Is this the End of Books? -- "Don't Be Silly"

The New York Times top technology guru, David Pogue, weighs in on the new Kindle 2 today. (Amazon.com's nifty electronic book reader).

He likes it, a lot. But is this the end of books he asks?:

Don’t be silly.

The Kindle has the usual list of e-book perks: dictionary, text search, bookmarks, clippings, MP3 music playback and six type sizes (baby boomers, arise). No trees die to furnish paper for Kindle books, either.

But as traditionalists always point out, an e-book reader is a delicate piece of electronics. It can be lost, dropped or fried in the tub. You’d have to buy an awful lot of $10 best sellers to recoup the purchase price. If Amazon goes under or abandons the Kindle, you lose your entire library. And you can’t pass on or sell an e-book after you’ve read it.

I have the first generation Kindle, and I like it a lot. I figured out that to recoup my initial investment, I'll need to buy about 25 books. That's not too hard for an avid reader like me....(even if I do use the library A LOT!, I still buy the occasional book or two or three...)

Anyway, I agree. Real books will be around for a long time!