This isn’t an endorsement of these devices. Judging from the reviews, the Archos tablets need to ripen for another release or two. But these are the first Android tablets to hit the market. Word is that Motorola is releasing its own Android-powered tablet in November.

Even before the iPad imitators hit the market, Kindle and Nook were in trouble: Apple’s iPad outsold Kindle in just three months, despite the iPad’s heftier price tag.

Why is all this significant? Because you can read Kindle books on Android, just like on a Kindle (or a PC, or an iPad.) Why spend between $150 and $200 on a device that can only read books and play music, when you can spend the same cash for a multimedia device with a full operating system? True, the eInk technology on the Kindle and Nook eliminates the screen glare that can strain your eyes on an LCD screen. Personally, I’d trade a little readability for a fully functional computer than can stream video, play multimedia, and run games in addition to displaying text.

This doesn’t mean e-readers will disappear. I’d gladly buy a Kindle – if it cost less than three figures. With cheap tablets on the horizon, I’m betting you’ll see sub-$100 Kindles before the summer of 2011.

Perhaps that’s why Jeffrey Toney’s reminiscence of the physical books he loves struck a chord. As Toney notes, art books are ill suited to the Matrix. One of my prized possessions is a copy of Alphonse Mucha: The Spirit of Art Nouveau, a beautiful coffee table compilation of this groundbreaking artist’s work. I remember coveting this book online for weeks, and being shocked upon finding a copy in the Art shelves at Half Price Books for $37. I’ve spent hours pouring over it, both alone and with friends. Someone may, one day, convert this tome into a rockin’ iPad application. But you can’t Kindle or Nook this book. The content is the pictures, not the type.

Digital books are fine for easy storage and search, but they carry no history. I can go on Amazon.com and download Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz for free. (And I have!) That doesn’t compare to when my high school girlfriend Mandy, aware of my fondness for the author, bought me a rare turn-of-the-20th-century print out of an antiques store window in Rochester, New York. Digital media is Teflon-coated against memories. None of us will look back 40 years from now and say to our grandchildren, “Yes, I remember the day I downloaded The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo.”

Maybe digital will make these “real book” moments even more precious. Maybe we’ll find that we treasure the physical books we own more – not merely because they’re rare or beautiful, but because they’re doorways to our histories.

What physical books do you cherish?

(* Actually, Mark said, “You can’t grep dead trees.” I decided to take mercy on the 99.7% of you who wouldn’t get that. You owe me.)