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Real Books VS E-Readers

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  • KANGOOJUMPS
    KANGOOJUMPS Posts: 6,474 Member
    i said i would never buy one, but i did, and I LOVE IT!
  • Strangelyinsane
    Strangelyinsane Posts: 120 Member
    Love real books but couldn't live without my kindle reader.
  • kyodi
    kyodi Posts: 376 Member
    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
    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
    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
    parallax693 Posts: 40
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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.
  • girlfromOklahoma
    girlfromOklahoma Posts: 129 Member
    E Reader for me. I've always loved to read, but never really read more than a couple of books per year until I got my Kindle this past Christmas. A few reasons why I love my Kindle:

    1. I can read it while I workout on the elliptical or treadmill. With a book I'd have to find a way to hold it down to keep the pages from flipping on me.
    2. When I finish a book, I can go straight to the Kindle store and find something new to read. I don't have to drive to the store and pick something out. I buy it right there and it's delivered in a matter of moments.
    3. While I'm in the Kindle store I can easily read other readers reviews of books I'm considering.
    4. The Kindle store prices are GREAT! I've read several .99 cent books recently. Also there are a lot of self published books in the Kindle store that are awesome!
    5. When I finish a book it's not sitting on a bookshelf taking up space in my house; and since I always keep my Kindle with me I can flip back to any book I've ever downloaded at any time.

    Negatvies of the E-Reader:
    1. Unable to loan books to friends who don't have a Kindle. This is a big negative for me. I have a good friend who I used to always pass books along to. She and her husband have 5 children and don't have a lot of extra money. So she always enjoyed getting to read my old books.
  • tomatini
    tomatini Posts: 61 Member
    I like both, but these days I am using an e-reader more. I read really quickly so carrying around a single e-reader makes a lot more sense than carrying around 2 or 3 books with me. For anything with a heavy visual element (like art books, graphic novels, cookbooks etc.) nothing beats a printed book though. Genre fiction? E-reader all the way, since the printed copies tend to be cheap paperbacks anyway. Checking books out of the library via e-reader is also super-convenient, because you can do it from your house. With that being said all three of the bookcases in our tiny apartment are still completely overflowing, hah.
  • Tatiyanya
    Tatiyanya Posts: 255 Member
    I love the feel and smell of real books, but I am forced to travel a lot and I will soon probably move across europe. Cant bring my whole library with me, Cos we are talking 2 rooms full of bookshelves and comic books.
    Kindle on other hand holds tons of books, makes tons more books avalible to me and is just light and small.
    Also no background light on kindle actualy benefits my eyes (tried to read on tablet, never again )
    It's also a gift from my boyfriends parents, which makes it super awesome for me.

    So, at current point in life, very much e-reader for me. Once I settle down on my *kitten*, in one place, where I wont be moving out for few years atleast ...then i'll prolly revert to good ole paper.
  • wild_wild_life
    wild_wild_life Posts: 1,334 Member
    I don't think it's an either-or thing, you can do both (I do), but, when I am reading, if it's a good book (and why read a bad book?), I don't think about the smell, the feeling of it in my hands, etc. I am totally engrossed in the story and the words, and that happens for me equally well with both. So, for convenience factor, the Kindle wins. I can see how other people who value the overall experience more than I do feel differently.

    I would agree with the above poster that the major downside is not being able to loan it out or pass it on. You can loan certain kindle books to other people with a kindle or kindle app for a limited time but so far none of the books I've wanted to loan have been loan-enabled.
  • GormanGhaste
    GormanGhaste Posts: 430 Member
    I read both e-books and paper books. I really love e-readers, as you can increase the font size--every book is now a large-print book!
  • cgarliepp
    cgarliepp Posts: 14
    I also prefer physical books while at home, but I enjoy my Kindle when traveling (and it negates the problem of taking 3 or 4 books with me because I don't know if I'll like the first or second that I take. LOL)

    It's much easier (for me) to flip through physical pages when looking back to find something that I can't remember the details of than to go back and forth in the Kindle (but maybe I just haven't learned well enough how to do that yet.)
  • eagergirl
    eagergirl Posts: 8 Member
    I love both! I have to say, most of the books I read now, are on my Kindle, but I also love reading in the tub, which is a problem with my Kindle, and I get bummed out when my battery is charging!
  • KindleKate
    KindleKate Posts: 24 Member
    Well, I guess my name says it all, doesn't it? lol

    I don't miss the feeling of a book in my hand at all. I'm about the words not the tactile feeling of holding a book. I bought my first Kindle when it came on the market and never looked back. I have over 500 books in my Kindle library. I'm a huge fan of Book Gorilla where you can get ridiculously cheap deals (check it out - daily specials offered by Amazon).

    My house had so many books laying about in every room prior to my Kindle... I quite ran out of room to store them all.

    One of the things I love best about e readers is the ability to download a book anywhere in just seconds! And I carry my entire library with me in my little purse.

    There are certain subjects better handled in book form - art books come to mind.

    There's a place for both. But I'm addicted to my Kindle. :)
  • codycsweet
    codycsweet Posts: 1,019 Member
    I have always loved real books but about two yrs ago I got a kindle and love it. Easy for me to take anywhere. I get access to a lot of free books and since I don't usually re-read books I don't have to deal with stacks upon stacks of books. I can read 50+ books in the summer time. If you love e books and you don't have it go to bookbub.com or on Facebook lots of free books. Most are part of a series but still free is free. Happy to find this group
  • hellokathy
    hellokathy Posts: 540 Member
    I have a Kindle but I also still read "real" books. It depends on several things like author, cover, price, etc. whether I get the eBook or want it on my shelf.
  • BattleTaxi
    BattleTaxi Posts: 752 Member
    Must have the real thing! There are so many reasons paper is better than the electronic stuff.

    1) E-readers don't have that new-book smell.
    2) E-readers never have the old book smell.
    3) If you drop a book in water, it gets more personality. If you drop an e-reader in water you get electrocuted.
    4) You can read a book on the beach and not worry about getting sand in it.
    5) You don't get the satisfaction of seeing, at a glance, how much of a book you've read at a given point of your reading.
    etc.

    I agree with this 100% however I read books so quickly and I read multiple books at the same time that it is just not efficient in my lifestyle to have physical copies anymore. I collect books, tons and tons and tons of books! So the e-reader is the best option for me. Plus, a lot of the authors I like are indie authors, their books are often not available in paperback for some time.

    I love physical copies, but I also love all the free space in my house now!
  • adieann7
    adieann7 Posts: 2 Member
    I don't have an e-reader as such but I do have a tablet on which I can read books. It's not the same, I know, but it does the job.

    Personally, I like real books better, because I like the smell and feel of holding a real book. However, for some instances I do use my tablet. For example, if I already own the book and can also find it on Tuebl. I still live with at home, and my parents recently split up. It wasn't very nice and included a lot of manipulation on the part of my father. We're a book family and he took many of the books from our communal library that we all loved, so those are on my tablet until I get the money to replace them. There is no way in hell I'm asking for them back.
  • TamS2015
    TamS2015 Posts: 31 Member
    I have not read all the replies so i'm sure i will just be repeating.

    I was a fan of only the real thing for a long time. Then my husband got me an e-reader. I just love it. I can get books free from the library to download to it so that's one stop i don't have to make anymore and no late fees. People don't comment on what i'm reading since they don't have a clue what i'm doing. And i read books like i watch sitcoms so at any given time i might be reading 10 books, the reader makes that so much better for travel :)
  • firststepformefal
    firststepformefal Posts: 180 Member
    I used to feel the same way, then I got a Kobo. I find it easier to carry around with me, so if I am waiting, I have something to read. My local library allows the loans of digital books, so I do not have to buy them. Often, the waiting list for e-books for popular books is shorter than the waiting list for the real book. I download from home, so that saves me a visit to the library. I can also download when the library is closed. The books automatically goes back, so no late fees. The Kobo site offers free e-books and low cost e-books. This lets me sample an author without putting out money for an author I may not like. The Kobo takes up much less room than the physical books. Also, if something happens to my Kobo, I can still access my library of books on the Kobo site and download them again. I can also remove books from my Kobo, if it gets too full, but still have access to them from the Kobo site.
  • Lives2Travel
    Lives2Travel Posts: 682 Member
    I love my Kindle. And, since I'm kinda OCD, it works for me not to have books and magazines cluttering up the house. And I love that I can take as many books as I like when I travel without sacrificing space for extra shoes!
  • Smirnoff65
    Smirnoff65 Posts: 1,060 Member
    Haven't bought a real book in years, my Kindle goes everywhere with me, I love having 1000's of books that I can pick from whenever I want or depending on my mood.
  • lillithfair4
    lillithfair4 Posts: 17
    I can absolutely relate! I love the feel of a book in my hand, especially an older one with the softer paper. Just something so soothing about it. And books can't run out of battery, nor do you get a glare on a screen that makes it hard to read.
  • crunchergirl
    crunchergirl Posts: 184 Member
    I love books. The feel and the smell of them, however because I travel quite a bit, it is so much easier to just use the kindle app on my ipad. Because I read a lot and fast, my suitcase would be loaded down with books and I would also spend ridiculous amounts of money on books at the airport. Plus I have to say that I love the fact that i can buy a book at a moments notice.
  • janmclark_10768
    janmclark_10768 Posts: 3
    I have a Kindle but I occassionally read regular books.
    For Traveling the Kindle is Much better for Me because I would have to
    carry at least three books which can be heavy if the books or 300 or 400
    pages. I read a lot when I travel so the kindle works out better for me.
  • oORosadaOo
    oORosadaOo Posts: 97 Member
    I never read regular books anymore since I got my Kobo.

    I can find all my books online, mostly irregular. I could never afford books the ordinary way nowadays.
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