Quote:
Originally Posted by kellstr
This leads into another area that eBooks would be perfect for: Textbooks. I haven't spent a lot of time on the forum yet but I haven't seen a mention of replacing 40 lbs of textbooks with the eReaders. Just download from the campus book store and go. I do think the first eReader that taps this market will be a huge winner because they will capture that market share of folks who are most likely to read.
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I totally agree. I longed for a device like that when I was in university. I think a device that is good for textbooks will be a sea change in the ebook market. Not only would such a device be great for business use as well as periodical content, which is way more popular than books, it will eventually become standard use for an entire generation. Once that happens it won't seem foreign to people to read on a device rather than a printed paper page. Right now we have a lot of bibliophiles that have a strong antipathy to reading devices. It's not just consumers. It's also people who work in publishing. They just don't see a hardware reader as appealing. They have an emotional attachment to a wood pulp book. It's not surprising when you think of all the happy memories us book-lovers have of the hours spent with our favorite stories. The paper page is evocative of that for many of us.
Personally, I think a paper book can be a thing of beauty. Most are not. Most are containers for content. While I would love to have gorgeous artisan printings of my most beloved books, I'm happy to have electronic copy for most things I read. With the right hardware reader, I can get just as immersed in a story as I can with a tree book. For some books, it's even preferable like my quickly-outdated tech books (which I would also like to be able to search) as well as periodicals. I think when electronic becomes the default, people will think more critically about when they truly want paper.