Every technological innovation has been fretted over. E-books are inevitable–cost effective, green, accessible. The market fears them; rightly so.

But all is not lost.

There will always be a need for skilled craftspeople to purge the literary dross, saving us readers time and money. It’s going to take quite a realignment, to shift to e-books. I just don’t see how we can corral this animal now that it’s out of the barn.

I’m a big ebook fan, and after reading your article, I realise why I like it so much – less book weight when I go on holidays.

Anyone remember PeanutPress? That was when I discovered ebooks. PeanutPress was then purchased by Palm and became PalmReader. Then it was purchased by Motricity and became eReader. Recently, it was purchased by Fictionwise, but continues (for now) to be eReader.

I read my ebooks using eReader Pro in my Palm TX and will continue to do so as the TX allows me to do other things besides reading ebooks. It may not be as sophisticated as a dedicated ebook reader, but it works for me. And that’s always the important thing – not what is popular, but what works for me.

I don’t find the comparison very compelling.

Photography (”traditional” or digital) aims at the same end product – an image viewed on a screen or printed on paper.

Books aren’t that way. Regardless of how it started, the end product could be an electronic thing needing a piece of technology to read it; or one of at least two quite distinct paper manifestations – an “airport paperback” or something which has value oas a “thing” (typically a hardback).

I believe that both “end points” have a place, and that both will survive.