Quote:
Originally Posted by cmdahler
Ultimately, the answer to this question lies not so much in how many people out there like to read e-books, but with how many of those people are die-hard e-ink fanatics.
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I'm not an e-ink fanatic, and I won't touch the iPad. I'm happy to read on glowing screens, don't care much about typographic features beyond what's standard for webpages, and am willing to do a fair bit of document conversion work to read the books I want.
My two biggest factors in an ebook device are portability & battery life. The iPad may have enough battery life, but its size & weight knocks it right out of the other category. If I wanted to read on something that bulky, I'd get a netbook.
At $500, *especially* if the bookstore isn't publicly viewable, the iPad is a non-starter as a competitive ebook device. It'll be much-loved by people who want all the other features, but it won't be able to compete with ebook-only devices that are half the price and work better for leisure reading.