The electronic-book version of Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes sells for $20 at barnesandno-ble.com. No paper, no ink, no binding. And no bargain. The hardcover sells for just $17.50. Welcome to the wacky world of E-books, where it's a foregone conclusion that digital tomes will eventually supplant fusty paper "P-books," but nobody quite knows how to make it happen. Two new devices suggest just how long a haul it could be. NuvoMedia's $499 Rocket eBook reader can download E-books at prices rarely lower, and sometimes higher, than their printed counterparts. But it's not as if the whole panoply of human knowledge is available: The B&N site offers precisely 209 tides in Rocket's E-format. That's better than the on-line bookstore for the competing SoftBook.
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