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I think the key here is in the way one defines “paper like.”
First is the general proportions and orientation of paper and by default devices like the Sony Reader. The portrait orientation is what we have developed over thousands of years of written language in the west. It works best for us. A few basic sizes have emerged and become standard A4, A5, and A6 in most of the world along with letter, legal, folio, and “book or paperback novel” size in the USA. All of these sizes provide a good balance between line length lines on a page. Also, each can be handled easily by one person. (When was the last time you tried to move an unabridged dictionary?) The modern eBook readers have simply followed what has proven to be a shape and size that humans find comfortable to use. This is also one reason why I believe eBooks never caught on when read on a desktop or laptop – the screen orientation was wrong.
Second is the sharpness of the text. The ability to have multiple font types to express and amplify the mood of the text. E-ink for the display panel provides a better viewing than any of the LCD technologies or the old CRT technologies could ever hope to achieve. Additionally, you are looking at reflective light rather than direct light so the eye fatigue is greatly reduced. Currently the Sony Reader (as an example) provides three base fonts for most documents and an unlimited number of fonts when used with correctly formatted PDF files.
Was it worth it for me? Yes!
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