Found this interview with Antonio Tombolini, a dude who is definitely into e-books and who runs the Italian publishing company Simplicissimus (http://blogs.simplicissimus.it/) (I think Antonio is also a MobileRead member, I remember reading about him and his site before). Anyways it's an interesting read!

http://www.masternewmedia.org/content_delivery_and_distribution/ebook-readers/ebooks-revolution-coming-Antonio-Tombolini-interviewed-20070404.htm

(I think Antonio is also a MobileRead member...).
And proud of it! :)

Hey Antonio. Great interview!

Yes, excellent! I especially love this analogyThe transition to ebooks and digital music is also the same: ...it is obvious that I would always love vinyl to a recorded mp3 copy… but on the other hand it is evident that today I would be able to listen to my music (thanks to the MP3 player) also while jogging, which is something that I could have never done before.

Yes, excellent! I especially love this analogy

It still has me stumped -- but probably was a spur-of-the-moment thing, and should not be subjected to intense scrutiny. But that's just what the general public will do, more or less unconsciously, so there may be some point in seeing where it leads.

Vinyl contra MP3 ... got it. Some further thought probably convinces me that the comparison is sound, since CD players and audio casettes won't usually take vigourous physical activity very well, while solid-state devices don't need anti-bump measures.

But books contra e-books? I won't read while I'm jogging, nor will I read anywhere else where I can't take a pocket book. (In fact, I will probably read pocket books in places where I need an extra light for the e-book reader, assuming I have a e-Ink based one. And how many use their e-book reader in the bath?) The difference here seems rather to be that I can postpone the decision of what I will read: it's one pocket book on the one hand, and several dozen texts on an e-book reader on the other. That's a different kind of relation: one involving quantity rather than quality. That is probably where the comparison is lost -- I suspect fairly few people will be in the position where they want to be able to take one or two books more on the bus, in the car or to the dentist's waiting-room, yet they will certainly want to have a wide selection of music to listen to.

The vinyl-MP3 comparison holds up reasonably well in another context, though: you probably have to do the conversion yourself. That's about where we are, it seems: Where can I find a legit MP3 of ... well, say, Marion Meadows or Pat Metheny? If I want a Dan Brown title in a format I can use on my particular e-book reader, I probably also will have to do it on my own.
(Well, yes, I can find ebooks of, Dan Brown or, say, Stanley Weyman, but I have to buy new reading software to read them. Not in 'MP3', but in some proprietary format.)

I'm almost tempted to suggest that it's more like having a car, and lots of places to go, only to find that the roads there haven't been built yet, or are open only to trains or buses. (But that doesn't hold up to scrutiny any better, does it?)

--

Noone is reviewing Gutenberg or the PD ebooks.com titles, it seems ... yet that might be one of these roads needing to be built: one of the ways to place what is actually available today on the mental radar screen of prospective e-book readers. Who are the Siskel & Ebert of the PD e-book title?

But books contra e-books? I won't read while I'm jogging, nor will I read anywhere else where I can't take a pocket book.

You could... one thing people don't much think about is the possibility of combining e-books with voice output software, and having the books read to you by your reader/computer. This essentially makes it an audiobook, and although it surely won't sound as good as an audiobook read by a voice professional, it could be listened to while jogging, driving, bathing, etc. (And hopefully someday electronic voice synthesis will be improved enough to compete with human voice quality.)

I thought the interview was wonderfully comprehensive of the e-book industry and e-books' issues and advantages.