Markets

Are E-Books Finally Worth Your Money?

By Chris Pummer

Updated on: November 9, 2009 / 12:24 PM EST / MoneyWatch

Holiday shoppers looking to buy books as gifts will need to make a critical decision before they get to a mall cashier bagging their purchase: Paper or microchip?

Electronic-reading devices like Amazon's Kindle, referred to as "e-readers," are expected to see a surge in sales thanks to price reductions, growing consumer acceptance and improved distribution. The publishing, retailing and technology industries, meanwhile, are all grappling with the impact of the change.

Book publishers worldwide convening next week at the Frankfurt Book Fair will confront the threat posed to their trade by electronic distribution, which already has significantly transformed the recorded-music and newspaper industries;
Best Buy, unsure exactly where to display this e-readers, for now at least will stock them in a novelty-goods section that will include digital pens, electronic Rubik's Cubes and Sharper Image products.
To compete with rival Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble plans to sell its own color e-reader that will be more like a netbook than the Kindle, and sell e-books on its Web site across varied formats, enabling buyers to read e-books on iPhones and Blackberries and on PCs.
Computer maker Asus is said to be developing a dual-screened reader that will open like book with a retail price target of $165, less than the Kindle's $259 price-tag and Sony's lowest-cost Reader at $199.

Unlike digital music, to which consumers are still in the process of gravitating after nearly a decade, e-readers are expected to gain faster adoption due to greater convenience, cost savings and environmental friendliness.

In terms of convenience, e-readers can hold several hundred to 1,000 books or more. That puts more titles at readers' fingertips than the total stored in 10 to 20 boxes of meant-to-be-read books long-buried in the corner of one's attic or garage.

E-readers do require an upfront cost, but for frequent book buyers, that can be recouped quickly. Sellers of electronic-book downloads are charging about $10 for titles that might cost $25 or more in newly released hardcover versions.

And while e-readers aren't widely promoted yet for environmental friendliness due to the impact in producing and disposing of them, research by the Cleantech Group found carbon emissions from e-books are far lower than traditional book publishing.

As much as e-readers are still in the early-adoption phase, this holiday season may be their breakout period.