Besides our own bias as print-loving designers, e-readers are a more economical and more practical way of reading in daily life. If you think of and use your book collection the same way one would use their music collection, having an e-reader just makes sense.
In my commuting days and whenever I travel, I am always reminded as to how inconvenient it is to not have an e-reader when I want to read somewhere other than my apartment. I don't want to stuff my backpack with books for a weekend trip just like I wouldn't want to stuff it with CD's for the same reason.
As having e-readers and exclusively consuming written content online becomes more and more common, there will be more nostalgia and appreciation for print in a way that creates a niche market for it. I would have bet you my entire cassette collection if you told me in 1997 that 20-somethings in 2011 would have vinyl collections from contemporary artists. Sure, we don't by vinyl because it's the rational thing to do, but because we love the experience of it-yet we still have mp3 versions of those same albums. Look to see those same trends emerge with books.
