[WEB4LIB] RE: why ebooks and when?

[Blake Carver]

At 12:03 PM 8/28/01 -0700, Masters, Gary E wrote:
>E books remain the best way for a library to get books to its clients on 
>the web - if the copyright issue can be solved.

Great point.
BUT, what compelling reasons do we as consumers have to buy an eBook. So 
maybe "we" as librarians can see some reasons... space savings, time, 
money, probably more, but "we" as the average consumer needs a compelling 
reason to "uprgade" to eBooks. Just look at the marketing of eBooks:
Lightweight, portable, easy to read, simple, flexible, loads of titles... 
big deal, so is a paperback, and it costs $285 less.
They lose the control, longevity, tactile traits, ease of use, familiarity, 
and collectability that come with paper books, and don't gain much of 
anything except yet another gadget that gathers dust in the closet with the 
abroller, stairmaster and norditrac.

I had a good reason to buy CD's over LP's, I just don't see one here.

-Blake


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Blake Carver
Web Librarian
The Ohio State University Libraries