This week we asked you whether small booksellers should feel threatened by the Kindle, Amazon's newish electronic book reader-browser-toaster oven-in-one. Not surprisingly, the results were split nearly down the middle, with the majority of you saying that you don't believe Kindle will ever present any true competition for paper books or the bookshops that sell them (although newspapers, which are already having a hell of a time, may be a different story). The reasons most of you cited primarily had to do with the touch, feel, and portability of books. Good points all, but I'm fairly certain that some writers were making the same assertions about the typewriter when the first word processing program came out. Still, reader Mahesh makes a good argument: "The mass market paperback (and even trade and hardcover editions) still have the same price, portability, and convenience edge that they've enjoyed for ages, particularly over the $360 Kindle." Until the price drops on those babies, for many people, it's logical that books will be the way to go (And yes, BryanH, we realize hardcovers only cost $9.99 on the Kindle—cheaper than their $30 paper counterparts, but still).

On the flip side, those of you who said that paper books will eventually go the way of the "vinyl EP" made some damn good arguments too. Yes, the price will eventually drop—making the Kindle more accessible to more people. And the Kindle is certainly more green than your traditional paperback books (although check back in a ten years to see if the average consumer is still in a frenzy to buy green). But above all, the reason the Kindle is the most threatening to small bookshops is because it offers the kind of quick convenience, speed, and access to multiple books—even the newest and most obscure—that a single bookseller could never offer.

Nonetheless, the verdict for now among our readers is that the bookstores are sales safe.

Check back on Monday for next week's survey question!