I agree with you, that the ebook is still a very much transitional technology, and what we end up with after the dust settles may well have little in common with what people are experimenting with/publishing now. But, we do need something now.

Personally, I like reading paper books better than ebooks, simply because the media is easier on the eyes. But there are many situations in my work where an O'Reilly ebook would be most helpful. When I am travelling, I am often also trying to solve a programming problem to be applied when I return. I carry the lightest laptop I can find, but lugging 15 pounds of books around with me nullifies any advantage I had with the light laptop. Unfortunately there is not always (read almost never) convenient network access over which I could use Safari, and when there is access, it is quite expensive. Having an O'Reilly book on CD would go far in making my trips more tolerable. As far as costs, I would be willing to pay a premium, as I'm sure many, many others would for the convenience.

I know that there is piracy of your ebooks from the "Bookshelf" series, I have written to people at ORA about some particularly blatant sites I have come across. But I would be surprised if the copying from these sites [from people who would otherwise have purchased the books] was significant.

Unfortunately, many of the books which I use on a frequent basis are not in your series for purchase, whereas others of little/no interest are bundled with desirable books. Safari, on the other hand, presents much more choice, but IMHO is designed for professional programmers who can be online constantly, not people like me for whom programming is only an occasional function in the course of their job.

I realize that in designing a product, you have to make choices. But why not give persons who have already purchased particular books the option of creating a custom "bookshelf" from their holdings on CD or by download?