What do you think? My library recently started offering the ability to check out e-books. While it will come in handy occasionally I just can't see e-books being able to take the place of real print books. After all you can't curl up on the couch with the monitor and enjoy a good read.

I don't think they will take hold either as it is often more difficult to read text online. Having a book in your hand that you can read at any time, whether or not you have enough battery power, is also important.

I don't think so either. It's harder to read the books on a machine and hurts your eyes if you read for hours. Whereas with books, if you hold the books at the proper distance, you can read for hours on end without a problem.

Also, there's something satisfying about turning pages - it feels like you're accomplishing something.

Is there like a book shaped machine that you could put a little disc in? So you could curl up on the couch or in bed and read and perhaps there would be different skins so you choose a background that would be easier on your eyes. If that ever came out - and I can't see why not - then I think books will be in real danger.

Well, currently there are PDAs (hand-held computers) and iPods, not sure if they allow you to read text but such things are out already ... Perhaps in a few years, that will become more widespread.

There are dozens upon dozens of online services for DVD rental where they deliver the movie straight to your mailbox, yet people still visit their local video store. People enjoy visits to the library even more, I think, and holding a book in their hands doesn't compare to the electronic form. So I think it's very unlikely that e-books will replace books, even if they become more popular.

It's tiring for me, to read a lot of things on-line, so I prefer my books in paper...or on audio!

Well, I'm a little different as I LOVE my PDA books. I read them on my Palm whenever I'm out anywhere. I don't have to lug a paperback in my already overflowing purse and I don't have to worry about leaving my book somewhere.

And. . . you can read at night without waking anyone up!!

I also love 'talking books'. I've been a member of audible.com for about five years now and I listen to my books mainly in the car while I drive.

And yes . . . I love regular books, too. My library has over 3000 books!

I guess you'd just have to call me a reading nut! (I don't have TV by choice)

But I think e-books are here to stay. At least I hope so!

I can't see myself lying in a hot bath with an e-book!

Not for me this electronic stuff. There's more to a book than the words. I love the feel of books, opening the cover turning the pages. Hell even the smell. But thats just me of course.
I kinda have trouble reading long things on a computer screen. I guess its cos I associate computers and internet stuff with speed. Speed is the key for this stuff. I cant recall ever dwelling over a piece of information longer than a page ever. If i want a quick fix i turn to computers and stuff, if I want to savor something I'll want it in my hands.
Its why I cant figure out why people buy and play board games on the computer, much more fun using the real thing isn't.
That probably applies to any number of things found on computers come to think of it.

I hope e-books never replace real books. I should have added e-books to the things that annoy and irritate me thread.

Hmmm...sounds a lot like an article in the NYTimes magazine recently....

I really hope they don't. One nice, book-friendly new invention are waterproof pages, making them even better to bring to the beach or pool (or bathtub) than an electronic device, which are hydro-phobic.

People are already reading less, so I think that while e-books are not my favorite thing in the world, those people reading them may not be reading otherwise. But still, paper books may become a thing of the past...used only in poverty-stricken areas of the world. If schools assigned less work, kids might continue loving to read throughout middle and high school, rather than forgetting about it completely, and never resuming. Most of myfriends read no more than one book a month, if that, and they're not even the partying type. Not to be a doomsdayer, of course.

I tend to agree with Blurrystar. If someone finds a way of making reading longer things online easy, then who knows?

There would be *some* advantages in 'depaperizing' books. When I last moved, the weight of my books was an absolute pest. I know it's heresy to say such things, but the sheer weight of most books amazes me.

I also think it may take quite a while. For many decades after the invention of printing in Europe, manuscripts were much more prestigious than printed books.

I don't think anyone has mentioned the gorgeous, irreplaceable SMELL of a new book.

Nothing beats lying around with a fan on you reading a book and letting the world fall down around you.

Although the majority of "books" I have are audio books...I also love the smell of new books!

I sure hope they don't. While I do like being able to read the newspaper online, I just love the feel of a book in my hand and the scent of the pages.

I hope e-books never replace books, but I buy and read e-books because of lack of space. The books from series that I love I buy as normal books. I don't have room for all the books I have and those to come and I don't want to give away any books that I have, so e-books are a okey way to save space. I don't have much trouble reading from my laptap, but I find it more difficult to read from a normal computer.
I also love the smell of new and old books, but I believe, even though I hope I'm wrong, that sometime in the future everything will be on computers.

The smell of books is one of the reasons I love them, but that brings up an excellent mark in favor of ebooks. I recently found a cache of turn-of-the-century novels that I've just devoured, and am now sadly wishing I could read more by these authors. (I LOVE old books, I find them delightful, if light, reading.) But I was really lucky: These books were 5 for $6 at a thrift store. I usually buy old books when I find them, but it's hit or miss and of course, I read what I find. If I wanted to buy more books by these specific authors, I'd have to turn to a book dealer. Enter high prices. (A volume by one author, Grace Richmond, seems to run around $40, although I admit I haven't really hunted.) But Project Gutenberg has a TON of books by this author. In fact, almost all of her books except the one I now own, which I'm planning on transcribing for Project Gutenberg along with a couple of the other books I found. That means that I can read the lovely Ms. Richmond's novels for free. Someday maybe I'll be able to buy those wonderful old editions for my library, but in the meanwhile, ebooks allow me to read old, hard-to-find novels without forking over the big bucks that I don't have for long out of print books.

I usually print the e-book and read....isn't that One is supposed to do?

Some of the old ones - (too old to be copyrighted) - I usually keep the e-book for ....(hmm, I forgot for what?)

I prefer e-books (in case of study material) for that wonderful short cut Ctrl+f

There are perks to printed books, just as there are perks to ebooks.

My school has a computer program, and I have several books on computer. And I hate them. Textbooks are really heavy, but they don't need tech support! And a textbook is easier to get out at the last minute.

And if it rains on a book (except expensive, one of a kind), no problem, just wait for it to dry. But you'd freak out if water got on a computer or other electronic.

Count me out with e-books, I do so much reading in bed or in the bath that it wouldn't be practical to have anything other than paper. I rarely even buy hardbacks, they are too heavy to read in bed and not good to drop in the bath.

I can't stand the thought of reading an entire book on-screen. Even when I'm doing some research, I prefer to print the information rather than read it off the screen. Things don't tend to stick when I read them online. Books however...I love books. I love thier feel, the pages, the nice hollow sound they make when you give them a tap...etc. Ever so often while I'm reading a book, I like to flip through the pages or look at the cover (or back) just because of the beauty of it all. I don't think e-books can top that. So no, if most people feel about books the same way I do, then there is no way e-books can replace hard copy.