Books will never be replaced, because they can outlast civilisations, be buried and discovered and read again. Even books in lost languages can, in many cases, be deciphered and read again. Electronic devices depend on the internet with all its electrical infrastructure.

Miland Joshi, Birmingham,

Is this the end of silly questions ?

Benzo, Nr Chelmsford,

I'm absolutely desparate for a decent ebook reader, and decent ebooks to read on it. With a reading habit like mine (3 novels a day), book storage is a real problem. I love giving books away (and hate throwing them away) but the second-hand book sellers round here have started to cringe when I come in with yet another boxful, and I haven't found any localk charities to take them.

So if the Kindle works and they have the new novels to go on it, I shall probably be a very early adopter.

Pen, Southern Spain,

I've looked at the Kindle and it reminds me of a friend of mine who can read minds, but only the minds of very boring people. The Kindle's three disadvantages: overpriced, over-hyped, and over here.

Sam Thornton, Burwell, Nebraska, USA

I am someone who just cannot read anything on a screen for very long. I like the feel of the book in my hand and the feel and smell of the paper. This reader probably won't phase out books, not for a long time, especially not hardbacks.

I don't understand how this thing can be seen as more environmentally friendly than a book. It will need to run on electricity for a start and then it will contain precious minerals (more than likely coltan will be used) that excavating not only destroys forests but also the habitats of some of the world's most endangered animals.

C Hunt, Glasgow, UK,

@ Allan:

Do you think that Darwin wrote the Origin of Species with the intention of making money?

The majority of decent authors write because they feel that a story needs to be told; if this device discourages hacks who start with an advance and churn out dross to fulfill it ("chick-lit" writers take note) then I'm all for it!

Matt, Bristol,

One may hope that the software will not be proprietary to the extent of requiring a unique format for the e-book, unless conversion software is included to enable any pdf or doc file to be converted to be loaded to the device.

dr venables preller, Warminster, UK

I wonder what the cost of a replacement battery will be to the consumer and the environment?

Martin Pilcher, Herts,

If, as Allan states, the purpose of writing is to impart knowledge does it not follow that the wider the audience the more knoledge can be imparted. I say role on the future.

Ian, Cardiff, Wales

The online bookseller Amazon has produced the digital reader

James, Toronto, Canada

I currently use my PDA for reading ebooks which are easilly available to download both for free and paid for. As I spend most of my time working in different countries it is nearly impossible for me to buy traditional books in English. The only problem with PDA's is seeing the screen in daylight, if this device has overcome that problem then they could be onto a winner. The only doubt I have is if they use a different format to the ebooks currently available in order to maximise profit.

Steve B, San Nicholas, Argentina

As an author, I'm concerned by James Bone's article, especially the final paragraph. Will Kindle affect my royalties? And will Amazon even load my e-books onto Kindle?

Jay Mandal, Camberley,

A frillier and less aesthetically pleasing version of the Sony Reader, with a good deal of functionality few people will want. Great for novels, but like all eBooks, useless if you need to flick backwards and forwards and annotate (the Kindle's annotation facility is weak) - for that, try a tablet. Great for frequent travellers, but a LONG way to go before it replaces the book.

Mick, boston, ma, usa

This a great alternative and will be more 'green' once we can charge from solar power. Although I wished the Apple's designers worked on the design! I think this is a great alternative and once the price is a little reasonable, imagine not lugging 20 books for a beach holiday?! I just understand why it took so long to get here, and that you dont have to have a computer to download. I bet ipod will use this feature in one of its forthcoming editions. I also like the idea that there are memory slots for more books, I hate to think this device becomes obsolete and clogg our landfills.

MS, New York, New York,

The entire eBooks premise rests on a single mega-successful instant in 2000 when Stephen King released the eBook of his novella 'Riding the Bullet' as an experiment, gave it away free and managed, within, a day or so, to clock 17 million downloads. It made the alternative publishing industry sit up and take notice. It made every Joe Public who thought they had a book in them, dig deep, type away and (cringe) produce it in eBook format, and the success has never been replicated since. Stephen King himself moved away from eBooks abandoning a novel halfway after failing to get a decent number of online readers to send him $1 a chapter to continue. Will eBooks ever take off? Only if we manage to move away from portable screen devices and all the issues they present to a paper-like substitute that is however digital in that it can download books and reflow print on its pages to display any of the ones stored in its memory! A little futuristic but more viable and definitely more attractive!

David Amerland, Gatley, UK, Cheshire

Whats the point of buying that digital reader, when people can do exactly the same (and more) on any home computer. Infact, computers can store tens of thousands more e-books due to their large size hard-disks. Another advantage is that people can read them on their 21 inch + tft monitors, with much higher resolution and larger fonts. I know what your thinking...what about reading outdoors. Well thats when a laptop/notebook can be handy, still as powerful & they make them really compact now. B.t.w, Pocket PC's are also designed to read e-books. I can't see this thing taking off.

Mohammed, London, UK

I'm not surprised that Amazon have done a better job than Sony, but it is not yet suitable for disabled people as unless someone knows something I don't it won't have audio output for menus and it won't play daisy formats. Why don't people design things like this to be accessible from the word go?

Guy Whitehouse, Beeston Nottingham, United Kingdom

I purchased the Sony reader from the USA. Just you try to get books to read on it. The PDF versions have tiny print. The Sony versons are only sold to US residents. It is posible to obtain very old books in RTF format but that makes it very limited. These readers are ideal for elderly and disable people but the on/off switch and other controls are very fidly. A good idea but much more thought needed. If I buy a book I can give it to a friend and ten other friends to read (Free of charge). If I buy an ebook I have to give them the reader for it to be of any use. If you don't have any troubles reading a paperback stick to the paper version....

John James, Watford, Herts

In spite of i-pods and MP3's people still attend live symphony concerts (and rap and rock and what not).
Books will remain.

Susan, Victoria,

Me Too ! The sooner the better.

Mike Ryan, Christchurch, U.K.

This really needs to be thought through. If books go the way of music in terms of sales, so will the point of writing books. Books are not simply about entertainment, they concern knowledge. If people could illegally download The Origin of Species for nothing, would Darwin have written it?

Allan, Sydney,

This is the inevitable way forward, fantastic innovation, well done, they should donate a dollar from each sale to save the rain forest to make the obvious connection with the benefits of this breakthrough. I want one! James

James, Guernsey, Channel Islands

As an avid reader I want one but because I live in Japan it looks like I will be facing a long wait! DAMN

Ray Meenan, Tokyo, Japan