That said, I think it will fail, or significantly change before it succeeds. Its currently DRM infested, in a clumsy way, even though the music industry has finally caught on that people hate that.

1. DRM and multiple incompatible file formats. And limited range of titles, and the prices…

2. Emphasis on dedicated (and expensive) reading devices instead of the multi-function devices people already own – iPods, phones, PDAs, etc.

3. Trying to make the “experience” of reading of ebooks “just like print books” so existing dead tree readers will take to them, instead of understanding that the market for ebooks is (primarily but not exclusively) the under-forties, who do everything online and via screens now. They play computer games, download music & movies, make and drop friends, via their phones, PCs and the net. They don’t give a rat’s about how “print-like” anything is and are turned off by non-interactive objects. Dead trees are for old people dude.

Publishers should be trying to expand the number of recreational readers (and thus their market), particularly in the teen and twenty-something bracket, via e-books, not selling e-books to the same customers that already read print books. Get to the people who would never think to go into a bricks and mortar bookshop (or a library), maybe even some of those who’ve not read a book since they left high school, and normally spend their free time playing Halo. The young male demographic is ripe for expansion – men like toys…