Real Books VS E-Readers

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  • Brandification
    Brandification Posts: 109 Member
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    While I do love a real book, I have to say I absolutely love my Kindle Fire. The best thing is that I have thousands of books with me everywhere that I go. Even if I don't have my Kindle with me, I can pick up the book at the same place on my phone. I travel a lot so it is nice to not finish a book on a plane and be left with nothing because I didn't prepare well. I have also read many books that I would have never thought to try out if I wouldn't have gotten them on the Kindle. I have found many authors that I love that I just never would have been introduced to without my Fire.
    This!!!
    Also I love the fact that I have more space in my house because I do not have Books laying everywhere!

    Same here! I have so many books laying around that I am running out of space! While I do read "real" books from time to time, I love being able to have hundreds of books in hand on my Kobo.
  • Rosered3333
    Rosered3333 Posts: 171 Member
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    I love the physicality of a book and I especially love the smell of a musty, old, well loved book. However, on vacation about a month ago, I bought the 'Song of Ice and Fire" on my husband's kindle and I was converted. It's great to be able to have one small portable book and being able to access books without going to a book store.

    I still love the books I have though and I love being able to look at them and see the coffee stains and all the memories of reading them. That's one thing that I don't think I'll ever be able to duplicate with the kindle.
  • rcb1963
    rcb1963 Posts: 69 Member
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    I use my iPad for reading a lot because the books are readily available from my local library's e-collection. However there is nothing like holding a book in your hand and turning the pages and discovering the world of literature.
  • RJeanVan
    RJeanVan Posts: 5
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    I like paper books better. You don't have to worry about plugging them in.
  • pixtotts
    pixtotts Posts: 552 Member
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    I was 110% against E readers... i have a massive bookcase (10ft floor to ceiling) my dad built me for christmas and over 500 books (not including text books), i love the smell of new books, i like having them to keep (sorry not a library user here) , and they are 99% in such good condition you wouldnt know they had been read...

    Untill....
    i got an kindle for christmas and I LOVE it the page looks just like a normal book but dont have to worry about creasing it or fitting it in your handbag, and you can get books so so so cheap! I love the 79p offers :) and free ones of course :D
    i wouldnt be without my kindle now :)

    But my mum has promised me if theres a book i read on my kindle and love she will buy me the paper copy too :D! i like to have my cake and eat it :P lol
    x
  • I_love_frogs
    I_love_frogs Posts: 340 Member
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    I love books. Always have always will.

    That being said, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my kindle!!! I have my old entire library on it now, as well as a ton of new books. I miss the smell and feel of a book in my hands every so often, but I have my favorite paperbacks saved so I can go back and read them when I get in that mood.

    I am a very fast reader...I read a 300-400 pg book in about an hour and 1/2 or so...so I always had at least 4 different books in my bag and it got heavy :( I had books in my car, books in the bedroom, in the kitchen, boxes and boxes and boxes of books everywhere. I had bookcaases filled to the brim and then some. I love the fact that I was able to sell back my books to the half price book store and made a nice chunk of money when I got my kindle. I love the fact that I am not participating in dead trees and my pages getting dogeared :(

    The best thing is when I travel tho. I used to have a carryon filled with nothing but books. Like 30 of them. And they were HEAVY!!! Now, I can go to England on that long long flight to see the in-laws and family and have my kindle with me instead, with 2000+ books on it rather than just 30 books and a weight on my shoulder. It has made a world of difference,

    Makes life easier for my family who never know what to get me...they just get me and amazon card and I can go to town on my cheapy $.99 or free books and get the books I have been craving on the kindle.

    Only thing that I don't like is that the publishers are making some of them expensive. I have been holding out for the newest book in the Dresden Files but it has been $14.99 for a year or so and not dropping yet. I never paid over $9.99 for a paperback so WHY would I pay that much for an ebook? Morons...

    EDIT: I should say tho, that the only books I do NOT buy on kindle are my nice cookbooks. I don't like having an ereader in the kitchen where I am cooking. I tend to get....messy when I cook :P
  • KimmyEB
    KimmyEB Posts: 1,208 Member
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    Only thing that I don't like is that the publishers are making some of them expensive. I have been holding out for the newest book in the Dresden Files but it has been $14.99 for a year or so and not dropping yet. I never paid over $9.99 for a paperback so WHY would I pay that much for an ebook? Morons...

    First of all, DRESDEN FILES. :heart: I have the hardback copy of Ghost Story, since I received that as a gift well before I had my Kindle. The rest will be put on the Kindle, though, since quite frankly, I have no more room for books, even after donating a large portion of them. :tongue:

    Also, wanted to say that I agree with you. and it's not just books, either, music too--I went to buy an album on Amazon yesterday, the MP3 version or whatever that automatically is sent to your computer/Kindle. It was over $9. Yet if I wanted the physical CD sent to my house, it was only $7, with free shipping. WTF?

    I started getting into this series through my Kindle, since the first 2 were free, and the rest were only .99 cents...I added her to my Facebook, as well as the group for her series. She came out with another book, a companion to the series, and wanted it to be free, but Amazon wouldn't let her put it up for free, so she priced it as low as possible....then privately sent us all links to a free PDF if we didn't want to pay. The layout wasn't as visually appealing as a "real" Kindle ebook, but hey, I saved a couple of bucks, lol.
  • Crystaleyed
    Crystaleyed Posts: 229 Member
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    I'm on the real books team, more for supporting my local bookshops than anything else.
    True I do like the feeling of a book in my hands and the smell of a book is rather yummy, but as a student I know how annoying it can be when your insistence on buying real books and not owning an E-Reader has to be carted to and from school each day. So although I am still very much on the real books team, I can understand why for some people, it's easier to have an E Reader.
  • opuntia
    opuntia Posts: 860 Member
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    I have a Kindle and I love it, because it is easier for me in lots of ways. I find it visually easier, because the background is grey, so there isn't so much contrast as with a white page. And I like being able to adjust the font. I have some visual processing difficulties (Irlen Syndrome) which means the words tend to jiggle around in regular books, and it's harder to focus. I read much, much quicker on my Kindle, and without any visual stress - it's great. And I like the lightness of the Kindle - the fact that I can read War and Peace on there and it isn't some huge heavy book on my knee! And it's easier to read in bed - I love reading in bed but I always found it hard with regular books because I'd be holding them sideways, and trying to hold the pages open and turn the pages is hard in that position!

    To me, it doesn't have the negative associations of technology because it doesn't have a backlight - the backlight of laptops and phones can make me dizzy, and that is the only thing I don't like about technology. But I love technology in general.

    However, if I'm going to the beach, I'll take a cheap paperback rather than my Kindle, because I'd be worried about my Kindle getting damaged by sand or water. That is an advantage that paper books have - you don't have to be so careful with them. Before I got a Kindle, I would always buy very cheap books from charity shops, and it was such a nice feeling to read them and not have to worry about damaging them.
  • gwenmf
    gwenmf Posts: 888 Member
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    Not me, I absolutely LOVE my kindle!~! A million books at my fingertips -- and so much less clutter!!! So So So convenient. It's a must have for me!
  • KANGOOJUMPS
    KANGOOJUMPS Posts: 6,473 Member
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    i said i would never buy one, but i did, and I LOVE IT!
  • Strangelyinsane
    Strangelyinsane Posts: 120 Member
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    Love real books but couldn't live without my kindle reader.
  • kyodi
    kyodi Posts: 376 Member
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    Still catching up on this thread, but I'm throwing my two cents in...

    I'm a software engineer. I do tech everything, but I too enjoy holding a real book. I did however get a kindle 4 last summer. It was at an amazing price and I couldn't refute the logic of having many books with me (on night stand) at once. While I thought I would just sorta like it I actually love it. I've been reading Game of Thrones, some exercise books, and recently tech books as well. I like the eInk without the backlight... makes me feel like less of a traitor, LOL.

    I will still get an iPad at some point, but I won't read books on that. Magazines probably for the interactive content, but I will continue to read the dead trees and kindle for books.
  • PatriciaToney
    PatriciaToney Posts: 13 Member
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    My husband gave me an kindle for Christmas 2 years ago. It wasn't what I asked for so I was slow getting to know it. I too am a reader that if I love a book I want that baby in my hands. I just weeks ago had a gift cart for Amazon and had nothing t buy so I decided to try a book that had no visual stimulants ( I am a visual kind of girl) so I could get to work on my project. I have to say that I do like it, probably more with a Kindle Fire but non the less I gave it a try. My husband just commented about how he is happy that I finally started using my kindle. It seems you get loaded up with books you don't want to read. Sometimes if the book has diagrams you can not see it which frustrates me. So I give e-readers a 5 out of 10. :smile:
  • Booksandbeaches
    Booksandbeaches Posts: 1,791 Member
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    I love hard copies of books. I love the smell, the feel, the weight of the book in my hands. I love being able to read even if the batteries die/forget to recharge the technology. That's not a worry with a book you hold in your hands. I'm not against technology. I have most of the modern devices everyone else has down to smart phone and iPAD. But when it comes to reading, I just have to have a real book.

    Having said all that, I wanted to share something I saw on Pinterest. "Kindles are no more a threat to real books than escalators are to stairs."
  • parallax693
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    I love real books as well, and still buy them for my profession, but I love my kindle. Back in the day I remember saying that I would never get an Ipod, and now I'm on my 4th one. Never say never, there are advantages to both. I currently have 150 books on my kindle, and depending on my mood, I have SO MUCH to choose from. I lend ebooks back and forth with my friends, and it is so easy to read in bed and out in the sun. I just love it. It took a little getting used to, but I'm a believer.
  • essaryswife73
    essaryswife73 Posts: 81 Member
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    I never thought I would want or have any kind of e-reader, but, do to space issues when we moved, I had to get rid of a LOT of my books. I'm not sure exactly how many I had, but I had enough to fill up five 6 ft. and four 3 ft. shelves. Now I have two 6 ft shelves and one 3 ft shelf. However I have over 300 books on my Kindle. I will alway buy books from certain authors...James Rollins, Steve Berry, and George R.R. Martin are 3. I still browse the book stores and second hand stores. And I absolutely LOVE the smell of books and the feel of them. However, for practical reasons, I will always have my Kindle. I take it to the beach, the pool, the lake, the park...wherever I would take a book. I am just as careful with my real books as with my Kindle.
  • Fatandfifty3
    Fatandfifty3 Posts: 419 Member
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    I was 110% against E readers... i have a massive bookcase (10ft floor to ceiling) my dad built me for christmas and over 500 books (not including text books), i love the smell of new books, i like having them to keep (sorry not a library user here) , and they are 99% in such good condition you wouldnt know they had been read...

    Untill....
    i got an kindle for christmas and I LOVE it the page looks just like a normal book but dont have to worry about creasing it or fitting it in your handbag, and you can get books so so so cheap! I love the 79p offers :) and free ones of course :D
    i wouldnt be without my kindle now :)

    But my mum has promised me if theres a book i read on my kindle and love she will buy me the paper copy too :D! i like to have my cake and eat it :P lol
    x

    I can echo this. We are a real bookaholic family. Put us in a bookshop and you've lost us for the day. however in praise of an e-reader you can have as many trashy novels/junk book/ooo i wouldn't mind reading that books on it and have enough money left to buy a 'decent' copy of a faithful book as I did for my daughter with 'The Hobbit'. Tolkien just has to be a Real Book!
  • KrazyAsianNic
    KrazyAsianNic Posts: 1,227 Member
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    I agree about having the real books. I figure I'm always staring at a computer at work it's nice to not have to stare at an electronic book. However, if I were traveling again, i think it would come in handy
  • zorbaru
    zorbaru Posts: 1,077 Member
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    i have a kindle (well, i had one, i cant find it at the moment).

    i love it. i used to read a lot of real books, but lately i stopped reading because i just didnt have the time to head out to a book store to search for a book that i might want to read. with the kindle i can do it at anytime from home. plus you can usually read a chapter or two without paying to see if you like it.

    also, i was starting to find books annoying. especially new ones. i hated having to fight with the spine of the book when reading the start of the book, i hated trying to read the left page when my light is on my right side. and quite frankly, with some of the bigger books, they just get heavy after a while.

    i picked the kindle (plain one) because of the e-ink display. i dont like reading on tablets because the backlight gets to me. (tho since ive lost the kindle i have swiped my mother in laws ipad to read because since i got the bug back i cant stop). the only exception is comics, they look awesome on a tablet.