E-Reader or Books

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Replies

  • linz1125
    linz1125 Posts: 441 Member
    I have 300 books on it, and I've only paid for 2 of them.

    That's not really something you want to be proclaiming in an open internet forum. This is what I dislike most about e-Readers. Authors trying to make a decent living aren't going to make as much because it's easier to steal a digital copy than it is to steal a physical copy. If nothing else, buy the ones from the lesser-known or independent authors.

    I don't buy books either...I borrow from the e-library Or do the nook freebie Friday. It doesn't mean it was done illegally.
  • JessieTangerine
    JessieTangerine Posts: 91 Member
    I have 300 books on it, and I've only paid for 2 of them.

    That's not really something you want to be proclaiming in an open internet forum. This is what I dislike most about e-Readers. Authors trying to make a decent living aren't going to make as much because it's easier to steal a digital copy than it is to steal a physical copy. If nothing else, buy the ones from the lesser-known or independent authors.

    I actually think that the advent of e-readers have been better for independent authors. Dear BF prefers books so we still make plenty of trips to the bookstore, but bookstores are small and in the business of making money so overall, once you take out the classics and the popular fiction, you are not left with that many books, few of which could be considered indie (unless you live in Portland or something). The internet however can cater to a much larger audience and sites like amazon make it so much easier to self-publish. They also, imho make it a lot easier for readers like me to find these books.

    Impulse buys at the book store aside, I usually check which is cheaper, the print version or the e version and choose that one. Really love my kindle for romance novels. They are usual cheaper, gargantuan selection, instantaneous delivery, and no one needs to know that I'm reading trash! :tongue:
  • Lynxie83
    Lynxie83 Posts: 246
    I prefer my kindle, only because I can carry 1500 books with me... it'd be back breaking to try and carry that many books with me if they were 'books'. I too have a number of books I haven't 'purchased' through Amazon. A lot of them tend to be given freely from the author in return for a review, so much so, that I haven't really bought a book for over 6 months.

    Having said that, I still enjoy reading a book. I still have many (over 300) and do still buy them from time to time.

    I :love: my kindle and the light cover I have for it. It goes EVERYWHERE with me now! :bigsmile:
  • maremare312
    maremare312 Posts: 1,143 Member
    Why not both?

    I don't know why people treat this like an either/or question. Do you only read ____ genre vs. ____ genre? Ok, maybe you do, but still! :D

    I love my "real" books for various reasons already listed, but the convenience of my Kindle is awesome. I love the dictionary function, I have a pretty good vocabulary but really appreciate the function of quickly checking out any word I'm hazy on the meaning of. It's surprising (even after getting a B.A. in English) how many words I was just figuring out by context or my idea of the definition was barely just in the neighborhood of being correct. I'm to the point where I am now wanting digital copies of my paper books that I've been collecting for years.

    I was reading an article earlier (no source, sorry) about a publishing company that is giving away an e-copy of their books when a hard copy is purchased. I flinging-flanging LOVE that idea!
  • anels449
    anels449 Posts: 3,187 Member
    I like them both. Having a nook is nice (much like an ipod) because I can have and be reading multiple books and not have to take my entire bookshelves with when I go somewhere. However, with any book I really like, if I read it from my nook, or a book I had to rent for class, I'll go out and buy it to own it.

    That being said, I do like owning the actual book, not only because I can always come back to it whenever I want, but because I tend to write a lot of notes in my books, sticky notes in all the pages, very hands on.

    I tend to agree with one of my professor's views on each in that an ereader is for fluff reading, for books you wouldn't consider worthy on your bookself. Anything worthwhile is worth having it in hard copy.
  • Tony_Brewski
    Tony_Brewski Posts: 1,376 Member
    I'll sticl to my books. I have a nice collection of hard covers on my shelf that I wouldn't want to trade up.
  • knw32183
    knw32183 Posts: 47
    Books, books, BOOKS!!!! There's nothing like cracking open a new read:love:
  • MrsR0SE
    MrsR0SE Posts: 313 Member


    I tend to agree with one of my professor's views on each in that an ereader is for fluff reading, for books you wouldn't consider worthy on your bookself. Anything worthwhile is worth having it in hard copy.

    Totally agree - there's room for both in my life :)
  • Laddiegirl
    Laddiegirl Posts: 382 Member
    I've loved to read since I was a kid and was certain I'd never get an e-reader. That was until my grandfather showed me his Nook a couple Christmases ago (I got my reading bug from him, he & I are the only readers in our family) and started saving Barnes & Noble giftcards given for various holidays/my birthday towards a Nook. I got my Nook Tablet two days after Christmas and I absolutely love it!

    I find that I read more now than ever (and I read a lot before, now I just don't have to wait for a trip to the bookstore or library!) and I love being able to have all my books at my fingertips for when I finish one book and need to begin another (I have a 1 hour commute each way via train to work). I still have all of my books and pull them out to read at home on occasion, and if I read a good book on my Nook Tablet that I really enjoy I make a point to go buy it in physical form for my bookshelf and reading at home (I'm the type to read a book over and over). I also enjoy the apps and ability to go on the internet from time to time since I don't have a smartphone. For me, my Nook Tablet is awesome and I love having it.
  • redfroggie
    redfroggie Posts: 591 Member
    I love books and didn't want to use an e-reader till I got one for Mother's Day. I love it and I found a great site called pixel of ink that has books daily for...FREE. I've discovered a lot of new authors this way.
    When we moved to the UK from the US I couldn't afford to ship my 27 boxes of books :( wish I'd had a kindle back then to have a copy of my collection. Besides e-readers are better for the environment, as it takes no trees to produce an e-book and I'm good with that.
  • CassandraM22
    CassandraM22 Posts: 89
    I love both, but prefer my Kindle. When I had it. It broke. 3 weeks after the warranty expired :(
  • katysmelly
    katysmelly Posts: 380 Member
    I find that I read my Kindle all the time and don't really care for books. Books have some advantages - I like being able to flip back and forth to something. Not all eBooks are well-formatted. But, I am addicted tor reading on my Kindle.

    I use it for free classics - I really only read classics and non-fiction. If I want to read something that isn't a free classic, I get it from the library or buy a used paperback on Amazon. I don't like how eBooks are so much more expensive than printed books. It's ridiculous.
  • Prahasaurus
    Prahasaurus Posts: 1,381 Member
    It's not an "either or" question. I think the best answer, at least the one that works for me, is both. I have an iPad and travel extensively. I can check email, look at presentations, update MFP, and, thanks to my Kindle app, read when I have time. It's fantastic. Also, I live outside of the US (in a non-English speaking country), making it difficult to find a large selection of English language books. Thanks to Amazon, selection is no longer a problem.

    On the other hand, I agree that some books work better in analog form. Cookbooks, training books, etc. I also like the look and feel of books. I've given most of my books away, but I've kept the ones that have meant the most to me. They're almost like old friends. :-)

    And there is a nontrivial risk in having a large, US based corporation in charge of my library. Amazon deleted some customers' books some time back, without their permission. Ironically, the author was George Orwell... This wasn't a technical glitch, but Amazon deciding to unilaterally delete those books! This is the equivalent of them coming into my house when I'm not home and stealing a book I've already purchased. They later apologized, but you can see where this can lead.

    Amazon has to operate in the US, and will always need to stay in good favor with lawmakers (e.g., to ensure favorable tax policy, which could mean billions in lost revenue). It's only a matter of time before they will come under more pressure to censor more books. With an analog book, it's mine, it's at my home., to censor it they will need to physically come and get it. And also visit the other thousands of people who have purchased it. With digital e-books maintained in the Amazon cloud, Amazon can simply delete something en masse from everyone's library, as they've already done.

    --P
  • sarahwilloughby07
    sarahwilloughby07 Posts: 39
    Personally, I love audiobooks. I put all of the Harry Potter's on my iPod and that's how I got through my first month of work. I'm saving up for a Kindle but it really doesn't matter to me, as long as I'm reading something I'm happy. Except I'm prejudiced against paperbacks. I throw books in my purse and paperbacks get messed up faster than hardcovers (with the dust jackets removed and kept somewhere safe).
    I've never tried audiobooks, but have been thinking about it. With 3 kiddos my paperbacks tend to get pretty roughed up. My only reservation about the audiobooks is that the narrator wouldn't sound how I imagine the characters too and I'd be disappointed

    When I'm not laid off I'm at work 40-56 hours a week so audiobooks usually make the day go faster than listening to the same X amount of songs over and over again. As for the narrators, yeah, finding good ones are hard. Stephen Fry reading the Harry Potter books was amazing, he changed his voice and accent for all of the characters and with books like The Help each character's chapter was read by a different narrator.
  • ekalexm
    ekalexm Posts: 73
    In truth I prefer books but I'm quickly coming round to the idea of a Kindle and am likely to purchase one for christmas. The books are now taking up too much space in the house so I will be clearing them out, and only the collectible ones.
  • jerbear67
    jerbear67 Posts: 247 Member
    Personally e-readers are the way to go! I love books but they take up a lot of room and are a b!+ch to move! Not to mention dust. I like the fact that I can check books out from the local libary and have it sync to my amazon account. This means that I don't have to go to the library and pick up the books I can do it all online. This is important especially for people like me who work over night and are sleeping the the library is open.
  • MeganDominique
    MeganDominique Posts: 229 Member
    I love the feeling of a book in my hands...and the smell of a new book *nerd moment*. but i love my kobo too. i can read books without waking my boyfriends, its lighter on my back than 6 textbooks (in college), cheaper sometimes too... im so torn ill probably always have both lol.
  • tourettte
    tourettte Posts: 142 Member
    Books. E-Reader doesn't have that smell and feel the books have. Turning pages, leaving your mark on it....it's special, intimate. But that's me. I don't have anything against people who prefer E-Reader, they have more space in their houses/apartments
  • MrsWilsoncroft
    MrsWilsoncroft Posts: 968 Member
    I'm not a big book reader but now I have the iPad I love the kindle app x
  • unsuspectingfish
    unsuspectingfish Posts: 1,176 Member
    I have 300 books on it, and I've only paid for 2 of them.

    That's not really something you want to be proclaiming in an open internet forum. This is what I dislike most about e-Readers. Authors trying to make a decent living aren't going to make as much because it's easier to steal a digital copy than it is to steal a physical copy. If nothing else, buy the ones from the lesser-known or independent authors.

    I actually think that the advent of e-readers have been better for independent authors. Dear BF prefers books so we still make plenty of trips to the bookstore, but bookstores are small and in the business of making money so overall, once you take out the classics and the popular fiction, you are not left with that many books, few of which could be considered indie (unless you live in Portland or something). The internet however can cater to a much larger audience and sites like amazon make it so much easier to self-publish. They also, imho make it a lot easier for readers like me to find these books.

    Impulse buys at the book store aside, I usually check which is cheaper, the print version or the e version and choose that one. Really love my kindle for romance novels. They are usual cheaper, gargantuan selection, instantaneous delivery, and no one needs to know that I'm reading trash! :tongue:

    I don't think it's the advent of eReaders so much as the advent of internet shopping. I actually buy most of my physical books through the internet, because there is a larger selection out there and you can find most of them for a lot cheaper than you would at most bookstores. I also pretty much only buy used books, both on- and off-line.

    Also, I live in Seattle, and we don't have a Powell's, but we do have a lot of really good independent bookstores.
  • RaeLB
    RaeLB Posts: 1,216 Member
    Books.
    I underline & star passages, & write things in the margins.
    Plus, there is nothing like the feel and smell of an old book found buried in stack at a used bookstore.

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