Digital books will be one of the best things to happen to optometrists. Their business will go through the roof. Seriously, how long have optometrists (and health professionals in general) been telling us that spending hours looking at a monitor/screen is *NOT* a good thing? So what do we do? We take one of the last bastions of non-monitor/screen entertainment and put it on a monitor/screen. Bravo!

The really funny part will be when the digital copy of a book is more expensive than the physical product. This is already the case with many of the CDs I've purchased in the past year. I bought the CDs on Amazon for a (regular, not sale) price of $4.99 - 7.99, while they were offering the same album as MP3 tracks for $9.99. So that's $4.99-7.99 for a lossless, physical product which I can rip to any format I want , or $9.99 for a lossy 256kbps one-time-only MP3 download. Hmm, that's a tough choice.

It will be similar for books vs ebooks. A book is a physical product which I can take anywhere, loan to anyone I want, it requires no electricity or batteries, and I can use it any time I want (provided there is enough light to see). An ebook is a digital product which is tied to (a) specific device(s), cannot be loaned to anyone, uses electricity/batteries, and has limited use (batteries need to be charged, and can't be used in areas which prohibit electronic devices). As with my CDs, I'll stick with the physical product.

But fictionwise books are still DRMed, right? I don't see the appeal. Who cares what format they use if you're not allowed to use it where you want.

e-ink isn't like a LCD screen. e-ink displays are of higher DPI than most printed books, so they're hardly going to enrich optimetrists - the opposite, if anything.

In addition, e-ink books don't use power except while actively changing their display and one battery charge lasts for many thousands of page turns. More, you're making assumptions about DRM and about pricing. While some providers charge high and use DRM, others like Baen completely eschew DRM, and their books are typically $5-$6, far less than the £6-7 which is charged for paperbacks in the UK.

Assumptions...

When I have twice read a £6 paperback I can leave it in a hotel library, give it to the local charity shop or flog it for 80p to the bloke on the market. It can keep moving around and being enjoyed by different people for half a century it it wants.

How do you do that with Kindling?

"e-ink isn't like a LCD screen. e-ink displays are of higher DPI than most printed books, so they're hardly going to enrich optimetrists - the opposite, if anything."

Please go back and read the article. The article (and my comment) was not about e-ink, it was about e-books. There *IS* a difference. Specifically, please note the first sentence of the second paragraph:

"The cash acquisition comes just days after Amazon extended its Kindle e-book store to support the iPhone and iPod Touch for US customers."

That kind of kills your reliance on e-ink, don't you think? That is, unless you're saying that the iPhone and iPod Touch use e-ink for their displays.

"While some providers charge high and use DRM, others like Baen completely eschew DRM, and their books are typically $5-$6, far less than the £6-7 which is charged for paperbacks in the UK."

So because (at least) one supplier sells their e-books for less than the physical product, that means I cannot make a statement about future prices (or the average price in general)? Well, in that case, Fat Wreck sells their CDs for $12.99 and under, so I guess I can't ever mention that most CDs are commonly sold at prices up to $18.99 or even $21.99 now.

After all, Sony's gotten into the act, too (I am myself owner of their top end, the PRS-700, and it was a real joy to have during a three-week vacation--gotta use up my remaining free book credits, though). And there's the iRex iLiad, too. B&N's timing may have been off last time, but there IS an increased interest in eBooks now. I wish them luck.

@Paul:

Fictionwise does sell DRMed ebooks, yes. But they also sell lots of open formats, too (PDF, HTML, RTF etc.). Which format an ebook is available in depends on the publisher.

I've bought and acquired a _lot_ of books from Fictionwise - they also do lots of giveaways at various times. And I find their e-subscription service great for magazines. I desperately hope that B&N don't break Fictionwise. It's one of the best ebook distributors that I've found, precisely because of their willingness to distribute open formats, and their huge catalogue.

...who loves the phrase "cash acquisition"? It just conjures up an image in my mind of a little old lady pulling out her purse and counting out fifteen million dollars in pennies. Why is reality never as fun as imagination?

How long before apple put an e-ink screen on the back of the eye-phone?