Electronic Readers, will they ever catch on?

[TheAnimus]

I read what I fancy, though. I don't currently have any subscriptions to any magazines, and I don't (as a rule) read newspapers. I might have a browse in a paper if one's laying around in a reception area or something, and I certainly read a selected range of articles from selected papers online but I don't (and never in my life have) bought a paper regularly, let alone subscribed.

I think ur miss-understanding what i mean by subscription.

Its the same model as been a member of a library, your allowed a limited number of books each month with the garanteed knowledge that you will give them that much money each month they can buy more books.

look at this http://my.safaribooksonline.com/ for an example, one that in my mind one that isn't there yet!

When you've got a 12month+ income stream that is certain, you can buy a lot more for a lot less. That to me is how these things would be brilliant, much the same as a public library that you can instantly access anything of, that you can top up if you want with the "premium" stuff its lacking for considerably less than the paper back.

[Saracen]

I don't think I'm misunderstanding anything. I don't like subscriptions, for the reasons given. I want to buy what I want, when I want it. I'm not interested in being limited to having a certain amount a month regardless of what I want, and I'm certainly not prepared to be restricted by it. Moreover, I want the book - not a download. The only time I'd be interested in reading a downloaded book is if the real thing isn't a practical option .... and for me, that pretty much means when I'm travelling or away from home.

I can see why the subscription model works for the supplier, giving them a guaranteed revenue stream. It doesn't work for me though. As I said, I get a lot of fun from rummaging in bookshops. I might buy a lot in one visit, or I might buy nothing - it depends what I find. What I'm not interested in doing is having, or paying for, an allowance, and most emphatically not for ebooks.

[Webby]

Personally what I want to see is a digital version bundled with a book (and ideally a way to gain access to the many hundreds I already own) that way I can have it as a real book for reading at home, in bed out in the garden or whatever but for holiday the eReader can handle enough that I don't have to worry about which books to take having my library with me where ever I am would be brilliant especially since I can be reading up to 5 books at once. This is obviously common place with digital music you have your CD's and you can make MP3's from then for your own personal use but I would always rather have the CD, something which is mine and I can do what I want with.

Oh and I am with Saracen I wouldn't want a subscription based service as I would feel obliged to read my quota every month even if the wasn't anything I particularly wanted to read and as I said since I can read 5 or more books at a time having one available for a month as part of a quota would potentially be pointless as I can happily start a book and then come back to it 4 months later and carry on from wherever I had got to give me a couple of pages and I remember exactly what was going on but now it has cost me 2 "books".

Anyway digital books need to do one of 2 things the first as I said is be bundled with a physical version or the other is become significantly cheaper so that I can afford to buy both

[Saracen]

Yeah, Webby, you're in much the same place as I am, by the sound of it. If a e-book was bundled with the real thing, then fine, but it would have to be at absolutely minimal extra cost. Then, I might be prepared to buy an e-reader, but still not if that's going to cost me a couple of hundred quid. I've got far better things to spend a spare £200 (-ish) on, and an e-reader just isn't that high up my priority list. I can't see me going over £100, and probably not even that high. Get them down to £40-£50 and, well then we'll see ..... if the content is sensibly priced.

The trouble is, I don't see either the content or, for quite some time, the hardware, getting to the point it would appeal to me.

E-readers are certainly not a technology that appeals to me. They have a convenience factor that does, in limited situations, but unless they become a LOT more cost-effective, I think it's a technology that can pass me by.

[TK29]

imo no never - you can't replace the smell and feel of a new book