Ok, let me declare right from the start, I am a total bookworm, have been since a kid and will probably come back as a Waterstones branch in my next life. I am soooo totally not to be trusted with cash or, heaven forfend, plastic within 100 metres of a bookshop.
All of that said I love the idea of E-Books. I agree there is something very tactile about a book and I love the browsing along the shelves for something that fits my mood. However being able to pack 20 or so books into one small device before I jump on a plane, instead of having to agonise over 5 in the bookshop before I go, knowing that is all I can take and they will run out a week into a 3 week holiday (I read very fast)is very very appealing. I also love the idea that if I am reading a series, finish one book and want the next while on a beach somewhere it is readily accessable from my local interent cafe. How many branches of Waterstones are there in Phuket?
Mrs Wildfire likes snuggling into my arm if I am reading in bed (yes there are other uses for bed) and the ability to turn a page one handed by just pressing a button with my thumb and not disturbing her also appeals.
Going back to an earlier post, you can anote pages in most readers by adding comments, highlighting, bookmarking etc. In fact from that point of view they are far more versatile than paper.
The only thing that depresses me is that the book world has not learnt from the experience of the music industry as far as how to drive the market. iTunes has transformed the way that music is delivered and book publishers at the moment have all the strategic vision of a bat. I have some personal experience of this as an online teaser project for a book is on hold because the publisher is worried about releasing 30 pages from a 700 page book online. They don't see the parallels between that and movie trailers or music on the radio. An earlier post about the costs bears this out (although there are greater conversion costs than simply creating a pdf from a .doc file)
Finally I would invite you to view this excellent clip which aptly demonstrates what happened the last time we changed the delivery of the written word.
Until they can guarantee them to be bath-proof I'm sticking to paperbacks which can survive getting their corners soggy occasionally!
I like the idea of them for travelling though. And if you could do the electronic equivalent of scribbling in the margins of e-textbooks(something I can't bring myself to do with a real book) or sticking virtual post-its on them with notes, even better.
