by Jennifer Coote
Introduction
The Economist, 14 Feb 09, p 65-66, reports that while e.books were launched with Kindle, 2007, now Kindle 2 has appeared, to delight readers. They can think of a title and start into it within seconds. The new model holds 1,500 books with a battery charge for two weeks reading and a screen which is very friendly to a reader’s eye. Dedicated readers have increased their book or newspaper consumption over 2.6 times. For the less dedicated or poorer readers, mobile phones offer a better choice since there is software which turns the phone into a book reader, requiring only one hand to turn the page. Google has been scanning and digitalising thousands of books which are available for free. Eventually only specialist publications will be produced on paper. For a sample of other models coming to market, see Time, 16 March 09, pp 37-39 (continue…)