So, am I ready to give up my physical bookshelf to a virtual one? Maybe I want to reserve only the most special books for my home bookshelf and all the others go digital. Maybe I’ll buy two copies of my favorites: one for home and one for my Kindle, or maybe a Nook, possibly an iPad … I guess I should decide if I want one – and which one – before I go putting imaginary books on it.

Would you distinguish between the two bookshelves? If so and assuming you feel similarly about your bookshelf at home (or office), which books “deserve” to be on your physical bookshelf?

I understand there’s a cost in making the devices, and the companies are getting in on the willingness of techies and extremely avid readers to pay top dollar for new devices, but to get the mainstream to buy I think the price will have to decrease dramatically or the readers will have to be all-in-one devices.

As for the former, it’s hard for me to justify paying $200-300 or more for a device and then pay for the books on top of that when I can just buy a physical book. I understand the benefits of an e-reader, but I do not normally carry around or read several books at once.  The device would be obsolete before the average cost per e-book, once I figured in the original cost of the device, could be justified. Even if I factor in the news subscriptions, it still wouldn’t make sense for me.

As for the latter, I’m not sure an all-in-one device would work if it included a book reader. The screen needs to be much larger than a phone screen to encourage reading for any length of time — and I’m now imagining the large, cumbersome mobile phones of the 1980s (ah, the 80s) and how hip those things were.

Still, I am curious. Maybe I’d become a bigger reader…or just spend more money on books…if I had a device. Maybe publishers should take note.

Does the average book-buyer buy enough to justify the current cost of any of the e-readers out there? Do you?