I agree with most of your arguments for paper books over ebooks.
One strong advantage, however, of the eBook concept over paper is string searches.
Ever tried looking up a 1500-page reference book for a certain word only to find a 2 page index in the back that doesn't include the word you know you saw somewhere in the book! Never mind all the page-turning flicking to the index and back.
Wouldn't / be much easier?
Of course this is not so much an issue for novels that you usually will just read cover to cover without searches.
Perhaps what we need is a cheap, durable, fast datapad with an open (GPL'd?) document format before they become practical.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree with most of your arguments for paper books over ebooks.
One strong advantage, however, of the eBook concept over paper is string searches.
Ever tried looking up a 1500-page reference book for a certain word only to find a 2 page index in the back that doesn't include the word you know you saw somewhere in the book! Never mind all the page-turning flicking to the index and back.
Wouldn't / be much easier?
Of course this is not so much an issue for novels that you usually will just read cover to cover without searches.
Perhaps what we need is a cheap, durable, fast datapad with an open (GPL'd?) document format before they become practical.