Sony and Amazon.com have both released handheld devices that are designed to replace paperback books.

Something tells me that this will not work. Why would I buy a $400 device to read a book on a screen. Personally I love to read and having a physical book is part of the satisfaction of reading. I can't imagine reading an entire book from a screen (even if it was less than $400!!!!).

Audio book format is more a reasonable idea to me. Occasionally I will listen to an audio book and I find it quite good, if the narration is done well. E-books are just to bizarre to me.

I feel sorry for both companies because I predict this will be a miserable failure.