Another (e-book) Party Heard From

In the midst of all this e-book hoopla that has been appearing in articles, web sites and blogs, Barnes and Noble, world's largest bookstore chain, announced that they would be opening a "mega e-book store" on their site, bn.com.

According to the NYT article: "In an announcement on Monday, Barnes & Noble said that it would offer more than 700,000 books that could be read on a wide range of devices, including Apple's iPhone, the BlackBerry and various laptop or desktop computers. When Barnes & Noble acquired Fictionwise in March, that online retailer had about 60,000 books in its catalog."

Me personally, I'll always have this thing for paper books. Call me a sentimentalist. And I think the other reason that e-readers are not a bigger percentage of book sales is the cost. Most readers are still around $300 and above, as opposed to mass-market paperbacks which are generally all $7.99. Still a little high for a mass market book, but still readily affordable to many more people.

Now, I realize, I'm far from the first person to mention e-books, and I certainly won't be the last. But I'm curious to know, what do you all think of the whole e-book thing in general? Is it the true future of publishing? Will it make the printed book a thing of the past? How will this affect authors and the publishing industry as a whole?

Anyone who comments on this within the next week or so, will be entered in a drawing for two $25 gift cards. One for Barnes and Noble and one Visa for just about anything you'd like.