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 BySunil Saxena It’s been three years since the e-paper hit the Internet. But it is yet to attractreaders. One reason that is commonly advanced is that the Internet surfers wanteverything free. They are not willing to pay for content, even if the contenthappens to be premium content. The result is that the fortunes of e-paper continueto flounder. Almost every media site that launched an e-paper wanted the readersto pay a fee. The readers, used to the free Net culture, did not oblige. Now, somenewspapers are providing their e-paper free. This may change the situation, buthow far no one really knows.This is a great pity because the e-paper as a product is invaluable. It is the fullnewspaper that is available in a digitised form. What's more, the e-paper looksbetter than the printed paper because it is digital, and can be customised to meetthe needs of individuals.Readers need not go to newspaper morgues to locate news reports that were printeda year ago. They can find them in the e-paper archives; all that they need to do isto use the appropriate search words to get the reports. Readers can similarlydownload content, store it in their hard drives or mail news, photographs andadvertisements to friends - all from their desktop. They can even save photographsof major events and build their own digital scrapbooks. The functions that e-paperperforms are unbelievable.The e-paper is particularly useful for readers staying in other cities. Today, readersliving in Delhi, Mumbai, London or New York can read the Chennai edition of The New Indian Express every morning. Similarly, Telugus can read the morningcopy of Andhra Jyothi in Shillong and Tamils can read Dinamalar in Ahmedabadwith their morning coffee every day, and they wouldn't know that they are not intheir hometowns.The only drawback of an e-paper is that it has a short shelf life. Like thenewspaper, it is very quickly overtaken by events. It cannot be updated withbreaking news, like a news site. The result is that the e-paper is hosted as a stand-alone product, and is not integrated into a news site.This also diverts the attention of the Internet user, who comes to a news site to readthe latest news developments. The e-paper becomes secondary to such a readerbecause the e-paper carries reports of news events that occurred 24 hours ago. Itdoes not report what is happening now, in real time. This robs the e-paper of some
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