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When e-books first emerged in the late '90s, they were called the future of of publishing, but the market for e-books is not growing as quickly as originally anticipated. In fact, according to the International Digital Publishing Forum, 2005 e-book sales were down from the impressive numbers they sported in 2004, and e-books still account for only a small fraction of the multibillion dollar publishing industry's revenues.

One reason the e-book is not catching on too quickly is that it lacks the intimacy and portability that their printed counter parts offer (the e-books I have are on my G4's hard drive, and this computer isn't very portable). While there are e-book readers in recent years that have tried to remedy this, many of them have been criticized for being hard to look at for long periods of time and just lacking in reader friendliness.

There seems to be one e-book reader that might offer some hope to this market. The Sony Reader seems to be receiving some good reviews. I'll admit the display looks pretty nice. It also claims to hold more-books and have a longer lasting battery in one charge than other readers. Will this be the iPod for e-books? We'll see.

For those of you who read my sentiments regarding paper, I think you can probably guess where I stand. For now, I'll stick with a printed bound book. There's nothing quite like the feeling one gets when buying a new book. I should know. I've bought many, many books and still love that feeling. Hence, I'll pass on the Sony Reader for now.

Posted in book | e-book | market | publishing | reader | Sony Reader Musings of a Wordsmith | | | | 289 reads