I'll add my comments as well. Although some of you are eBook fanatics, the majority of the world doesn't use that technology. It's sort of like the old Tom Hanks movie, BIG, where he creates a reusable digital comic book (way ahead of its time), and they ask the question, "How are kids going to be able to afford this?" Granted...kids have PSPs and all sorts of gadgets...but they are not using those gadgets for things like reading. The e-book is still an idea probably 5-10 years ahead of its time...something I saw more likely with the advent of tablet PCs, but even those are disappearing. An eBook REALLY makes sense on a tablet PC. I'm a musician, and even music is struggling with this issue.
http://www.freehandsystems.com/products.html
It's the future...it's where the future of music will be...but at $1200 per unit, not yet. And it SHOULD be on a tablet PC.
The other argument is that J.K. Rowling is entitled to her profit, as are the publishing companies. They would never sell enough copies of the eBook to justify the proofing and distribution costs, and they'll never be able to keep those same people from simply breaking copyright laws and sharing their eBooks.
Granted, the woman is the most wealthy female in the U.K. (PRIOR to HP6) and the book companies are "raking it in" with the largest 1 day book sale ever (over 6 million copies--250,000 books per hour). But this is capitalizism...love it or leave it.