Is print dead or is there a new basis for print? If so, when did this happen? Maybe it takes a while for something to be realised. The timescale to reflect on this could be over this summer when the print version of Digital Printer is planned not to appear. Apparently the eight issues a year have already appeared to some extent and will be concentrated in the autumn. So informed and current discussion will resume just ahead of Total Print Expo in October.

The May print version has an editorial by Simon Eccles assuring us that "Kindle2 won't be the end of print". I have already given away the news as i see it. "if you don't see Digital Printer for a few weeks, never fear. We will be updating the website and writing the weekly email newsletter." Still, the piece starts off with how various devices have failed over two decades because "printed books cost peanuts, don't need batteries and it won't break the bank if you leave them on the bus by mistake." However, the development seems to be the announcement of the Kindle DX, the larger screen and the involvement of newspapers. "This time newspapers are treating it with a bit more thought. Something that replaces printed editions is a bit close to home."

So expect more from print journalists on this sort of topic. On the drupa blog I have mentioned the White Space / "weiss-raum.com" at the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Bernd Zipper view that print has already died but is coming back on a web platform. Something like that. At this point there is copy that could be associated with the vent although maybe not all the stands are booked. The test will come with the actual event and what sort of claims can be backed up. Fortunately Digital Printer will be back in hard copy sometime later. Will they send a technology reporter to a book fair? Why not, the London one had a digital zone that made a lot of sense.

Searching on Google often finds stuff from long abo such as this from Guy Kewney in 2007

Print isn't dead. It just needs re-inventing to live with the Internet age.

Not sure if this started in NewsWireless but it is archived by The Register.

The scenario for 2012 is that an A3 colour print version is produced rapidly with the combination of stories required for each person. Can be picked up on the way to work.

At the London Book Fair there was the Espresso book machine that claims to deliver a book in about five minutes. Scribd could deliver texts but how to combine them for input to Espresso is not yet obvious. Still, the idea is worth looking at that print has died as we knew it but is ok a something else.