Allan Hoffman

Until now, I haven’t bought many e-books. Yes, I’ve read a few on the Classics app for my iPhone, and experimented with other e-readers, but I just haven’t felt like I was ready to buy my books in e-versions. And then I watched Apple’s newly released video about its iBooks app and iBookstore for the iPad. I’ll be getting an iPad very soon, and for the first time, I’ve started to think I might end up preferring to buy a book on the iPad, rather than a traditional, print version. But what about my bookshelves? Will will this mean they’ll just be a relic? That they’ll be packed with all of the books I’ve bought—until 2010? To be honest, I find that prospect sort of frightening, yet I also see it as inevitable.

I never buy CDs now, and I imagine there will be a time—this year, next year?—when I won’t buy all that many non-e-book books. Yes: I feel sorry for my bookshelves.

I’ve been wondering: Will it be possible to use the iPad as your only computer?

I can easily see the iPad making sense as the computer-of-choice for lots of people. Kids, for instance. Or teenagers. Or college students. Or anyone else who would like something lightweight, portable, and without the administrative and maintenance hassles of a Macintosh or a Windows computers. That describes just about everyone, of course, but not everyone will be able to do without software like Excel or Photoshop.

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Steven Johnson has an excellent essay in Time about the iPad, its shortcomings, and what we might (or might not) see in future updates. As he says:

The iPad interface — like the iPhone’s — tries to do everything in its power to do away with documents and files. There is no Finder or root-level file navigation. It’s apps, apps, apps, as far as the eye can see.

Read more: Apple iPad Shortcomings Spark Questions about Updates.