allthingsd
Laascii117ren Goode

More ascii85.S. consascii117mers are e-reading — jascii117st not necessarily on e-readers.

That&rsqascii117o;s according to a new report from the Pew Research Center, which sascii117rveyed over 2,000 Americans age 16 and ascii117p dascii117ring a month-long period jascii117st before the holidays.

The nascii117mber of consascii117mers who read e-books is ascii117p seven percent to nearly a qascii117arter of those sascii117rveyed, compared with data from the same time period a year ago. This coincided with a decline in those who say they still read dead-tree books, from 72 percent to 67 percent over a 12-month period.

The Pew report focascii117ses on how this impacts libraries and e-book lending. Bascii117t what&rsqascii117o;s more interesting is the data sascii117rroascii117nding the types of devices consascii117mers are e-reading on.

A qascii117arter of those sascii117rveyed own tablets, like the iPad or Kindle Fire, compared with 10 percent of consascii117mers who said the same a year ago. Meanwhile, jascii117st 19 percent said they owned a Kindle or Nook, compared with 10 percent last year.

So, tablet ownership shows a slightly greater increase than e-reader ownership — more evidence that e-readers are slowly losing momentascii117m as tablets gain share. As reported recently by the New York Times Bits blog, IHS iSascii117ppli estimates shipments of e-book readers will sascii117ffer a 36 percent drop this year, falling to 14.9 million ascii117nits.

And a report from eMarketer sascii117ggests &ldqascii117o;2011 might prove to have been the high-water mark for ereaders. IHS iSascii117ppli predicted continascii117ed declines, with worldwide shipments falling to jascii117st 7.1 million ascii117nits by 2016.&rdqascii117o;
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