Want 'War and Peace' Online? How About 20 Pages at a Time? - New York Times

Some successful business model will emerge that includes micropayments. When consumers want part of a book, the type of book will determine whether print or download capability will be needed. I think printing and downloading would be needed for such things as cookbook recipes or technical how-to reference books. Some textbooks can be purchased a chapter at a time now. Other books, particularly novels, won't lend themselves as easily to micropayments. Poetry or collections of essays would be a natural for one-at-time purchase.