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This discussion has clearly meandered from the original point, which was the ebooks are going to make pbooks obsolete. This is the point I disagree about for all the points above.
A PDA may seem a small expenditure to you. However for many people it is a significant one -- they can get pbooks free from the library or for an extremely nominal fee at the used bookstore or the school book fairs. And the PDA or whatever technical doo-dad you chose to read your books on will have to be replaced every couple of years, since consumer electronics aren't really built to last.
Once I have my pbook it's good for life without any additional investment. I don't need to worry about my delivery device breaking down and getting a new one. Plus I can easily lend it out to other people, without them needing any special equipment to read it. We can trade books without worrying about formatting, DRM or being accused of piracy.
I *love* ebooks. I'm still awed by my reader with 900+ books on it. But I don't believe they will ever obsolete pbooks. At least not in my lifetime.
-Marcy
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