This unhealthy need to convince others bothers me.

As for all your other points, they weren't very good. Books are equivalent to theatre showings or CDs, not to movies or music. The content - the story and the words - is not what I fear will be damaged or diminished. It's the medium of its presentation - the book - that I fear for.

And that's where you JUST DON'T GET IT. Most of the people who don't like e-books don't like e-books because part of the experience is holding the book, leafing through the pages, looking at the pictures between pages x and y, feeling the tactile sensation of the bond of paper used, smelling the fresh ink and keeping the books in a library with beautiful presentation and preservation. An e-book will never and CAN never provide that experience and that's why I do not like them and WILL not like them.

You would have as much luck convincing people who intentionally buy vinyl records to switch to mp3s for their music. Explaining how they can carry around all their music in an ipod, or that the medium won't degrade, or that they don't have to worry about leaving their collection in a locked car on a hot day, or that they don't crack or break, means nothing.

I don't need to try an e-reader to know why I don't like them, just like a vinyl lover doesn't need to try an ipod. It's about much more than convenience or conveying information. It's about a philosophy, a way of life and an aesthetic preference, and there is simply no way you can compete with that. I would have thought that you had gotten enough answers from other people here to figure that out for yourself.