E livros?

Adam Hodgkin dá a sua resposta à velha questão: irão os livros coexistir com o digital?

Aproveitando uma citação de Richard Charkin (que muito lamentamos ter saído da blogosfera) ao Guardian, afirmando que os livros nunca irão desaparecer, Adam contrapõe da seguinte forma:

«
If/when an acceptable and popular form of digital book arrives, the digital channel will benefit from Moore's law: this means that digital will become more attractive with respect to printed books at a rate approaching 50% per annum.
[...]
because a digital solution will be getting better so much faster. How publishers can respond to a distribution channel that gets better (cheaper, more profitable. more capacious, better value) at 50% per annum is another matter.... but it will make it very difficult for printed books to be in a steady-state of peaceful co-existence, as it were 'always with us' like hardback and paperback editions.

As more of our cultural environment migrates to the web (photos have gone with a flicker, music is going with an iTune, radio is on its last FM and TV is on the way via YouTube; film will certainly go digital), do we think that books alone of our mass culture formats will remain primarily analog in print?
On the contrary books will be and are being sucked on to the web because those who live and work in a web environment, need digital books to be on the web.

Energy. Books are heavy on energy. Are we sure that printed books will still be so popular when they cost £50/$80 or £15/$17.50 for mass market paperback. That may happen if oil goes to $300 a barrel.
Digital editions will at some point begin to be perceived as better/more useful than print books. At that point, publishers, authors and designers will invest a great deal of effort in making them even better, in providing functions that print books cannot.

Libraries are going digital with enthusiasm and digital libraries will be much better than we can currently envisage. Digital literature will be the golden age of the library and we will all use digital library services.»

Será?
(via Twitter JAF)