My edit was too slow. Wanted to add this:
Current battery life on the e-paper screened models (the Kindly, the Sony, some others) is already excellent. I think the Sony is rated for 7,000 page turns per charge with a 3 week or so standby time. Because of the nature of e-paper (the screen retains its image without power), the device is effectively off until you hit the page turn button.
Groovy! How’s the scratchproofness?
I’m glad that idea exists.
So now the reader just needs to be cheap enough (under $100, I’d say for me) and I’d try one (assuming the screens are as nice as people say, and I have no reason to doubt them). (I apparently like (lots of) parentheses.)
The Kindle also fails the “ugly” test for me. 
I bought my first Palm device about a week after I found out you could read books on them. I’ve never looked back. I’d buy all my books in ebook format if I could FIND everything I wanted to read in ebook format. I read every night on my Palm Zire 71. (I’m going to be really unhappy when that device dies. 
) I read novels and short stories and Project Gutenberg books. I curl up with it just fine, thanks. The only problem I have is that as I get older, I’m having to hold it a little farther away from my face.
When I’m not using my Zire, I’m reading on my Eee PC. The Mobipocket desktop reader has a HUGE variety of fonts and font sizes. If my eyes are tired, I put the book in a large font so I don’t have to strain. If I want to knit and read, I can set it to auto-scroll at whatever speed I want so I don’t have to take my hands off my knitting. No more awkward propping the book open with whatever’s handy.
I understand that holding a paper book with real paper pages means a lot to some folks, and that’s fine. But after the first time I had to cull books because I had no more room to store them and no money/space for more bookcases, I kinda got over that, myself.
I do prefer an LCD display to the e-ink. I think the LCD devices are more versatile and they don’t have that annoying flash when you turn the page. (I’ve heard that you get used to that, but I’m a little skeptical.)
No scratches yet on my Sony, even though I frequently jam it in my pocket without its case. But I shouldn’t count on it remaining unscratched forever with that kind of treatement. The screen is like a firmer version of your typical matte plasticy laptop display.
There is one thing I forgot to mention. I can stand on a station platform and read a paperback and be invisible. I would feel a bit of an attention-seeking tit if I stood there reading from some futuristic-looking tablet device.
This will no doubt fade away as ebooks grow in popularity, but I’ll let someone else bear the brunt of public curiosity and ogling.
/shrug/ I used to read on my Palm when I rode MARTA in Atlanta. But I’ve also knitted and spun on a drop spindle on the train. If you’re oblivious enough (like me), other people looking at you won’t bother you. 
I am far from a technophobe and I read 6-8 books a year. For something big and heavy and referenced, like a software manual or cookbook, I could see myself using an ebook, but for the books I typically read, there’s no advantage.
-I rarely need to reference things in my books to the degree that a search function would be useful.
-I never read so many books at a time that an autobookmarker would be useful.
-I think it’s unwise to store all my books in a device that needs batteries and could fail or become obsolete or be lost or stolen.
-I would miss going to the library or bookstore.
-I currently spend up to 14 hours a day staring at an electronic device of some sort and I don’t wish to add to that time.
-If I’m going to be carrying around something the approximate size and weight of a trade paperback anyway, why carry around the one that’s more delicate and expensive and attractive for theft?
It would be silly of me to fork over ~$300 for a device to let me read a book that I’m going to pay about the same price for anyway, regardless of the format. I would basically be paying only for features I didn’t need and drawbacks I didn’t have before, as well as the removal of sensory experiences and the lack of ownership of a discrete object. The “convenience” of it is not worth it.
“What is holding back electronic books?”
Me, for one. 
Perhaps in a generation or two, after most of the “oldschool” book readers have died off, this might become the predominant technology for reading. (but I suspect if that happens, the coveted luxury will become REAL books:)
In the meantime, too many of us who:
get tired of reading/viewing over monitors and of the eye-strain involved.
refuse to pay ridiculous prices (and even if/when these devices come down in price as they will, the price will still seem ridiculous to those used to hard copy) for something we simply don’t need. (of course, in a few decades, such devices will be considered absolute necessities which no-one can live without, like cell phones, lol)
simply love the feel and smell and very nature of BOOKS, and will not accept any replacement. My 9 yr old daughter and I are currently reading the copy of Alice in Wonderland I’ve had since I was 6 (and read repeatedly)…the experience could not be matched in any other media…the smell of the old pages, the typos, the childhood scribbles immortalized in the pages, the feel of the worn cover and paper, the symbolism of that book.
I have a few thousand books at the moment, and while I am not a Luddite in most respects and readily accept new formats (dvds, cds, internet) there is nothing that can ever replace running my hand across the books in the shelf and choosing one, then pulling it out, opening it, feeling it, settling down to read it hold it in my hands and turn the pages. Nothing. There is no need to improve upon perfection.
One of my rituals is an annual reading of my collectors edition of Lord of the Rings…a BIG, heavy, very ornate volume. Yes, it weighs a ton, the pages are thin and fine and silky, the print is small. It is like drinking a fine wine.
Electronic delivery of literature is one option, but I don’t see it ever replacing books. Same way I can appreciate books on tape/cd and use them now and then, but would much prefer to read it for myself from a book.
One thing which will give it a boost is writers who opt to release their work ONLY in that form, or in internet downloads which are suited for that form of reading.
And perhaps it WILL someday replace actual books, but I don’t see that as progress.
Another thing to realize though is that while the idea is out there, the eBook selection of many libraries is piss poor at best. Picture a lot of public domain stuff and a lot of weighty science-y manuals that are only checked out a handful of times before being discarded.
Ps (damned edit window!!!)
One of my favorite volumes is a collection of Scott’s poems, a cheap college edition, worth nothing in itself, bearing the inscription, in faded pencil, in a lady’s delicate handwriting, on page 160: “Finished reading The Lady of the Lake Tuesday evening Dec. 13, 1881. N.L.A.”
Imagine. Wow. Like the internet in extreme slomo
You know, that’s my one big concern about buying ebooks. I always worry a little about devices that rely on batteries or electrical power.
If the zombie apocalypse happened, I’d lose all my ebooks. I’d have to fall back on reading paper books. 
However, it’s more likely that ebook formats or devices will become obsolete. That almost happened with eReader, a format that was originally marketed for Palm devices. Luckily, it’s gotten a new lease on life by developing a reader for iPhones and the iTouch. Also, DRM servers might go dark (e.g., to read secure Mobipocket files, you have to register your devices with Mobipocket), and you’ll be left with lots of files that you can no longer access.
I really worry about a lot of weird things and a few sensible ones. :smack:
With about 2 minutes worth of Google you can usually find a converter that translates from one format to another (and an extra minute spent will find you one that ignores the DRM garbage, too).
BTDT. Many are not worth the hassle, IME.
Maybe I’m just getting lazy in my old age though. I was thinking about getting a Sony reader, but I’m a loyal Fictionwise customer. I thought about downloading files in .lit format, using ConvertLit to put them in a different format, then loading them on the Sony, and decided I just couldn’t be arsed to do it.
If I were to buy an e-ink reader, I’d buy a Cybook that supports Mobipocket well, and just be done with it.
Reasons it’s not catching on like music for me:
You can’t put all the books you already have onto your device, the way that you can import all of your CDs into your ipod.
Most devices are about the size of a hard cover for reading convenience, but most people read paperbacks for their portability - people read more on the train, vacation, etc than on their couch.
DRM. While there is some DRM for mp3 players, you can still go out and buy a cd, and copy it to any number of mp3 players you like. You can make clips of it, remox it, whatever. Digital books tend to only play on one device, and you can’t play around with the material.
Mp3 player can be tiny and aren’t really expected to have more functionality than playing audio. Once you have a device with a large screen, it’s hard to justify paying money for it just to read books, if you have an iphone that also plays music, movies, games, and surfs the net.
I read text files constantly on my iPod Touch. Mostly Project Gutenberg files and stuff from Stories Online. I don’t get the eyestrain issue at all, but then I’m nearsighted and take off my glasses to read. I don’t have any problem with battery life, as I rarely get 8 uninterrupted hours to read.
I read on the “L”, traveling downtown. I read while waiting on line for movies (and during the “Pre-Show Countdown” ads, but not the trailers). I read while eating (as does my wife). Most of my long distance travel is via Amtrak, and I usually plug in my laptop and watch movies.
This is not to say I don’t love books and magazines. I do. I even specifically shop for pants with pockets big enough to hold a paperback book. But electronic reading makes so much more sense. But I won’t buy a Kindle or any specific e-book reader. They just don’t have the general utility of my iPod Touch. It’s always in my pocket, and I re-charge it when I go to bed. Hard to see it as any sort of problem.
Dedicated e-book readers seem (to me) a solution in search of a problem.
BOOKS A MILLION has a Sony Reader display and so that’s the first time I’ve ever actually held one in my hands and read from it. I have to admit, it’s a lot cooler than I thought. It’s currently about $269.
Is it the same basic device as the Kindle? Is one considered more user friendly than the other?
The screens are the same. The Kindle is a little bigger and has a keyboard. I’ve heard that the page turning buttons on the Kindle are awkward depending on where you hold the device.
The Kindle has always-on wireless access to the ebooks on Amazon, the Sony connects to its online bookstore via your computer. The Sony also works with Adobe Digital Editions which is what most libraries are using to loan ebooks. The Kindle does not. The Sony also seems a little friendlier to the other common, non-Amazon formats out there.
I’ve been using Calibre to manage my ebook library. It’s free and more flexible than the Sony tool or what I’ve seen of the Amazon tool.
Even Jean-Luc Picard preferred physical books over electronic ones.
Another thing to remember is that we haven’t even reached the generation of kids yet that has “grown up” on electronic reading. Few kids spend any significant time on the computer reading anything. Sure, there’s plenty of educational games out there that kids love, but they’ll equate that to game playing, not reading.
By the time they begin using a computer to actually read articles or stories or their best friend’s Facebook page, they’ll be old enough that reading stories is tied firmly with books. So it will be a very long time before the “old book readers” die off because they’re still being born.