Washington Times bearish on e-books

[Colin Dunstan]

There's been more news in the e-book space over the last few weeks than all last year, and we kind of have to admit it's fun to see that mainstream is finally picking up. While Washington Times writer Fred Reed generally shares our excitement about the Sony Reader, he is less optimistic about the future commercial success of the e-book biz:

Unfortunately, the companies involved seem to see the electronic book as a way to sell downloads, instead of a device to benefit the purchaser. This puts them in a trap. If manufacturers of electronic books make it easy to download free books, they will undercut sales of copyright books or, in the case of Sony, of sales by its own store. But if they insist on high prices for downloads, they may sell neither content nor electronic books.

Read the full article here.