Books - Print or Digital

[susiebk]

Last year for my birthday I requested a Sony eReader, and in the past 6 months have read a grand total of 3 books in print.  I prefer the eReader by leaps and bounds.  It is lightweight, portable, and can hold 80 books.  I can adjust the font size and bookmark significant pages.  The charge lasts for thousands of page turns.  At least 2 people I know have purchased eReaders since trying out mine.  Since the Kindle came out from Amazon, which has the advantages of being wireless and allowing download of periodicals in addition to vast quantities of books, I believe eBooks are the way of the future.  What do you think?

Now if only my iPhone was an eReader (it can do everything else - well, almost everything).

[Jeff Wrangler]

Last year for my birthday I requested a Sony eReader, and in the past 6 months have read a grand total of 3 books in print.  I prefer the eReader by leaps and bounds.  It is lightweight, portable, and can hold 80 books.  I can adjust the font size and bookmark significant pages.  The charge lasts for thousands of page turns.  At least 2 people I know have purchased eReaders since trying out mine.  Since the Kindle came out from Amazon, which has the advantages of being wireless and allowing download of periodicals in addition to vast quantities of books, I believe eBooks are the way of the future.  What do you think?

Now if only my iPhone was an eReader (it can do everything else - well, almost everything).

I'm not familiar with--actually, I've never heard of--either of these products. Can you use them to read lying back in bed?

[Jeff Wrangler]

Wow! Very impressive!

Thanks, Susie!

[Jeff Wrangler]

You're welcome.  We had a friend staying with us who had one, and I checked it out before making the switch.  I didn't want one more electronic gizmo that I wasn't going to use, but the eReader is different.  I have read about 20 books on it in the past 6 months.  I even find less eye strain after reading many pages than with a print book.  After about an hour with it, you forget it isn't a book and your brain makes the switch once and for all.  Even pressing the little button to turn the pages becomes automatic.

I just wish I could find time to read a fraction of that number. 

[Kerry]

Your Sony eReader sounds like a great invention, Susie, and lots of fun too. Alas, however, I am compelled to vote for traditional paper books.

I love books and everything associated with them. I love browsing endlessly through bookshops. I love the smell of a new book (and old books too, for that mater). I love curling up in a big old comfy chair on a rainy day with a much-loved novel.

Because I'm such an inveterate reader, I'm sure I could be won over to the Dark Side (haha - just joking), but the eReader would only ever be an adjunct for me. For me, it could never compete with the sensory joy of reading a hardcopy book.

[BlissC]

Well I've voted "both are fine". I used to be an avid reader, but with the neurological problems/neurosurgery I've had over the last 5 years it's damaged my sight, and for a long time I gave up reading altogether because without super-large text I struggled to make words out. For a while I tried audio books, but they're just too awkward (either carting multiple cassette tapes around or CDs and a CD player). Fortunately, gradually as the docs get me sorted out little by little my vision's improved a lot, and I have started reading again - my main problem's finding the time to read these days. Recently I've been reading a lot online (mainly BBM fanfic) and that's great because apart from not having to move from my computer  I can re-size the text as large as I want.

Neither the Sony one or the Amazon Kindle have made it over to the UK yet as far as I'm aware, but if recent experiences with the iPhone etc. are anything to go by, they'll be slapping a hefty premium on them when they do make it over here. I've just had a quick google, and there's one called an Iliad Ereader available in the UK for £443!!!  I can buy a laptop cheaper than that!

My problem with all these electronic gizmos is that I just don't trust them not to lose stuff, having had PDAs that have died on me in the past. With a "proper" book short of the house burning down or dropping it in the bath while reading, I know not much is going to go wrong with them, and okay, so I have to dust them occasionally, but they're low maintenance and I don't have to worry about losing them because they're sitting there safely on the bookshelf. A lot of the books I've got, I'll read time and time again, and if I've got it sitting on a shelf, why go out and buy it all over again to stick on a machine? Plus of course there's then the issue of sharing your favourite books with your friends - I'm usually quite happy to lend books to friends as long as they don't write on the pages, keep them for years, or knock 'em about, but Sony's offering according to the Engadget article I've read has the ubiquitous DRM, and reads only PDFs and it's own proprietary format.

All in all, I can see a hell of a lot of reasons why I'm probably going to stick with the physical written on paper ones.

[BlissC]

I think there's always going to be a place for "old print books". A couple of years ago I eventually managed to track down a book I remember reading as a teenager, one of my mum's library books (I never did like reading "teen" books as a teenager and from the age of around 13 I used to read the stuff my mum got out on her library card). It stuck in my mind, and in fact last year when sorting out some junk I found my coursework from when I was doing my 'A' level qualifications at school, and for English Lit I'd done a book review on it.

The book's been out of print for at least 20 years, but I eventually managed to track a copy of it down from 1979 on a second hand bookstore online. It's very old and a bit battered, but still perfectly readable. It wasn't a well known author with a huge back catalogue and I can't imagine it's the type of thing that would probably ever be re-printed or re-published in an e-book format. When I eventually managed to track it down after 10 years of searching for it though, it was still the gripping story I remembered reading as a teenager and not being able to put down until I'd finished it, that inspired me to write about it for school (I'm sure my teacher though was a little surprised by my choice of reading matter  ) and probably had a fair influence on my own writing style. It's still sitting there on my shelf, and I still love it, and every so often I read it again.

As Kerry said previously, there's just something wondrous about the smell of a new book, and turning over crisp clean pages, but there's something special about old books as well. My mum's got a shelf full of books she inherited from her grandfather, some of which are from the late 19th century, and some from her mum from her mum from the 1930's and 1940's. You can't fabricate that old book smell and appearance, the wear and the creases on the spine of a much loved and much read book, and the brittle edges of pages. There's just something comforting somehow about the weight of a book and just picking it up at where you left off.   

[Kerry]

As Kerry said previously, there's just something wondrous about the smell of a new book, and turning over crisp clean pages, but there's something special about old books as well. My mum's got a shelf full of books she inherited from her grandfather, some of which are from the late 19th century, and some from her mum from her mum from the 1930's and 1940's. You can't fabricate that old book smell and appearance, the wear and the creases on the spine of a much loved and much read book, and the brittle edges of pages. There's just something comforting somehow about the weight of a book and just picking it up at where you left off.   

That is so very true. My home has a decidedly bookish smell about it, somewhat like a library or a bookstore, and I like it that way. When I get home at night, particularly after a tough day at work, that warm, cosy, friendly smell of my books tells me I'm home, where I'm safe and sound. I love my books. They're my friends. 

[injest]

no way would I ever give up print books. or magazines...

I have a cookbook from the 1800s that has a recipe for fried chicken: "First, early in the day, kill the chicken and dress it."

that just makes me laugh...how many cooks these days have to do THAT much prep work??! and you will never have that stuff on electronic media.

added to that is that you have to pick what to put on the ebook, so you never can browse through and find an unexpected treasure (the little sample they give you like on Amazon isnt' enough...of course they will give you the best in their opinion but it is nothing like being able to pick up a book and flip to different spots to see if you like it.

To me it is a bit like people that program their tvs to only show the channels they like...they will never accidently find something special or broaden their interests if they narrow their own experiences...if the government came in and censored what they could see they would be up in arms but they do it themselves! OY!

added to the higher risk for theft and the price...an ebook is WAY WAY down the list of stuff I would want...

plus with magazines....how are your kids supposed to do collages for school if they dont' have mags to cut up??!

[Kerry]

I have a cookbook from the 1800s that has a recipe for fried chicken: "First, early in the day, kill the chicken and dress it."

I think my oldest (and much loved) book is the "Dictionary of English History" printed in London in 1910. I love that book and thumb through it often. It belonged to a dear friend of my father, now long since deceased. He gave it to me when I was a child. He was English and it's full of clipping from "The Times Literary Supplement" ("Price One Penny"). Just now, opened at random, I came across this article from 20 June 1914 (imagine what was happening in Europe at that time) - "Diary of the Black Prince Discovered when Solicitor (lawyer) Removes from old Offices - Pledging a Crown." Priceless!