posted
This is in response to some comments made in the Ray Bradbury thread about e-books taking over.
They won't, I don't think. And I am a devoted e-book reader, with thousands on file from PalmDigitalMedia, Fictionwise, Baen Books, and the Guttenberg Project.
E-books are convenient, easy to store, easy to read, and you can wake up in the middle of the night, buy one, and be reading immediately. I can carry dozens with me at all times, and I do. E-books are often cheaper than the print versions, and occasionally become available before the print edition hits the shelves. E-book readers allow word searches, bookmarking, note-making, and other useful functions, and my backlit screen lets me read in any lighting condition without bothering others.
Yet, hardcore e-booker that I am, I continue to buy printed books. They're easier to share or loan out. Their batteries don't run out. I don't have to worry about scratching their screens. They often contain pictures or artwork that doesn't translate well to a 320x320 screen. I don't have to worry about hard drive crashes or corrupted files upsetting my library. It's easier to find a specific page. They can be autographed! I can grab one off a shelf without having to fire up my computer, find it, and load it onto my PDA.
There's something more satisifying about a printed book. Curling up with your child to read from a PDA just isn't as magical.
So I buy e-books when I just want to read them, and print books when I want to treasure them.
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
I love printed books. I love them to death. I can't read a long piece of text on a computer screen. When I edit my own writing I have to print it out.
Printed all the way.
Posts: 2849 | Registered: Feb 2002
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E-books are easier to read with the lights off (assuming your PDA or reader has a backlight).
They're easier to find things in. (Hmm, didn't we see that character a few hundred pages back?)
Multiple bookmarks in an e-book don't make it look like a hedgehog.
If you read a lot of stuff (such as fanfic, or publicly available texts) that is available free in an electronic format, it saves on the bother and cost of printing.
My Palm goes with me almost everywhere, and easily fits in my purse.
Nonetheless, I read very few e-books, and many many "regular" books.
No batteries required.
Less eyestrain.
Easier to flip through a favorite at random, just looking for your favorite scenes -- which are easy to find, because the book falls open to them.
Generally, less planning required.
I can read them on Shabbos (Saturday) -- e-books are Right Out.
One word: library.
Mostly, I like having options! Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
If I put books on my Palm I would get even less work done every day.
After a day spent working on a computer, I appreciate the change of interface that a real book provides.
Posts: 144 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
If you're having problems with space on your PDA for books, you should see about getting a larger memory card (or getting a pocketpc if you've got a palm PDA still ). I've held several hundred ebooks on my Dell Axim, and still have tons of space left over for other files (like Family Guy on my PDA ).
Sorry bout the palm slam, but after owning one, I felt that I was paying alot for a name and getting back very little in return (I'm still *very* put off by their memory modules).
Also, with a PPC, you use *.lit files, which can be moved back and forth to your PC with relative ease (I've got mine setup to copy the files from my pc whenever I plug it in, or add a file), and the text can be adjusted as needed. I also get about 8-9 hours of reading time per charge (I have the standard battery).
Posts: 851 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
For some reason I find it very hard to get lost in an ebook.......something about the fact that it needs to be plugged in or charged and it can freeze kinda puts me off, I dunno? I just love getting so sucked into a story that I can't leave it to sleep or eat, and that has never happened to me with an ebook.
posted
It sure happens to me. I love reading on my sony clie. I love it so much that I will buy the book, download the text file for it, and then read it on my pda. I do most of my reading in bed with the lights out.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
I've got room for plenty more on my Palm, but the same card also holds my mp3s and a few movies. It's my all-purpose card.
Slam Palm all you like, I like mine. Besides, I'm in love with Wordsmith - the best PDA word processor I've found yet - and it's Palm-only.
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posted
Can you underline things, scribble notes in the margin, and stuff like that? I love my paper and ink books because they're mine, and so nice, yet the carrying costs of my library are increasingly crippling. So I could definitely be converted someday conceivably. I do find reading a printed page more restful for my eyes, yet I can see that this wouldn't have to be true for all screens.
Mostly I think that my tastes will limit me in e-books, because I tend to go for the old and obscure quite a bit. When will Nevil Shute's complete works be available in electronic form, for instance, or Margaret Kennedy's, Dodie Smith's, J.I.M. Stewart's, or Anthony Trollope's?
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posted
I think a lot of this comes down to generation.
My 12 year old students wouldn't ever think about owning or purchasing an audio cassette, and many of the wealthier ones won't even buy VCR's - recordable DVDs are the wave of the future.
As eBooks become more widespread and affordable, more and more people will have less exposure to print books - and many will be weaned on eBooks.
I'm waiting for the first purely eBook library, with no print material, just a bunch of monitors with a huge database in the basement. We've already gone totally electronic for card catalogs, encyclopedias and many newspaper and magazine archives - why not books?
I don't think books will disappear, though. They'll become less prevalent, surely. Small bookstores will have a harder time, but they are already. Amazon/Borders and Barnes and Noble already have a stranglehold on the market (and some might argue what books make it onto the shelves).
Is it that far of a step to see the next generation, or perhaps the generation after that, abandon print media entirely?
We abandoned tablets for papyrus/paper. We abandoned scrolls for books. We bandoned illuminated text for moveable type. This would be the next logical progression.
I think a large part of why people like printed books is because they are used to them, they like their feel, and they make people comfortable. Well, the people who are used to vinyl records, like their sound, and take comfort in them are still around - and they're still buying vinyl.
I think future generations will see those holdouts the same way people who refuse to buy digital cameras are seen today. Old fasioned, behind the times, not "with it".
How many people buy printed sets of encyclopedias these days, instead of Encarta or the like? Newspapers and magazines have online subscriptions, and distribution of the print versions are declining. Comic strips are finding more and more of a home online, rather than in the papers.
Of course, I may be wrong, and eBooks might be fad, or simply a supplement to the print media industry. Still, though, I think we're seeing the start of a move from physical to digital media - starting in music and spreading to literature. As soon as the corporations find a way to profit from it, I think things will progress fairly quickly.
posted
Ack, ak... Trollope? I wouldn't wish that on anybody.
As for when these will be available in electronic format, sooner than you think (check the link above). Books that are no longer under copyright are continually being scanned and converted - for preservation's sake, if for nothing else.
Posts: 106 | Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
Oh, Anthony Trollope's a good read. And if you decide you like him, the great thing is he wrote SO MANY books that you will never run out. I really just read them for the hunting chapters, though. Every one of his books has at least one chapter about fox hunting, and he's so passionate about it and describes it so thrillingly, that you can't help but be caught up in his enthusiasm.
I just completed my Nevil Shute collection. He's the coolest. He's an engineer and aviator. Right now I'm rereading Round the Bend. This is just a shameless plug for one of my favorite writers of all time.
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posted
ak, after reading the Framley Parsonage (well, trying to) in college, I managed to write a ten page paper attacking the invasiveness of his narrative style. I'm afraid I just couldn't get past his apparent need to wink at the reader and use too many words to say pretty much anything.
Granted, that's only one book, but it turned me off to Trollope pretty handily.
Posts: 106 | Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
For anyone interested or terminally bored, the last e-books I bought, in reverse order:
Jennifer Government by Max Barry Great book! The first time I read it was a library copy, but I wanted my own. Dave Barry Hits Below the Beltway: A Vicious and Unprovoked Attack on Our Most Cherished Political Institutions The best political book out right now. Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins Purchased as part of my effort to replace my print editions. Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie Seriously funny. Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words by Bill Bryson Because everyone needs to know this stuff. Captains Outrageous by Joe R. Lansdale The only Lansdale book I was missing.
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
Matt, yes, I agree. Trollope is by no means one of my favorite authors. I just used him as an example of someone I enjoy who is rather obscure and old and whose books are likely to be a long time coming into the electronic age. All I say of him is that he's a good read, and that his hunting chapters are great fun.
So please don't take my liking Trollope as reason not to try Nevil Shute. My top suggestions for Nevil Shute novels are 1) Round the Bend 2) Trustee from the Toolroom 3) No Highway 4) The Pied Piper 5) The Legacy also published under the title A Town Like Alice. He's one of those understated ones who grow on you more and more as you read them. Something like Ursula K. LeGuin in the sensitivity with which he can portray characters. His novels are all full of aviation and engineering things, and every last detail is exactly accurate. But what I like most about them is their heart.
Mark Salzman is another writer I can't say enough good things about. But since he is writing now, his books will most likely be available in electronic form fairly readily. He totally rocks, though. The last one, True Notebooks, had me laughing and crying in ever chapter.
[ April 24, 2004, 08:31 PM: Message edited by: ak ]
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