When I can walking into any bookshop and buy a new book on an protected SD card for 5 GBP from a rack of hundreds of titles alongside the printed version then I can see them taking off.

While it's still all online then it's still for the geeks and new users and not mainstream.

The publishers need to get their heads on and start releasing new books on a card and on paper to satisfy the needs for both types of users.

I can understand their relectunce though. If I hand over a paper book to someone after I have read it then there is still only one copy. If I can duplicate the ebook and give it to someone else then I have paid for only one but now two copies exist. It's worrying from a copyright and financial point of view but a single book on a single protected SD card which can be read on only one reader at a time would be the solution to becoming mainstream in my opinion.

Marky