When Amazon released the Kindle the world had no idea how this technology would change the way that people would read. After all, e-books and books on tape had already been around for years. The difference between these inventions and the Kindle is that users were allowed the opportunity to tap into a digital marketplace at will. Simply put, if you own a Kindle you can buy whatever book you want at the time and pick it up whenever you feel like it. As a matter of fact, you can mark the last page that you read on dozens of books, and one keystroke will allow you to pick up where you left off.
Because of the huge popularity of the Kindle, paperback books have nearly become a relic. Of course, some readers still make weekly trips to the bookstore and textbooks still have a place in every classroom, but soon enough the Kindle will change that, too. There are similar electronics that will allow you to read digital books, but Kindle and Amazon together offer readers the largest database of new titles. Millions of independent authors and publishers are free to sell their novels, autobiographies and poetry anthologies on the Amazon marketplace. While most of them are not making a lot of money, placing a book on Amazon allows them to get tons of exposure. Paperbacks will still be published for many years, but there may come a day when the only book you can buy is on a Kindle.
