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As David & Thom point out, what are the implications of having the pile of stuff stored locally vs. using a similar device to access content stored in remote repositories? ( ie, what direction would this discussion take if the device in question was a wireless handheld retrieving content from a research database?) Seems to me the big difference with local storage is that it enables users to create custom libraries, and the opportunity/challenge here revolves around how (and whether) libraries could help users organize & access information they have at least partially assembled themselves. Even leaving aside DRM issues for the moment, how would something like that work? Here's a random suggestion: I think it's safe to say that any system requiring end users to enter their own metadata is doomed. How about something like a central repository of metadata that can be accessed over the network, eg: --I load the latest copy of the Journal of Things in General into my local serials db --The serials db software reads the ISSN & issue number --It automatically queries the central metadata repository & pulls back authors, titles & abstracts [etc] for all the articles in that issue, and loads them into the appropriate fields in the local db. Could this be done seemlessly & consistently enough that the user could then run a single search against their local database & other remote databases & actually have it return useful results? ... sorry, suddenly I seem to be caught in some kind of weird early 90s Z39.50 timewarp. I'll stop now. John -- John Durno Acting Manager BC Electronic Library Network ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Phone: 604-268-7002 Fax: 604-291-3023 Email: [log in to unmask] Web: http://www.eln.bc.ca