There are two things which would need to happen to wipe out the paper catalogs/news.
1. Cheaper, lighter hardware for viewing. Get something the weight of a paperback book and an 8.5 x 11 inch viewing area. With the ability to cram more than 4 GB on a SD card, memory and the space required for it really isn't a problem.
2. A better reading program than the current Acrobat. Allow easy user annotation (like notes in the margins on paper) and multiple, user selectable viewing locations in the document (equivanlent to dog-earing pages or keeping fingers at the interesting pages) and I would have no reason to get paper catalogs or newspapers any more.
Although Acrobat also leaves me with mixed emotions it does a fair job of creating content on-the-fly by appending pertinent pages whenever a reader clicks on an interesting embedded link. You end up with a unique magazine tailored to your individual taste.
If you’re interested in a different reader program, try Microsoft Reader. It’s completely free, you can convert documents to it free, you can bookmark pages and change font sizes, and you can have the document read to you with any one of several voice formats (built-in Microsoft voices, or AT&T’s). I haven’t tried it lately and plan to check out the latest version. It’s pretty cool.
http://www.microsoft.com/reader/downloads/pc.mspx