At 02:04 AM 11/9/2001 +0000, you wrote:

You can get e book readers now. The downside is that they are still expensive (several hundred dollars Australian, so probably 100-200 pounds sterling) and they aren't waterproof. I just hope everyone is saving their stories when their zines go out of print (preferably to put in Judith's library) so we have something to read when they're cheap and bath-proof.

I meant, you have to get a significant percentage of the potential readers to have bought ebooks (with compatible formats for the texts) before it's really practical for ebooks to supplant paper copies. At least 75%, maybe not until 90% have them. So long as a big part of your 'audience' needs paper, publishers will have to put out paper versions.

Actually, there's a really cheap way to read ebooks already: PDAs. It doesn't take the latest and greatest -- if you just want to read text, then you don't need wireless internet connectivity, the 'expandibility' to also use the pda as a camera or telephone or music player or whatever, and you certainly don't need color or the added expense of WindowCE palmtop. Any old bottom-of-the line, even years obsolete PDA will do. (They aren't water-proof, though. Today the pits, tomorrow the wrinkles.)

For example, I recently bought a refurbished PalmIIIxe from Palm for this very purpose. I installed several freeware text readers (so far I like CSpotRun best), got another freeware program that inputs text files and outputs the palm format 'doc' files that the readers want (not the same as MSWord .doc, btw) and Bingo! I have an ebook reader for a total investment of less than $80. (I chose the xe because it gave me four times the memory of the next step down for only about $10 more. Since the text files are so small, though, the 2meg memory one would actually have been fine.)

Okay, the screen is less than spacious (Understatement alert going off madly) but the type is sharp enough to be easy to read (even in the dark, there's a screen backlight you can turn on when needed), and 'turning the page' takes just a tap on the screen, so who cares how many 'pages' there are in a story?

What's really wonderful is just how many files you can haul around. I've got 73 story files waiting to be read, easily the equivalent of five or six zines worth of text since it includes two novels and a handful of stories that are novella-sized, and I still have almost half the memory space free and waiting for more. Am I in the mood for a Buffy/Spike romance? BUARA? Muncle gen? A murder mystery? A SF classic? I have several of each -- and lots, lots more --instantly available whenever and where ever I have spare moment to indulge.

And all this on a gadget that weighs less (and is more easily stuffed in a purse) than a single zine. Than an ordinary paperback!

Bliss. :-)

(73? Yup. I've been going wild in various archives. It's just so easy: 1) use your browser to open a story 2) do a 'save as text'. Repeat these two steps for as many stories as you want. After you've done 'harvesting' for the day 3) open the converter and feed it the .txt files and then 4) hotsynch your PDA.

The only 'problem' is finding enough time to read all the great stories I've collected.

Oops. Speaking of time, I've got to get off the computer and start packing if I plan to get to ECon tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing many Lysters/Citizens there!