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I have never wanted an e-book and shall never want an e-book.
I prefer a hard copy in front of me. I like being able to look at my book shelves and see them overflowing with all the books I have aquired over the years. I wish I had more room for bookshelves in my house. I'm running out of room and thats a great thing. People can come over and peruse my collection. I can settle down to a hot steaming bath and my only worry would be a couple of watermarks.
Technology is fine but i would be one of those people in the Star Trek Universe trading in my stylus/PAD for a nice hardcover everytime.
Posts: 1661 | Registered: Dec 2000
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I thought I was one of those people. I had so many books that, after the last time I moved, all my friends and family made it clear that they'd never help me move again. I work in a bookstore so I was bringing home piles of books on a weekly, if not daily, basis. It was getting to be ridiculous.
The freedom to read without my contacts and without a lamp has been amazing. If I fall asleep while reading, I never lose my place. If I finish a book while waiting at the doctor's office, I just start on another. If I'm hanging out with a friend and want to show off my book collection or let them try a recommendation, I just pull out my e-reader.
I still buy/collect quite a few books, but I really don't need to own a physical copy of everything I read.
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Yebor1: I have never wanted an e-book and shall never want an e-book.
I prefer a hard copy in front of me. I like being able to look at my book shelves and see them overflowing with all the books I have aquired over the years. I wish I had more room for bookshelves in my house. I'm running out of room and thats a great thing. People can come over and peruse my collection. I can settle down to a hot steaming bath and my only worry would be a couple of watermarks.
Technology is fine but i would be one of those people in the Star Trek Universe trading in my stylus/PAD for a nice hardcover everytime.
You can act like a purist all you want, but I eschew facebook; sight unseen. Top that, kindleGrinch. Posts: 2532 | Registered: Jul 2001
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I own a lot of books, but I find carrying my Kindle around is a lot easier. If I am reading a thick hardcover carrying it around everywhere is annoying. I can slip my Kindle in my pocket. The other thing I enjoy is being able to purchase or pre-order a book anywhere I there is a cell phone connection. If someone suggests I read a certain book I would usually forget the name of the book a few minutes later. Now I can either buy it right away or put it on my wish list.
Posts: 1937 | Registered: Nov 2006
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I've never held one in my hands, but they seem cool...and owning and using one doesn't mean you have to have a book bar b q in the yard...just that you can thin out your collection to the really really good ones.
I'll pick one up eventually (as in buy and own, not physically).
Posts: 6683 | Registered: Jun 2005
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I really like bookstores. In the last six months 2 Borders and 1 Barnes and Noble have closed leaving my area without a national chain bookstore. To the extent that ebooks have contributed to the demise of bookstores, I am negative about the medium.
Posts: 644 | Registered: Sep 2008
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quote:Originally posted by Yebor1: Technology is fine but i would be one of those people in the Star Trek Universe trading in my stylus/PAD for a nice hardcover everytime.
I don't see a problem in having both. Regarding music, I have CDs, vinyl, and an iPod. Each are good at fulfilling a specific need. I imagine the same is true for physical and digital books.
I will probably always prefer reading from a physical book, but I know that at some point I will own some type of digital book device.
<ETA> Tangibleness is fine, but I would be one of those people trading in my school textbooks for a digital reader every time.
Posts: 161 | Registered: Aug 2010
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I too enjoy having all my books, and thinking about how they have grown in the last few years seeing as I never had the extraneous funds for buying books four years ago. I still allow certain books to have legs and travel to new owners who I think may enjoy them as much as I have.
Some of why I haven't spent the money on any tablets or e-readers is that the technology evolves quickly and I don't need it. Plenty of people must be kicking themselves because they bought kindles while the cost was higher only to have the ipad come out with a color screen and much more functionality.
Posts: 2302 | Registered: Aug 2008
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quote:Originally posted by Yebor1: I have never wanted an e-book and shall never want an e-book.
I prefer a hard copy in front of me. I like being able to look at my book shelves and see them overflowing with all the books I have aquired over the years. I wish I had more room for bookshelves in my house. I'm running out of room and thats a great thing. People can come over and peruse my collection. I can settle down to a hot steaming bath and my only worry would be a couple of watermarks.
Technology is fine but i would be one of those people in the Star Trek Universe trading in my stylus/PAD for a nice hardcover everytime.
This was so me a month ago...
Then my co-workers bought me a Kobo Touch. I still say that nothing beats a real physical book, but it's pretty awesome being able to access my entire library anywhere on a convenient touchscreen device. And with the e-ink technology it's just like reading off a page, not a computer screen.
Basically, I will continue to buy physical books, but also (ahem) acquire a digital backup. That way my books can stay at home and not risk wear & tear when I want reading material on the go.
Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
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I have had to schedule regular purges of my attic library over the years. I also nearly sprained my wrist trying to read A Dance With Dragons in bed last week. So ebooks do have some appeal. Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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quote:Originally posted by natural_mystic: I really like bookstores. In the last six months 2 Borders and 1 Barnes and Noble have closed leaving my area without a national chain bookstore. To the extent that ebooks have contributed to the demise of bookstores, I am negative about the medium.
I was thinking of this as well. Ebooks are great because they are convenient. My worry is that books one day go the way of the dinos, and everything is electronic. One well placed EMP would then be able to remove a lot of the great writing. Boo! Posts: 1937 | Registered: Nov 2006
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Does anyone have an opinion on digital comic books? I never really cared that they existed because I prefer to hold it in my hands and examine the art with my own eyes. The reason I bring this up is because DC plans to release digital versions of a comic the same day it is released in stores, for the same price. The change will coincide with the DC reboot, and I feel like they are undercutting the mom and pop business's that have supported these big companies through decades and depressions. I am not a purist about having my comics be physical but in this case it seems digital copies are directly encroaching on the physical, and the entrepreneurs who depend on selling the copies.
Posts: 2302 | Registered: Aug 2008
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If they were cheaper...I might agree. But since they are the same price, it seems like just an additional choice when it comes to format, at least to me.
Posts: 6683 | Registered: Jun 2005
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I started reading comics because of Niel Gaiman, and if it were not for the tiny shop owner who eventually retired himself and his store after about forty years of running and owning several locations through the years and I don't know if I would still be enjoying the medium today without him. Frank paid attention to his customers, when he realized that I liked the Batman stuff but did not have the money to buy books all the time and whats more had no clue where to start reading, I am convinced that he ordered the Mark Miller Dark Knight books because he knew I would see them. I currently shop in another privately owned store that is well lit, smells nice, is organized meticulously and the staff could not be nicer. The married couple that owns and runs the store were competitors with Frank a long time ago, and I don't see why DC is trying to take a single sale out of their register like this. Digital copies are one thing, but purposefully challenging your greatest customers reflects poorly on DC.
Posts: 2302 | Registered: Aug 2008
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I understand you have a personal connection to this issue AH, but times change, and those who do not change with them get left behind (I'm talking about DC, not the stores). DC comic stands to make much more money by removing the costs of paper, printing, binding, shipping, and only receiving a wholesale cut of a retail item. That these private stores might get hurt is something that DC should take into consideration, but it is entirely possible that they have, and that is why the ebooks cost the same as the hard copy and not quite a bit less...
Of course what they could have done is just to include a free ecopy with the purchase of the hard copy...but that's a different story.
Posts: 6683 | Registered: Jun 2005
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I only read in bed anymore (when not already stuck in the habit of using a laptop) so I would start using a kindle pretty easily.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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I have a Kindle, but rarely use it. I got it because I was helping a friend format her book to sell on Amazon.
However, the main reason I don't use it is because I use the reading apps on my iPhone instead. Before that, on my iPod Touch. Before that, on my Palm T|E. Before that, on my Palm VI. Before that...
Aside from the love of having so many books with me at all times, aside from the love of being able to get more whenever I want -- and I've spent considerably more on ebooks than I was spending on paper ones, which, since that was my primary personal expense, is scary -- I love em because they've allowed me to free up so much room.
Had I Neil Gaiman's house, I'd have his library. Instead, in my tiny house, my books got damaged because they were in piles and heaps and boxes because the shelves were too full. Now I have room for the ones I either absolutely have to have in print (signed books, first editions, those with sentimental value, big picture books, etc). I've even begun buying better copies of some of the ones I already had in tattered paperback form, because now I have room for them.
Well, almost. It's still a work in progress, and there are still heaps. But I'm getting there.
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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My nook color would be ideal for comics but I haven't been too impressed with them so far. I have trouble reading the small print on just a basic conversion. And so far, the selections haven't been anything that I'm too interested in. I feel like authors and artists would have to adjust how they write and design comics in order to optimize them for digital reading. The larger iPad might be a better fit size-wise but its still too large and cumbersome for anything else. So comics/graphic novels remain one of the few types of reading material that I still buy in paper. I'm simply way more comfortable reading trades.
Hardcover-ebook bundling would be my ideal situation for everything. There are still authors with books that I'd love to collect (or have available to lend out) and I could easily spend a few more dollars to get an ebook version with my hardcover book. I'm one of those dorks who loves the bluray/dvd/digital copy movies and I pay good money for them.
My concern with bookstores is that they would have lost to Amazon regardless of whether ebooks had ever come along or not. Ebooks may even be the reason that Barnes and Noble is still able to compete and Borders has gone out of business. Working in a bookstore, I will say that I can't go a day without spending half an hour tracking down the title and author of a book for a customer saw it on some news show six months ago and thinks the cover might be blue. Of course, after all that legwork the customer balks at the price and says they'll buy it at Amazon. Its hard to get by when the competition sells books at a loss and doesn't even have to collect sales tax.
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
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