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It's all about mobility..
The reason music devices such as the iPod have taken off is that they increase your mobility. Songs that you could previously only listen to on your computer or stereo (or portable CD player.. but with much less convenience..), you can now listen to anywhere, at anytime with your digital music device.

Books - the traditional paper kind - are already portable. They require no batteries, and are relatively easy and inexpensive to replace if necessary.

With e-books, you lose mobility. You're limited by battery life, and screen readability (e-books may actually have better readability at night, though..).. or worse yet, you're tied to your desktop computer. You also lose many of the rights you have with paper books. While you can lend a book to a friend, you cannot do so with most e-books, due to the DRM. Yet another issue is the durability/permanacy of the medium.. if your hard drive crashes, or you upgrade computers.. will you be able to download a new copy of the e-book for free? All e-book publishers I've seen do NOT offer this option.
Posted by: d_jedi   Posted on: 08/27/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
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You learn from paper not e-books  American Pride | 08/27/04
Nothing like curling up next to the fireplace with a nice laptop?!?!  Xunil_Sierutuf | 08/27/04
You need more than 72-90 dpi for comfortable reading  Atlant | 08/27/04
Agreed, but some funny thoughts  bthomasmo@... | 08/27/04
LOL... Oh, let me just rip this advertisment out.. ZZZZZZZZZzzt!  Xunil_Sierutuf | 08/27/04
Depends on the laptop  Yagotta B. Kidding | 08/27/04
Have e-books turned a page?  Loverock Davidson | 08/27/04
In praise of Jim Baen  sales@... | 08/27/04
Mod parent up!  Yagotta B. Kidding | 08/27/04
Sounds good  Melmac_z | 08/27/04
It's all about mobility..  d_jedi | 08/27/04
Option offered  Yagotta B. Kidding | 08/27/04
Until  James Dean_z | 08/27/04
Or  bthomasmo@... | 08/27/04
Here's my view of E-books  voska | 08/27/04
Not a replacement for paperbacks, but  sales@... | 08/27/04
I find loading dozens of tech books  voska | 08/27/04
Comparing pages to bytes  gas_z | 08/27/04
You forgot about compression!  Atlant | 08/27/04
Economy  eaydinceren@... | 08/27/04
Even better, Don't need the publisher  voska | 08/27/04
I like the idea.  mathandmetal | 08/27/04
Linux Games  voska | 08/27/04
The key, for me, will be re-acquiring my existing library  Atlant | 08/27/04
Ebooks  Melmac_z | 08/27/04
As long as I BUY them not rent them  CobraA1 | 08/27/04
what we want is privacy  V Sanders | 08/29/04
Librie  samirss | 01/06/06

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