Over the past few months my reading has shifted entirely to digital.

That’s largely due to circumstance. Down here in rural Argentina it’s not easy to come across a bookstore, particularly any stocking more than a few titles in English. What is a heavy reader like myself supposed to do? Even though I have a stockpile of unread books in print, I’ve always been one to want more reading material. Constantly. Digital serves that purpose.

I wonder if I still lived back in the U.S. (or some area with reasonable access to a well-stocked bookstore, library, or even reliable Amazon deliveries) if my reading habits would have changed this dramatically. I tend to think not. Even now, if I really had the choice then I would choose print. But that’s largely a personal fondness for printed books. Yet, maybe not.

The technologies are evolving rapidly. I can now envision a future without print books, but POD might provide that option for a long time to those who prefer their reading printed. I have long thought that the only printed books that would survive as off-set productions would be highly designed books that made use of quality paper and materials. That probably will survive as a niche market. But with the rapid adoption of tablets (iPad, for now), then even those books will have a digital counterpart. All of those books will have beautifully designed digital versions. Some buyers/readers will prefer digital, some will choose the gorgeous print version.

I don’t sense the physical book will be dead in 5 years, as predicted. But that point is certainly hurtling towards us faster than I would have thought a year or two ago. Ultimately, maybe it will be a generational change, another ten to fifteen years: 2020-2025.

Ah, and my choice of e-reading platform? It’s mobile but not what you think. More on that in the next post.