Here comes the e-book revolution

I hate it how everyone focuses on Amazon's Kindle. I think it's one of the weakest ebooks out there. And certainly the most proprietary.<p>There are tons of ebooks out there: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebook_reader" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebook_reader</a> and I think the iLiad should get more headlines: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILiad" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILiad</a>

I am finding more and more technical books available as PDFs and that is pushing me towards getting an ebook reader. When I am using a book for reference I want to be able to see it and my screen at the same time (not the book on my screen).<p>Interestingly, I think that if I buy an ebook reader I will read more for leisure as well.<p>From where I sit, the EVDO on the Kindle is appealing (esp since I hear it has some RSS capabilities). However, the PDF support seems frustrating.<p>Hopefully the original Kindle will see a drastic price drop (even if only on ebay). That way I can see if I like it without spending so much money. (We must be in a recession if I am scrimping on new tech toys.)

Is there any place to publish and sell your own eBook online? I've had this idea but the PDF creator seems like it'd be difficult to code. The iTunes App Store type business model seems ideal for this.

Funny how much I'm reading about this problem right after reading Siracusa's piece: <a href="http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/02/the-once-and-future-e-book.ars" rel="nofollow">http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/02/the-once-and-fut...</a><p>I, for one, can say that I was inspired to download "Stanza" after reading that, and have already finished H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine" thanks to it!<p>"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead

Will file sharing etc. become as big a problem for the book industry as it became for the music industry?<p>Howo are writers going to earn their income in the future?

Who is doing the interesting things in startup space to solve the publishing problem, particularly the college textbook problem?

If anyone is looking to get an e-book reader for CHEAP (to see if you'll even enjoy reading a book without paper), I bought my wife an eBookwise at Christmas. Her (and I, haha!) have been enjoying it since. It's old-school (still uses smartmedia cards!) but gets the job done, and I didn't pay with an arm and/or leg.

No more ebooks please. Can we have something a little more interactive that makes use of the wonderful hardware we have now?