“Until now, few readers have preferred e-books to printed or audible versions, so the public availability of free-for-the-taking copies did not much matter. But e-books won’t stay on the periphery of book publishing much longer. E-book hardware is on the verge of going mainstream. More dedicated e-readers are coming, with ever larger screens. So, too, are computer tablets that can serve as giant e-readers, and hardware that will not be very hard at all: a thin display flexible enough to roll up into a tube.”  Read more at NY Times Business

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3 Responses to “Will Books Be Napsterized?”

  1. Honestly there is nothing like reading a book for your self but some people are better at hearing things. I personally like to read most thing directly from the book.

  2. I guess I would too, but I’ll tell you what; I have a collection of ebooks that’s fairly large. At any one time I have perhaps 100 such books in my Palm Pilot. I find that I tend to read a lot more that way, because I can read wherever I am. Nice to be able to carry an entire library of books with me, wherever I go, weighing perhaps a few ounces.

  3. Then there are those of us who are addicted to books – the feel and smell – and would rather hold an actual book in hand than a reader or electronic device.  My Dad was a printer and came home smelling of ink.  Books (or printed materials) bring back a little bit of my Dad.  A book also doesn’t need a battery or a recharge and can easily be shared with others.