So is the iPad going to save the printed word?

On the plus side, the 300,000 iPad buyers have already downloaded more than 250,000 e-books from the iBookstore. I'm willing to bet, though, that a huge portion of that number is made up of free books from Project Gutenberg. But this does bode well for the iPad as an e-book reading device.

On the minus side, it looks like expensive newspaper and magazine apps aren't selling well at all on the iPad, especially because most of the content is available for free on the internet. Engadget's roundup of newspaper and magazine apps is worth reading, especially for the lambasting they give Time Magazine for their blockheaded app.