I agree with the economical reasons for the fall of physical book rental, but a better analogy in my opinion is a land-line telephone rather than the news papers. News paper still serves the need gap of structured information rather than the unstructured realtime news of the online media. Where as land-line telephone just became obsolete due to better features from mobile telephones.

News paper publishing agencies have ensured that the news articles are categorised i.e. front page, regional, international, technology, economics, business etc. and also maintain the quality of journalism i.e. at least the reputed brands. Where as in online news, one article could be about 'moon landing' and next could be 'You won't believe what this actress wore for airport'. May be I am exaggerating, few online media does maintain journalism standards.

Next are the audio books, In my opinion audio books offer more value than the ebooks. I feel new books are even being written with keeping audio books in mind i.e. more dialogue oriented conversation. I listened to the 'Themsis Files' by Sylvain Neuvel, it seemed perfect for an audio book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Physical books may become coveted as vacuum tube amplifiers used by audiophiles.