn't work. hurts your eyes, doesn't feel right.

does anyone else feel like this? and does anyone reckon maybe it's a generational thing and that the kids of the future will look back at people like me and say 'god, you're so old fashioned with your books'? will books become a luxury fetish item the same way as vinyl arguably is? or are they here to stay?

DiScuss.