Printed books are down for the count and Kindles, iPads and other electronic devices are preferred for consuming written content. Or..?

The printed book as a medium is coming to an end. At least Seth Godin seems to think so.

My friend Mike from the L.A. comics store The Comic Bug brought this article to my attention:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2013/08/an-end-of-books.html

Godin talks about the reasons the printed book is going to be hard to come by in the future. And with the end of books, comes the end of the bookstores.

“The death of the bookstore is being caused by the migration to ebooks (it won’t take all books to become ‘e’, just enough to tip the scale) as well as the superior alternative of purchase and selection of books online. If the function of a bookstore is to stock every book and sell it to you quickly and cheaply, the store has failed.”

Especially in the comics scene, people have been talking about the death of “Floppies” or Monthlies for years. They still seem to have a place in the market, although the generations brought up with “bagging and boarding” (putting your comics in a plastic folder with a piece of cardboard to protect them from wear and tear) are starting to get rid of their storage longboxes.

To me it does seem more and more counterproductive to chop trees in order to print and ship words (or pictures) on a page. With 100.000 iPads being sold every day, it won’t be long before everyone has access to cheap comics without having to make the trip to the comics store – which in many places of the World could be a four-hour drive away!

However much I enjoy having books on my shelves and pulling them out once in awhile to flip through them, I do see Godin’s point: There is no stopping this. But I will continue to buy trade paperbacks for a looong time, if for no other reason than habit. And I seem to actually read them, where the books on my iPad live in oblivion…

What is your take on the whole digital vs. print discussion? Please comment below!