[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

I think many of you are basing e-books' success on the dedicated readers, and thinking that PDAs and Smartphones are just too small to enjoy e-books. Remember, there are plenty of people (me included) who can read on the smaller devices all day, and are happy to do so. The PDA's Cleartype setting made that possible for me, for instance. So an investment of $300 or more is not required, just to get into e-books.

I read ebooks on a PDA, and always have. The screen size hasn't been an issue (though I wouldn't mind a larger one). I use a PDA because it does many other things besides display ebooks. I can't justify the cost of a current ebook reader that only displays ebooks.

One of e-books' greatest strengths is that it can be read on many electronic devices, many of which may already be in your pocket, and it's up to the user (should've added that to my earlier list, too.)

Which is the goal, assuming the industry can agree on a standard format to support.

Enticing commuters with electronic papers and newsfeeds is another good one for the list. I've read with my PDA on the subway. And frankly, I couldn't care less what other people think of that... I'm too busy reading!

No one will pay obvious arttention to you on the subway: you might just be a psycho who will take it amiss...

Finally, publishers may be slow to adopt, but they are businesspeople. When they clearly see the demand for e-books, and the profit that can be made from it, they'll come around. The public has to provide the demand, and they'll have to figure out how to profit.

It's that clear demand that's the problem.

We are covering a lot of good ground, here. Unfortunately, none of it is leaving this forum. There are still lots of people who don't know e-books exist... don't know that they might be carrying e-book readers in their pockets... or that there are other readers they can try. How do we spread the word?

Word of mouth, in person, and in other electronic forums.
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Dennis