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mybodymyself
December 23rd, 2009, 10:00 PM
As stone tablets gave way the codex, the future of reading is digital – but will the e-reader and the e-book change the nature of how we read?

Matthew Shaer (http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2009/1221/The-e-book-the-e-reader-and-the-future-of-reading)


New York

Jeremy Manore, an 18-year-old from central New Jersey, subscribes to several magazines and reads books constantly – John Steinbeck and F. Scott Fitzgerald are among his favorite writers. When he came home from his elite Massachusetts boarding school for Thanksgiving, Jeremy brought three books to read, his mother, Sandy Manore, says. But he wasn’t carting heavy volumes in a backpack.


This article is definitely interesting and can't wait to finish reading it. As for me I still read the old fashioned way and unsure if I would convert. Like my parents did recently.

pwnst*r
December 23rd, 2009, 10:03 PM
nah, until new publications go strictly digital.

linux4life88
December 23rd, 2009, 11:21 PM
I'm still skeptical. I just prefer to read a physical book. The concern I have is how are these ereaders on the eyes. Do they cause much eye strain like a monitor or tv do?

Paqman
December 23rd, 2009, 11:24 PM
The current e-book readers are all expensive and the formats the books are available in are a nightmare, so i'm holding off for now.

nubimax
December 23rd, 2009, 11:43 PM
I will never convert to e-books I like to turn the pages myself.

CbrPad
December 23rd, 2009, 11:53 PM
I can't wait to get an ereader, but am holding out til the prices drop a bit more realistically. However my main concern is actually drm and regional restrictions. I refuse to buy anything with drm and the majority of publishers are insisting upon it. These idiots have learned absolutely nothing from the music industry.

blueshiftoverwatch
December 24th, 2009, 12:47 AM
I can't see myself ever switching over to ebooks. Books are the only form of media that wouldn't be destroyed if some sort of nuclear weapon detonated several hundred miles above my house and created a burst of electromagnetic pulse. I also like turning the pages and staring at something that isn't a computer screen for at least part of the day.

Dark Aspect
December 24th, 2009, 12:50 AM
I would convert to e-books if they were cheap, compatible with several formats and had a variety of novels/books to choose from. Probably will catch on but I think it'll be awhile.

jrusso2
December 24th, 2009, 12:54 AM
E books, just what I want more expensive DRM on books now.

Paqman
December 24th, 2009, 12:57 AM
Books are the only form of media that wouldn't be destroyed if some sort of nuclear weapon detonated several hundred miles above my house

Wut.

Greg
December 24th, 2009, 12:58 AM
I own a Kindle, and love it. That's not to say I don't still occassionally read paper copies of my books- it still has a little extra something that I attribute to nostalgia. But it's so much more convenient, and I quickly forget that I'm not reading a real book- that is, until someone pulls me out of my trance to ask 'What IS that?' To be honest, small device holding hundreds of books>big heavy WoT novel that I'm destined to finish.

nrs
December 24th, 2009, 01:02 AM
DRM just kills it for me. Which is a shame, because I actually enjoy reading on my nice LCD more.

starcraft.man
December 24th, 2009, 01:04 AM
I buy real books. They don't run out of power, no lcd problems and they don't have any DRM. It's an amazing product, really.

CbrPad
December 24th, 2009, 01:20 AM
There are devices which read plenty of formats, e.g. Astak/BeBook. There are also sellers who don't use Drm, e.g. Baen. And, if you really want to buy books from publishers who use drm, but hate the drm, you can crack most drm files and convert them to a format you prefer, e.g. almost all Amazon/Kindle drm (except Topaz format) has been cracked.

I have thousands of real books and love them, but can't wait to get an ereader, mainly for travel, but also so that I can clean out the clutter of some of those thousands of books and save space. Each has their place.

tc3000
December 24th, 2009, 01:32 AM
My kindle broke. A book can't become entirely unreadable like a broken kindle can.

Groucho Marxist
December 24th, 2009, 04:33 AM
I prefer a device that is not susceptible to EMP pulses, loss of battery or the ravages of upgrades.

For laughs, I present the following comic sent to me by my best friend; enjoy :)

mybodymyself
December 24th, 2009, 04:46 AM
What interesting responses to this thread.

BenAshton24
December 24th, 2009, 04:51 AM
Books are one of the few things that technology cannot improve IMO.

CbrPad
December 24th, 2009, 11:04 AM
Interesting reponses ? They're mostly utterly ridiculous, other than for aesthetic reasons there are very few genuine reasons not to have an e-reader.

Emp pulses and batteries? So these folk don't use laptops, mobile phones, mp3 players or any other form of modern portable technology then ? Hey, there might be an emp pulse, I'm not getting me one of them new-fangled tv's or radios then, I'll continue sitting by my cave fire and draw on the walls for entertainment, using my reed torch, and commute to work on my horse.

You can only be having a laugh making those sort of excuses, so genuine ones would be appreciated.

SuperSonic4
December 24th, 2009, 11:21 AM
Interesting reponses ? They're mostly utterly ridiculous, other than for aesthetic reasons there are very few genuine reasons not to have an e-reader.
.

Paper books can be more environmentally friendly, especially if a tree is planted for each taken down.

Paper books require no power to read (except at night when ambient light is needed) whereas an e-book requires power, it's a well known fact batteries degrade over time and most e-readers won't have user-replaceable batteries and any attempt to do so is bound to void the warranty.

Paper books also reduce eye strain, a lot of e-readers are backlit and this can cause a strain on the eye, especially in poor lighting. Plus you can read a paper book without too much effort on a sunny day.

Also of high importance is that a paper book is, and always will be, yours. You can re-read it when you want, you can lend or give away the book if you like and most importantly it will always be yours - if the company issuing the e-books suspects you of anything then they pull anything you've bought with no refund

Their EULA gives them the legal right to steal off you if they wish!

Grenage
December 24th, 2009, 11:24 AM
I have trouble reading that much text on a screen; but that aside, books don't need power. They both have advantages.

t0p
December 24th, 2009, 11:58 AM
I was converted to electronic text some time ago. I used to buy the Guardian newspaper every morning, but now I view it online: on my computer if I'm at home or on my cellphone if I'm out and about. And I have read lots of books in pdf format. I don't have a dedicated e-reader, but I've found that my 7-inch EeePC is ideal for the purpose. It's great being able to carry several long books without being crushed by the weight.

I doubt that the e-book will ever completely replace the paper volume, but the electronic versions will certainly become more and more popular as time goes on. I'll bet there were people who thought papyrus scrolls would never replace clay tablets, nor paper books take the place of scrolls; but progress progresses regardless.

I'm currently happy using my cellphone and EeePC, but I expect I'll get a dedicated e-reader in the end. But I'm still not happy with the idea of e-books being infested with DRM. When I own a book, I want to own it. For now I'm okay with pdfs, but most new books come in one proprietary format or another. These DRMed formats are being cracked all the time (http://klungvik.com/index.php/2008/how-to-remove-drm-from-ebooks/), but that's still not an ideal situation. I hope that e-book formats will go the same way as music files: there was a time when all the record companies wanted their downloads DRMed; but now they're moving to regular mp3. Hopefully in time all e-books will come as pdfs, and we'll be able to read them all on any device we choose.

koleoptero
December 24th, 2009, 12:48 PM
Books are the only form of media that wouldn't be destroyed if some sort of nuclear weapon detonated several hundred miles above my house and created a burst of electromagnetic pulse.


Wut.

The problem with the age of technology, people tend to forget the physical impact a nuclear bomb might have on the house and the books in it. Not to mention the cancer and radiation poisoning. What's important is the EMP. :lolflag:

On Topic: I prefer books too for novels and anything that you need to read straight. But for some manuals or the news I prefer electronic text with the nice "search" function, and point and click navigation.

AICollector
December 24th, 2009, 03:31 PM
Well, on my Android phone...I quite like it, the ability to lie down in bed, or take a few hundred books in my pocket out with me...the abilty to turn my phone off and know the e-books program saved where I was, and can search throughout the book.

Disclaimer: I own a LOT of meatspace books, to the point where my floor has had to be reinforced to support them. There is something to be said about browsing titles, yes, but I get that same method on my phone's ebook reader.

The OTHER reason I like it is because 6 months ago or so, I spent 2 days (including the night inbetween) scanning the barcodes off my books; I put them into the Google library...now, whenver I remember part of a book I want to read again, I can just ask Google what book it was! :D

and yes, I'm excited about Google's e-Bookstore. :D

alphaniner
December 24th, 2009, 03:45 PM
Well, like someone else said, I hate reading novels on my computer, but the search function makes electronic formats quite handy in most other situations. I'm also skeptical about the implementation and consequences of DRM. But then, there's plenty enough quality material in the world that is no longer restricted, and for that I think an e-reader would be great. 'Course, I haven't actually put my hands on one yet, so I'm not sure how comfortable I would find them.

LowSky
December 24th, 2009, 03:46 PM
I'll buy a e-book reader when the good ones cost under $50 and have much better contrast for black and white, or heck full color. The DRM is horrible too. We already have a suitable format called PDF, use one format, let me shop for the book where ever I like, and remember that few people really read anymore, so me buying any readable media should be easy. Books should be under my control, not some company. If I buy it that copy is mine, It shouldn't be deletable because the company selling it and the publisher have a falling out.

alphaniner
December 24th, 2009, 03:53 PM
It shouldn't be deletable because the company selling it and the publisher have a falling out.

If you're talking about the 1984 incident, let's be fair. It wasn't a 'falling out', it was a case of fraud. Though Amazon's response was admittedly unfortunate. And troubling. But the copies were essentially stolen goods under the law, and what happened was no different from what would happen if they were real goods (I think). It was just much easier in this case.

wirate
December 24th, 2009, 04:05 PM
I use an ebook only when I dont have access to the physical counterpart

CbrPad
December 24th, 2009, 11:57 PM
Paper books can be more environmentally friendly, especially if a tree is planted for each taken down.

Paper books require no power to read (except at night when ambient light is needed) whereas an e-book requires power, it's a well known fact batteries degrade over time and most e-readers won't have user-replaceable batteries and any attempt to do so is bound to void the warranty.

Paper books also reduce eye strain, a lot of e-readers are backlit and this can cause a strain on the eye, especially in poor lighting. Plus you can read a paper book without too much effort on a sunny day.

Also of high importance is that a paper book is, and always will be, yours. You can re-read it when you want, you can lend or give away the book if you like and most importantly it will always be yours - if the company issuing the e-books suspects you of anything then they pull anything you've bought with no refund

Their EULA gives them the legal right to steal off you if they wish!

Please note that when I'm talking about e-readers and e-books, I'm talking specifically about devices that use e-ink, and there are plenty of these on the market, including those with user-replaceable batteries. The average battery on one of these lasts about 8,000 page turns between charges as power is only used when refreshing the page. That is an awful lot of reading before a battery expires.

I'm unaware of any e-ink e-readers that are backlit, unless you're talking about lcd things like the Jet ? They're outside what I call a true e-reader as one of main ideas behind e-readers is to reduce eyestrain, hence e-ink.

As for the environmental factors, well that's debatable. How often when buying a book does anyone check that a tree has been replanted to compensate, or is it even possible ? The larger the e-book collection the more environmentally friendly an e-reader becomes, in my case I have over 3,000 paper books, that's a helluva lot of trees, but just one e-reader could cut out all of that loss. There have been interesting debates on mobileread.com on this matter.

As for drm etc, I'm fully in agreement. I despise it, mostly refuse to buy anything infected with it, but whenever I am tempted into buying, I always strip it immediately. I'm not accepting the rights that I have with paper books being taken away. I think you're talking about the Kindle here, the fiasco with 1984, lol. I wouldn't touch the Kindle with Tiger Woods's, there are many other readers available with none of that rubbish involved.

I accept that ereaders aren't for everyone, they are specialised. If you want to look at technical documents, pdfs and the like, or files with lots of graphics, magazines, etc, forget about it (with the possible exception of iRex).

But if you're into reading fiction and non-fiction which mainly contains text, novels and the like, then current readers such as those from Sony or Astak are fully up to the task.

The basics for the above, i.e. e-ink, are already there, and the only real way they can be improved is to replace the glass substrate so that they are less prone to damage, drop the prices, and maybe speed up the refresh, but these don't greatly bother me.
Gimmicks such as wifi, mp3, etc are in my mind just that, gimmicks. I just want to read, anything else is extraneous. And drm is only as much of an issue as you want it to be ;-)

phillychease
December 25th, 2009, 12:16 AM
I'm still skeptical. I just prefer to read a physical book. The concern I have is how are these ereaders on the eyes. Do they cause much eye strain like a monitor or tv do?

yea thats true.
i dont really like staring at a monitor all day. i already do enough.

gnomeuser
December 25th, 2009, 01:24 AM
I love a good book, I really do and I love the smell and feel of unpacking, opening and savoring a new hardcover work. That being said, I do like the idea of e-books for several reasons.

With an e-books there would be no reason why you couldn't hook other media into the experience. If I don't know a certain word then I could let the medium define it for me, if I can't pronounce it then it could help me learn. I could seamlessly switch from reading to listening if that suited my needs better in the given situation. It would also be easier with a properly implemented e-book to cater to people with reading problems, eye problems or a similar problem which would decrease that persons access to books. I love the idea of opening the world of books to people who otherwise wouldn't read, on their terms and with their needs in mind. A larger print book costs more, uses more paper, is bigger and heavier to carry around but increasing the font size or changing the font in an e-book is entirely free.

You could add social elements into books via the device they are read on, let fans debate the work, find similar works to the parts of the book you like.

There is a lot technology can do to enhance the book experience. However I don't see myself buying the currently limited devices out there and I haven't seen anyone propose a solution that embraces all that books could be.

One thing I have noticed lately is that while I love books, I haven't had the time to invest myself in reading one lately. I am a slow reader and I like to do my reading mainly before bed time which slows down the completion, by limiting the time available for reading, and lessens my enjoyment of the story. I have though not been deprived of stories, I have been listening to a lot of audio books. They make idle moments walking to the store or sitting on the exercise bike filled with the joys of the book, turning otherwise wasted time productive.

I think the reading device of the future might be closer to my phone with perhaps a pair of glasses displaying the text when I want in a size that is readable by regular human beings. I just don't see myself carrying around a specialized device for this, it needs to fit into the ecosystem I already work in. I also don't see myself reading a book on a screen the size of my phone (even a rather decently sized touchscreen such as the HTC Hero presents). Hence the need for some generally useful extension to that device and a need to interact differently with it.

Chimmer
December 25th, 2009, 02:21 AM
I have 2 Amazon Kindles, the orignal and a K2. The only reason I bought them was to save space. I've been reading a lot since I was a kid and I have tons of books sitting around in boxes, on bookshelves, under beds, etc.

One kindle and the space issue is solved. My only gripe is Amazon's inability or refusal to incorporate some type of organization such as folders or my preference - tagging. They use the 1500 book capacity as a selling point but without any form of organization, it's like dumping 1500 books on your living room floor saying "Enjoy!"

So currently, I keep less than 10 books on the Kindle and delete them once I read them. I can always re-download from Amazon's server if/when I want to read them again.

Dr. C
December 25th, 2009, 02:52 AM
Please note that when I'm talking about e-readers and e-books, I'm talking specifically about devices that use e-ink, and there are plenty of these on the market, including those with user-replaceable batteries. The average battery on one of these lasts about 8,000 page turns between charges as power is only used when refreshing the page. That is an awful lot of reading before a battery expires.

I'm unaware of any e-ink e-readers that are backlit, unless you're talking about lcd things like the Jet ? They're outside what I call a true e-reader as one of main ideas behind e-readers is to reduce eyestrain, hence e-ink.

As for the environmental factors, well that's debatable. How often when buying a book does anyone check that a tree has been replanted to compensate, or is it even possible ? The larger the e-book collection the more environmentally friendly an e-reader becomes, in my case I have over 3,000 paper books, that's a helluva lot of trees, but just one e-reader could cut out all of that loss. There have been interesting debates on mobileread.com on this matter.

As for drm etc, I'm fully in agreement. I despise it, mostly refuse to buy anything infected with it, but whenever I am tempted into buying, I always strip it immediately. I'm not accepting the rights that I have with paper books being taken away. I think you're talking about the Kindle here, the fiasco with 1984, lol. I wouldn't touch the Kindle with Tiger Woods's, there are many other readers available with none of that rubbish involved.

I accept that ereaders aren't for everyone, they are specialised. If you want to look at technical documents, pdfs and the like, or files with lots of graphics, magazines, etc, forget about it (with the possible exception of iRex).

But if you're into reading fiction and non-fiction which mainly contains text, novels and the like, then current readers such as those from Sony or Astak are fully up to the task.

The basics for the above, i.e. e-ink, are already there, and the only real way they can be improved is to replace the glass substrate so that they are less prone to damage, drop the prices, and maybe speed up the refresh, but these don't greatly bother me.
Gimmicks such as wifi, mp3, etc are in my mind just that, gimmicks. I just want to read, anything else is extraneous. And drm is only as much of an issue as you want it to be ;-)

DRM and the inability to move the content to the device of my choice, be it a desktop, laptop, smart phone etc are the deal killers for me. As for cracking the DRM that is not a legal option in many parts of the world because of anti-circumvention laws.

The evils of DRM can be seen in the following cases:
1) The Kindle example. The real issue here is that the DRM in the Kindle makes it technically possible to digitally burn books at the push of a button. Furthermore the DRM is still present in the Kindle after 1984 incident. Is the device called Kindle for a reason as in starting a fire? http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kindle
2) The iPhone example. The real issue here is that applications and hence the ebooks they contain must first pass the Apple censors.

Let us not forget the lessons of history regarding the censoring and burning of books, and the horrors that followed the burning of the censored books. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_burning.

Chimmer
December 25th, 2009, 03:14 AM
The evils of DRM can be seen in the following cases:


Yes, and then there are the evils of piracy. Look at what's happened to the music industry. Bands today have trouble making any money because instead of people buying their music, they steal it via downloads. Where is the incentive for musicians to strive to make the best music they can when they know most kids will download it for free?

I can see something similar happening to ebooks and why a lot of authors are against it. What's the incentive to write a good book if people are downloading them for free?

People use the analogy where they buy a paperback and then pass it on to a friend to read. DRM doesn't allow that and there is a reason. Instead of passing it on to a friend, you can pass it on to hundreds of friends even though you only paid for a single copy.

I see the good and bad with DRM. There needs to be some type of middle ground, where authors get compensated for their work while readers don't feel like they are chained down to a single device and have big brother delete their library at the drop of a hat. I don't know the answer but for now, I'm thankful for the convenience of ebooks.

starcannon
December 25th, 2009, 03:25 AM
You missed a poll option; I use both e-books && traditional books. I prefer classic books when at home, and I can't imagine how I got along without e-books when I'm on the road.

Crunchy the Headcrab
December 25th, 2009, 03:41 AM
I don't think I'll ever convert to e-books. I've never been super comfortable with reading long documents on a computer screen or digital device. I love reading. I also love the feel of the pages, and the smell of them. I love books.

Chimmer
December 25th, 2009, 03:48 AM
I don't think I'll ever convert to e-books. I've never been super comfortable with reading long documents on a computer screen or digital device.

E-ink readers are nothing like a computer screen. They aren't backlit, it looks like you are reading a paperback, plus you can change the size of the font with the touch of a button. The only thing for me to get used to was seeing only one page of text at a time instead of 2, like an open book.

Another advantage of e-ink....no paper cuts. :)

alphaniner
December 25th, 2009, 03:58 AM
Yes, and then there are the evils of piracy. Look at what's happened to the music industry. Bands today have trouble making any money because instead of people buying their music, they steal it via downloads.

I don't mean to downplay the consequences of piracy, but the effects on the music industry have been vastly overstated. All data I've seen states that profits for the record companies has suffered very slightly at best. And statistics aside, does it really seem like the industry is faltering? In certain industries, and to a certain extent, I see piracy as part of one of the "little revolutions" Thomas Jefferson believed were necessary every so often.

Dr. C
December 25th, 2009, 04:05 AM
Yes, and then there are the evils of piracy. Look at what's happened to the music industry. Bands today have trouble making any money because instead of people buying their music, they steal it via downloads. Where is the incentive for musicians to strive to make the best music they can when they know most kids will download it for free?

I can see something similar happening to ebooks and why a lot of authors are against it. What's the incentive to write a good book if people are downloading them for free?

People use the analogy where they buy a paperback and then pass it on to a friend to read. DRM doesn't allow that and there is a reason. Instead of passing it on to a friend, you can pass it on to hundreds of friends even though you only paid for a single copy.

I see the good and bad with DRM. There needs to be some type of middle ground, where authors get compensated for their work while readers don't feel like they are chained down to a single device and have big brother delete their library at the drop of a hat. I don't know the answer but for now, I'm thankful for the convenience of ebooks.

DRM is not about protecting the rights of authors or creators nor is it about preventing piracy. In fact in many cases DRM actually encourages piracy as those who pay for content are forced by problems caused by the DRM to turn to a pirate source to get the content they have already paid for. DRM is really about control and censorship. With the DRM in the Kindle for example it would very simple to digitally burn all books by Jewish authors at the push of a button. This is much more efficient that the book burnings in Germany during the 1930's. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_book_burnings. There is a very important history lesson here. When books are burned, it is followed more often than not by the burning of people.

Chimmer
December 25th, 2009, 04:20 AM
In fact in many cases DRM actually encourages piracy as those who pay for content are forced by problems caused by the DRM to turn to a pirate source to get the content they have already paid for.

I don't think I agree with that. If people feel justified in having to "turn to piracy" then they are the type that won't even buy the book to begin with.


DRM is really about control and censorship. With the DRM in the Kindle for example it would very simple to digitally burn all books by Jewish authors at the push of a button.

That wouldn't make Amazon very popular...they are in the business to sell books, not to burn them. I don't see them making any money that way.


There is a very important history lesson here. When books are burned, it is followed more often than not by the burning of people.

I knew that Hitler was bound to come up sooner or later.....GODWIN!!!! :)

Wow...so the real agenda behind DRM is to light a bunch of people on fire? :confused:

Dr. C
December 25th, 2009, 04:43 AM
I don't think I agree with that. If people feel justified in having to "turn to piracy" then they are the type that won't even buy the book to begin with.

How does one feel if after paying for content one cannot access the content because of DRM? One also has to wonder why if DRM is so effective at preventing piracy, content crippled with DRM is usually available from a pirate source (sans the DRM) within hours of publication if not before publication?




I knew that Hitler was bound to come up sooner or later.....GODWIN!!!! :)

Wow...so the real agenda behind DRM is to light a bunch of people on fire? :confused:


Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Santayana

Skripka
December 25th, 2009, 04:57 AM
I don't think I'll ever convert to e-books. I've never been super comfortable with reading long documents on a computer screen or digital device. I love reading. I also love the feel of the pages, and the smell of them. I love books.

This.

I'm a researcher...and most of the things that I read haven't been printed in 30+ years. It is almost a certainty NONE of the materials in my field will ever be available in a digital format for viewing on an e-book reader. Out of 100s and 1000s I can think of only one book in my field that is in demand enough to be easily available (legally) as a PDF, it also happens to be public domain.

I also like the feel of paper. Books are easy to take notes in and scribble and take notes in. Real books never require batteries or firmware updates, they can't be ruined by a single drop of water, they can be dropped without worry, the only downside is that they can be heavy.

Give me my paper or give me death.

Dr. C
December 25th, 2009, 05:06 AM
..
That wouldn't make Amazon very popular...they are in the business to sell books, not to burn them. I don't see them making any money that way...


What is to prevent a totalitarian state from using the DRM created by Amazon to against innocent people? That is the real evil of DRM. Even if the publisher that created the DRM has a comparatively benign motivation, such as attempting to preserve an obsolete business model, the DRM once in place can be used for much greater evil.

Note: Second post due to editing of the original quoted post

tablettweet
December 25th, 2009, 04:45 PM
Not surprise, if Google will make an e-reader more solid and productive. This will absolutely impact to the top US bookseller Barnes & Noble and big bookseller worldwide Amazon.

The question is that if all e-reader devices have to get accessed through Internet for using, then why we need to purchase these devices. Google is very smart to open an online store after seeing the fast-growing e-reader market during a few year.

With sources in hand of Google search engine, I believe many users who use small laptops or Mac tablet may hesitate to buy Kindle or Nook. It might be redundant whereas these e-reader devices demonstrate the similar result to reading online. Why we need many tools when only one tools can do all.

Chimmer
December 25th, 2009, 04:58 PM
With sources in hand of Google search engine, I believe many users who use small laptops or Mac tablet may hesitate to buy Kindle or Nook. It might be redundant whereas these e-reader devices demonstrate the similar result to reading online. Why we need many tools when only one tools can do all.

It's all in the display in my opinion. E-ink is much easier on the eyes. I would not want to spend hours reading a backlit screen. E-ink is just like reading a paperback. I can (and have) spent hours reading my kindle with no eye strain or headaches like I get if I spent that many hours looking at a PC monitor.

I think the people that would use their laptops or netbooks to read books are probably casual readers. Anyone who is a "power reader" would be more inclined to purchase some type of E-ink reader, at least that's what I would think.