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There is one issue with electronic versions of books that hasn't been
brought up yet: reliability. I had a ton of books and references on my
palmtop. Used it for reading (and some writing). Would curl up to read from
it in the evenings. Then one day *bzzt!* all was lost. Yes, I had a backup
that wasn't too old. But still, I lost quite a bit of information and also
spent considerable time (unsuccessfully) attempting to diagnose the problem.
That was time I would rather have spent reading. To read paper books you
don't need batteries or wall current, you don't need the proper software to
interpret the print and you don't need to worry about the print evaporating
because the media was demagnitized or the backup battery died.
Yes, there will be a benefit to electronic books, but until the technology
is more reliable, I'll go with paper for the stuff I care about.
