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Kindle or Not, a Resurgence In Used Bookstores
The growing availability of books via internet (whether instant, in the form of downloads from Amazon's Kindle store or the Google Play store, or in physical form by post) puts pressure on conventional bookstores. The Washington Post reports, though, that some bookstores are thriving, and some new ones are getting started, in a particular niche: used books. The phenomenon springs in part from the disappearance of many large chain bookstores, leaving gaps that smaller and nimbler shops can fill; as the article points out, a used bookstore in many places is the only one around. Nonetheless,
It is by no means an easy business. Many used-book retailers — with either bad management or bad locations (or both) — still struggle against the digital headwinds.
For one, Amazon is still just a few clicks away. But some used-bookstore owners have made a shrewd move: widening their customer base by listing their inventories on Amazon’s third-party marketplace, an idea many new-book retailers despise. (The Washington Post is owned by Amazon founder Jeffrey P. Bezos.)
My favorite bookstores have mixed stock (used and new), serve coffee, and specialize -- the process of discovery is still easier at a place like Ada's Technical Books in Seattle than it is browsing through Amazon recommendations.
To expand on Junta's comment; drm free, no internet connection required, no subscription fees, no electricity required, easier to search, easy to use "hands off", can be a tactile experience, easier to read in daylight, and easy marginalia..
No DRM, but you can't legally copy any portion of a paper book without permission. You only need the internet connection to download the book, not to read it. You don't need a subscription fee for an ebook. You only need electricity to charge a kindle and then it's good for over a month depending on usage. It's just as easy to use hands off, maybe easier, I don't have to worry about it flipping close and finding my place again. Ebooks are much easier to search than a paper book. It doesn't even have to be in the index, I can digitally search for any word or words throughout the book, or even library. E-ink is just as easy to read in daylight as a regular paper book.
Advantages of ebooks?
I can carry a library of tech manuals with me in my pocket. If they get lost, destroyed or stolen I can replace my books for free(I might have to pay the price for the new kindle, but some of my books cost more than a kindle, plus I have multiple kindle devices and a smartphone.) They don't fill an entire room of bookshelves. They don't get moldy. I can buy a new book any day or night and have it in my hands in minutes and it will be cheaper than a new hardcopy version of the book.
One advantage of the paperbooks is that you can get a used copy that is cheaper than the ebook copy. I have done this from Amazon, it's amazing what you can find and have sent to your house for cheap.
The Powell's technical bookstore closed, but Powell's opened a replacement called Powell's 2. This was a smaller store with fewer books, but it was right across the street from the "City of Books" main store.
However, Powell's 2 also closed. I guess the technical books are just in the main store now because they no longer list a special location for technical books.
http://www.powells.com/locations
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely