E-Book Fans Keep Format in Spotlight

Some book sellers and owners of electronic reading devices are making the case that people are reading more because of e-books. Amazon for example, says that people with Kindles now buy 3.1 times as many books as they did before owning the device. That factor is up from 2.7 in December 2008. So a reader who had previously bought eight books from Amazon would now purchase, on average, 24.8 books, a rise from 21.6 books. "You are going to see very significant industry growth rates as a result of the convenience of this kind of reading," said Jeffrey P. Bezos, chief executive of Amazon. Fans of the reading devices suggest that the convenience of using these products, which offer a sense of control and customization that consumers have come to expect from all their media gadgets, has created a greater interest in books.