If Borders is gone, are books next?

When someone uses the term "book" these days, it's impossible to know what form they're talking about unless you ask. 

"Books" can mean anything from the traditional paper and cardboard kind to a CD, a cassette or something electronic.The one thing I know for sure is the traditional bookstore seems to be headed the way of the dinosaurs.  And that's sad.  When the Braintree Borders store closed it's doors a short while ago, it wasn't a surprise to hear just a month or two later that the entire chain was going out of business. 

That leads me to wonder, will the brick and mortar stores that remain, such as Barnes & Noble, be next?  What a shame that would be.  And the smaller bookstores?  How could they survive? Have you ever just wandered around a book store?  Excepting Christmas time, it's the most relaxing type of retail experience there is. 

Book stores are usually quiet and the larger ones offer chairs or have cafes so you can truly take your time to figure out what you want.  I love it.  But I don't think these storesy will be around much longer.  The truth is, between Amazon and e-books, the brick and mortar store doesn't have much chance for survival.Amazon is great and in the interest of full disclosure, my own self-published book is sold there as well as a few other places but they are all on-line.  That isn't my choice but the way it is right now.  And I have to admit, I do love Amazon. 

Unlike a brick and mortar store that couldn't possibly hold every title of every book ever published, Amazon can almost guarantee most shoppers can find what they're looking for.  They've even tried to make on-line shopping a bit like traditional shopping by adding features that allow you to see "inside" the book and the covers, front and back and so on.  Add to that the low prices, the quick shipping, and who can argue?  But it can't replace the true "book store browse".  It just can't. And shopping on line isn't for everyone.  Some people won't do it at all.

As a train commuter, I've noticed that more and more people are turning to e-readers, Kindles, and so on.  They look pretty cool.  Lightweight, easy to use and able to hold multiple books at one time, who can argue with those either?  But I can't stomach the fact that they might replace traditional books entirely some day.  I like the feel of a book.  I like to turn the pages and I mean real pages.  I like to keep the ones I really love on my bookshelf and pull them down once in a while.  And what about those enormous and stunning coffee table books?  What will happen to them?  Those books are full of photos or illustrations.  I'm sorry but there is no way that something electronic can replace that.  I know owning an e-reader would be perfect for me.  But I've resisted.  Beyond losing the feel of a book, I'm sick of being plugged in all the time.  I can't remember to do half the things I need to do lately so the thought of having to remember to charge yet another device so I can use it whenever I want to makes me crazy.  And the upload, download issue.  Blek.  I'm sure for the savvy computer person, it's no big deal at all.  But I'm not one of those. 

I can't ever figure out what cord plugs into what device and how to extract this and save that....I'm getting annoyed just thinking about it.  Even when I have figured it out, my computer usually doesn't cooperate.I love all the new gadgets but I remember when you used to take a picture, drop the film off and pick it up a day later.  I didn't have to plug the camera into anything.  I remember grabbing a cassette tape or CD and popping it into my car's tape player.  I didn't have to download my favorite songs into my I-pod then plug my I-pod into the lighter then...It just seems like so much work sometimes.And what will my mother do if bookstores become extinct?  She doesn't use a computer at all.  She's the most dedicated reader I know.  Where will she buy her books?I love all the new technology because there are so, so many pluses to what you can do.  And I love shopping on line.  But sometimes I just want to walk into a bookstore, pick one from the shelves, pay for it and walk out.  I get what I want, when I want and it's really simple.   I just don't want to lose that.