(2011-04-18) Kelly What Ebooks Will Become

Kevin Kelly ponders the inherent nature of the book and applies it to potential future EBook designs. One quirk of networked books is that they are never done, or rather that they become streams of words rather than monuments... But why bother calling these things books? A networked book, by definition, has no center, and is all edges... At the moment we are in a scramble to find the right container for digital books. Released from their paper shells, books seem to need more than the open vastness of the web. They like the viral compactness of a PDF, but not its rigid appearance... In the long run (next 10-20 years) we won't pay for individual books any more than we'll pay for individual songs or movies. All will be streamed in paid subscription services; you'll just "borrow" what you want. (Streaming)