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The problem with Cory's argument is that he is trying to find a one-size-fits-all solution and there just isn't one at the current time. Right now, dedicated devices do a better job of what they do. I love converged devices--I do a lot with my Treo; it's my main mp3 player, for example, and I even got TCPMP going on it for video. But my music and videos are scattered across several SD cards, and let's face it, nobody would choose to watch a movie on a tiny Treo screen if they had a better option. Would I be better off with, say, a large-capacity Zune with the big screen for those functions? Yes, probably, but is it worth carrying around an extra device? For me, not at this time.
My two year old Canon 6 megapixel digital camera does a much, much better job of taking photos than the pathetic camera in the Treo. But I don't carry the Canon with me on a daily basis, so I do use the Treo camera occasionally.
The Treo used to be my main ebook reading device, and still would be if the backlighting didn't bother my eyes. I read enough that carrying a Cybook in my handbag is not a hardship, and it is infinitely preferable to carrying around, for instance, a copy of Fanny Burney's Cecilia (at 900ish pages in trade paperback size) or the book I'm currently reading, Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth (976 pages according to Amazon).
Does all of that mean I wouldn't prefer a converged device, a SuperTreo, if you will, that I could use for all those functions? Of course I would. But everything is a tradeoff. If music is important to you, you don't mind carrying an iPod, even if it has no other function than playing music. If reading is important to you, you'll carry a dedicated book reader if it creates a better reading experience, which my Cybook does for me.
Cory doesn't appear to see his ebooks as replacements for his pbooks. That's why he gives them away. He sees them as sales drivers for his pbooks. But I think that if we get to the point where ebooks are inexpensive and portable between devices, I do think that readers will be willing to buy an ebook reader and purchase ebooks as they now buy mass market paperbacks. Look how much people pay for iPods and other mp3 players. But the price will have to come down to around $200, I think, AND there will have to be inexpensive ebooks (say the same price as MMPs or a few dollars less) and ease of portability between devices. Which is, a little bit, what Cory is saying.
I've never seen ebooks replacing pbooks entirely--but I can very well see them replacing MMPs, if the readers become as ubiquitous as the iPod is now. But they have to provide a great reading experience, and that's harder to do in a portable device than providing a great listening experience, I think. Even among cell phones, "feature phones" concentrate on one piece of media--iPhones are great for music and video, there are Sony phones with fantastic cameras built in, and the Readius will be a great ebook reader. But there's yet to be a phone or portable device that does it all well.
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