Minecraft developer Jeb has posted on Reddit about some upcoming changes to the enchanting system.

Jeb showed his early test of what the enchanting screen might start to look like:

A summary of the likely changes (and remember, things might look very different by the time Minecraft 1.8 rolls out):

• Enchanting will require an item as well as levels: currently they are using gold for this but maybe it will be something else.
• Enchanting will cost fewer levels…
• …but to balance this, enchanting levels will be harder to get.
• The tool-tip will hint at what enchantment you might get.

It will be interesting to see how this works out as people test the snapshots!