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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 5066955" data-attributes="member: 19675">How old are you?Me?  I'm 42, and I find the eReaders slightly more of a pain than a physical book...and I read all the damn time: I'm an attorney who is currently pursuing yet another degree.My mom is in her 60's, and the only saving grace of the eReaders we've sampled for her is the ability to zoom the text.  But even so, its not easy for her.As for the threat of magnetics, I'm no engineer, so I could very well be wrong on that.Yes, it does make sense: I didn't say not to buy eBooks, I said to shift the bulk of your purchases away from online retailers.A B&M retailer simply cannot compete with an online retailer on the basis of costs- their physical plant makes this impossible.Assuming, arguendo, that Amazon and similar retailers drive all major B&M bookstores out of business, you will have what is called oligopsony- a market of purchasers (in the B to B market) so small that they dictate the structure of what is supplied by the market suppliers.  To drive their already low costs even lower, Amazon and the like could demand that the bulk of books sold to them be electronic only (further minimizing their already nearly non-existent storage costs).  With the B to B demand for physical books sharply in decline, it becomes more expensive per unit to produce physical books (as economies of scale break down)- like previous recent examples include cassettes and LPs, and soon the CD- making them less profitable for the publishers.Even if they continue to sell physical books, Amazon, etc.- operating as an oligopoly to the general public- can price those books at almost any price they care to...further strengthening the market appeal of the eBook.</blockquote>

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