Hearst To Launch E-Reader For Newspapers

thefickler writes "The credit crisis couldn't have come at a worse time for newspapers, which were already suffering at the hands of the Internet. Now it seems that the Hearst Corporation is planning to launch an e-reader later this year to try to save its dwindling newspaper readerships. Apparently the e-reader will have a bigger screen than the Kindle, helping it to accommodate ads. It's not clear whether Hearst will go it alone, or try to gather wider industry support for its venture. As one pundit observed, 'it seems a slender thread on which to hang the entire American newspaper industry.'"

Comments

Re:The joy of flipping pages?

[mangu]

Even the sound of turning a page, or the satisfying crackle of the fabric binding on a brand new hard cover are fantastic

For me, the good thing in turning pages, at least in reference books, is how your "favorites" end being implanted into the book structure itself. All my reference books open automatically in the pages I need most frequently.

But what will really convert me to ebooks someday when the cost comes down is the volume of data. The conversion factor from digital books to bookshelf space is roughly two megabytes / centimeter. A 2GB SD card will hold ten meters of bookshelf, how's that, maybe a Library of Congress per gym bag?