As far as the iPad's form factor, as I said before, I feel it's too heavy. I wouldn't be comfortable holding that thing up and reading a book on it like I do with paperbacks or small hardcovers. It also suffers from the distraction problem--I probably couldn't read a book on it anyway, because I'd be too tempted to play music, surf the net, etc. That's one area where the Kindle or a dedicated ebook reader is still superior. There's nothing stopping me from reading books on my computer screen right now, but I certainly don't do it.
I have the opposite problem, honestly. I'm reading through a Carl Sagan Cosmos oversized color paperback, and it's a bit clumsy for me to hold up comfortably in bed and keep the pages apart and turn them. That, combined with the small type, is making it a struggle of a reading experience for me. Putting something like the Kindle aside for the moment because I'd lose the color imagery - which would defeat the purpose - I could see something like the iPad being a much better choice. I'd have it propped up anyway and it would be easier to turn the pages and also make the text size larger. Presumably even doing all that, the formatting would remain intact. That to me is a win over the traditional version of the book. Of course, that's assuming that that old edition of Cosmos is even available from one of the eBook providers, which, frankly, it probably isn't. That's a big factor as well -- availability. There's still a long way to go, particularly for older stuff.
As far as the iPad's form factor, as I said before, I feel it's too heavy. I wouldn't be comfortable holding that thing up and reading a book on it like I do with paperbacks or small hardcovers. It also suffers from the distraction problem--I probably couldn't read a book on it anyway, because I'd be too tempted to play music, surf the net, etc. That's one area where the Kindle or a dedicated ebook reader is still superior. There's nothing stopping me from reading books on my computer screen right now, but I certainly don't do it.
I have the opposite problem, honestly. I'm reading through a Carl Sagan Cosmos oversized color paperback, and it's a bit clumsy for me to hold up comfortably in bed and keep the pages apart and turn them. That, combined with the small type, is making it a struggle of a reading experience for me. Putting something like the Kindle aside for the moment because I'd lose the color imagery - which would defeat the purpose - I could see something like the iPad being a much better choice. I'd have it propped up anyway and it would be easier to turn the pages and also make the text size larger. Presumably even doing all that, the formatting would remain intact. That to me is a win over the traditional version of the book. Of course, that's assuming that that old edition of Cosmos is even available from one of the eBook providers, which, frankly, it probably isn't. That's a big factor as well -- availability. There's still a long way to go, particularly for older stuff.