The literature-industry, like the music-industry, was already fucked up before MP3s, iPods & Kindles came around. I think they both need a shake-up. I'm all for it. The film-industry is also set for a fall.
As for literature without books & paper: maybe paper has dominated the scene too long. Before the printng press we had the spoken word where you had to know what you were talking about or the listeners could call your bluff. Too much reading weakens the language. We live in an age with so much printed tripe that we don't notice it any more. (Most of its not literature.) This new medium will hopefully produce something new and fresh, a new type of writing adapted to the new possibilities, and not intended to make money for the industry.
And MJP: you worry about storage: ok I understand, but think about societies before printing took hold. Nobody read or wrote. Nobody stored words except in memory. Things were organized there and then, by voice & memory. This must have produced another state of mind, more set on the moment, more aware of the word "hear" and now. I think this is where the wonder of Shakespeare comes from, on the verge of the traditional oral culture and the new medium of print. This is also why we, not as well-trained orally, have problems following Shakespeare's rich language.
When print took hold, the spoken word did not disappear. And printed books will live alongside the new electronic ink thats on its way in. Most likely your book-collection will quadroople in value, just like your LP-collection. ;)
In a way Bukowski.net is an example of the new possibilities at work, right now. The threads here are completely new kinds of texts chock full of Buk-info, free of charge, with a collective authorship (like folk-music) and not generating a cent for the "literature"-industry.
I'm all for it.
