Funny how you don't see literature fans condemning books being sold as files on the internet as much. It all highlights the inconsistancies between the moving of information over the internet and in real life. Burning/ripping CDs and printing/scanning paper are the only ways of complatability that come to mind.

Real life is so inefficient, but a lot of us love this fact. The question really depends on whether one is more comfortable with the physical matters or mental matters. Since I'm posting this on a message board whle being in favor of physical formats, I'm wondering why I don't opt for physical communication instead. Ah, I remember, it's because I'm surrounded by people who like to talk about themselves and simple things instead of discussing important matters.

e-books suck ass. real books have characteristics like the way they sound and smell. and the thickness of the paper, the font used, etc. like how my copy of pynchon's gravity's rainbow has a deckle fore edge - ( a ragged edge where they didn't trim the paper on the one side so you can see the pattern made by the signatures, the little booklets that make up the book) or how my copy of art speigelman's version of the wild party has faux-velvet endpapers...

that being said, computers are good for cataloging... check out my online catalog here:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/m1rr0rdash

yeah, i've never read an e-book.

i've listened to plenty of mp3's of audiobooks though.