Five years a digital reader

It's been five years that I've been reading books primarily in e-formats. I got my first Kindle e-book reader in the summer of 2008. I am now on my, uh, fourth Kindle and have purchased 260 books - one per week on average and I'd estimate I've read 90% of them. And yes, I've squeezed in a few print books as well. 

The print edition of Slovenly Peter my grandmother read to my siblings and me that still bears the crayon imprint of my younger brother - along side its digital replacement.

As I observed in 2008, the Kindle is:

...is eminently, uh, pragmatic.

I've been an advocate for silicon replacing cellulose since 1995. E-books hold tremendous potential for education - helping (and de-stigmatizing) struggling readers, reducing backpack weight, and even lowering textbook costs. Yet now that this practical device is actually here, I have to admit there are some important things I will miss about paper books:

• How will you start a conversation with the person next to you on an airplane if you don't have the safe opening of "How's that book you're reading?"
• How will you learn about the people who have invited you over to their house if you can't peruse their bookshelves? (A LibraryThing account or Facebook book list just aren't the same.)
• How will you impart memories of love and excitement about books in toddlers who are learning to associate reading with physical closeness, bright pictures and personal attention?
• How likely are children to collect "e-books" that, like in my brother's case above, they make their own?

OK, I am sure when the horseless carriage replaced the horsed carriage, many shed a tear or two over the rich sweet smells of hay and manure. But the Kindle really does feel like the end of print books - objects that have been near and dear to my heart since I was read the horrible Slovenly Peter on my grandmother's lap.

Is this just sentimentality or will there be real loss as reading moves from cellulose to silicon?

So after five years of e-reading, how impactful has the change actually been?

• I read more and read more diverse titles. When I read or hear a review I often order the book immediately. 
• I am "collecting" in e-formats. replacing print version of titles I like to re-read (comfort books).
• I am reading more on devices other than the Kindle - primarily the iPad and iPhone. The Kindle, however, is a joy on longer trips, for reading in bed without disturbing the LWW, and when reading for extended periods of time. 
• My wife, children, and grandchildren still all read both print and e-books - with probably less prejudice than I have.
• The grandkids are still willing to sit still for a print story - as well as having a more interactive iPad experience.
• A big disappointment has been the almost backward steps publishers have taken in making e-books accessible. Dreamer that I am, I had hoped given the choice of buying an e-book from Apple, from B&N or from Amazon, there might be some price wars. If such competition exists, I have missed it.
• A bigger disappointment has been publishers treatment of libraries when it comes to selling e-books.
• And finally, the biggest disappointment has been textbook/educational resource creators with just how little progress has been made in creating support materials that harness the interactivity and usability of e-texts to benefit all kids, but especially ELL students and those who may be struggling readers.

I feel no small amount of guilt that when buying an e-book. It is for the most part, not lendable or givable - to relatives or to my library for its used book sale. I wonder if my collection of e-books will be something I can leave as an inheritance to my kids or grandkids (I can leave a device on which they are all stored, but not the materials themselves it looks like now). 

When purchasing an e-book, one is really puchasing an experience - more like renting a movie - rather than purchasing a physical item. After five years, I'm still coming to terms with this change.