I have returned to the PPC fold with an Asus A696 after giving up my Ipaq 3630 some years ago. I am currently reading two ebooks on my PPC Ludwig Von Mises'
Beauracracy and Orwell's
Homage to Catalonia. I download free texts and convert to MobiPocket format. I read ebooks because I can steel 10 minutes here and there and I normally have my PPC with me.
I am thinking of purchasing my first commercial ebook and would love to be able to buy more but:
- We need two formats: high def and low def and both need to be readable by all software and hardware devices. When we buy a book, we should be able to read it on any device.
- Universal selection. Torques me not to find a particular book I want available, especially in the format I need. That is a double whammy.
- We need a decent solution to the copyright issues. Maybe an ICANN like universal registry for devices or something.
- Price. I know goods are not priced on production costs, but there should be major savings in ebook publishing versus paper. Especially not having to schedule production runs, over stock, storage, shipping and handling. The incremental cost of ebooks is almost $0. I have a hard time popping the same price for a digital file as for a hardback book. Maybe it's just psychological, but there it is.