Albatros is always great, looks like I've got another expensive must have on my list with that Jaste 5 work!
But look at the Luftwaffe books that were published the last 10 or so years!
Look at books like Ullmann's and the new Merricks, I mean how many years did we have to wait in between?
Doesn't feel like WW2 is drying up to me.
Prien and his team is putting out an unprecedented line of books, which together with previous unit histories are about as good as it gets, all this last decade or so.
Should we look at trends of a year or so, or decades instead?
I've started "serious" collecting some 8-10 years ago, I haven't seen any worrying trends other than supply outlasting my ability to keep up. Of course there is the matter of quality versus quality, but hasn't that always been the case?
Really good technical books come in decades, not years.
Look at the benchmark (imho) D.520 by Danel & Cuny, or Spitfire by Morgan & Shacklady, and indeed more recent MB-152, by Joanne and Me262 by Smith & Creek.
Quality takes time.
I agree with Richard though, a book will always have a strong sense of permanence, which electronic media utterly lack. However as people change, so will that feeling.
We still buy our CDs, most kids however skip that and download their music (legally), without needing that sense of "physical" ownership a CD (or record) gives.
OTOH, I just love reading a
book in bed (if I am not otherwise occupied
).