Why e-books are destined to fail...

[mandy]

E-book makers believe, as do millions of gadget fans, technology pundits, bookworms and journalists, that e-books will soon become a popular alternative to real, paper books for reading novels, nonfiction bestsellers and kiss-and-tell political memoirs. The idea is that once they perfect the display technology and strike the right balance of battery life, sunlight readability and form factor, we'll all start buying these things, and downloading our books.

Not gonna happen...

There are many subtle, minor disadvantages to e-books. For example, they're expensive. The hardware costs hundreds of dollars. Worse, books tend not to be hugely discounted in electronic form. The paperback version of "The Google Story: Inside the Hottest Business, Media, and Technology Success of Our Time," by David A. Vise and Mark Malseed, costs $11.20 on Amazon.com. The same book in electronic format on eBooks.com costs $9.95. You save $1.25. The reason is that the value of a book lies mostly in the intellectual property, not the wood pulp that constitutes the physical book. So e-books aren't cheaper...

full article: http://www.computerworld.com/action/arti...ticleBasic&articleId=9017934&source=rss_news50

[maryrussel]

As the article mentioned, the biggest reason is that you can't curl up with them. I recently finished writing a book that I sent to friends and relatives via email. Only a handful of the people that I sent it to reported completely reading it. It's just not relaxing reading a book in a desk chair on a computer monitor. A laptop might be slightly better but the monitor is still offputting to completely enjoying a book the way it should be enjoyed. My mother finally printed out the 200 page book so she could at least read it while relaxing on the couch.

[BellisimaJ.]

As the article mentioned, the biggest reason is that you can't curl up with them.

I agree. They are just too different!