E-Books or Paper Books

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by JD, Mar 11, 2013.

?

E-book, Paper books, or a combination

  1. E-Books

    43 vote(s)
    37.4%
  2. Paper books

    38 vote(s)
    33.0%
  3. Combination

    34 vote(s)
    29.6%
  1. Daddy Todd

    Daddy Todd Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2004
    Location:
    Utah
    **Raises Hand** and some that were Adobe's locked PDF format from the early '00's. The early SCE e-books I bought are now unreadable. That got me out of the e-book world for the better part of a decade.

    When I came back, I made sure to figure out how to unlock the books I BOUGHT lest the format-provider decide to stop supporting my books again.
     
  2. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2004
    Location:
    Arizona, USA
    I've saved all of my epub e-books from my Nook onto my laptop. As long as I have something that can use the epub format will I still be able to access them? Could they still take them away or block access to them if I have copies that aren't on my Nook?
     
  3. Daddy Todd

    Daddy Todd Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2004
    Location:
    Utah
    Yes, they could "take them away" if B&N should go out of business and stop supporting the proprietary DRM they layer on top of epub. In other words, your Nook epubs are only readable on a Nook (or B&N-provided applications) that can be unlocked with your B&N account.

    If B&N goes away (which isn't unthinkable, at this point) the ability to read your books could go away.
     
  4. tomswift2002

    tomswift2002 Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Dec 19, 2011

    One major advantage of physical over digital. Plus this can also occur if you travel to another country and the publisher in your country doesn't have the rights in the other country.
     
  5. Markonian

    Markonian Fleet Admiral Moderator

    Joined:
    Jun 2, 2012
    Location:
    Derbyshire, UK
    This one favours e-books for several reasons:

    1) Storage: My shelf was about to burst, then I stopped buying physical books and my BF and I begun to get rid of my physical Star Trek collection.

    2) Travelling: At the moment, I'm living in a foreign country. Imagine I'd have to buy all the dead trees individually and then send them home! Instead, everything is on three handy devices: Kindle, laptop, smartphone.

    3) Cost: E-books are significantly cheaper than most printed editions, esp. for books no longer available.

    4) Availability: New reading sustenance is just a few clicks away, unlike printed editions. Without Kindle, I wouldn't have gotten old books like Distant Shores. Also, standing in the street waiting for my friend to arrive, I can just flip out my smartphone and continue reading - sparing me to carry a book around.

    5) Handiness: No book marks, no back slapping shut when I lie it down for a moment, no different sizes of books making storage a nightmare - just a file on multiple devices. Book marks - good riddance! :devil:

    6) Vanity: By the Sword of Kahless, this is 21st century technology at its best! Next thing I want to see going the way of dinosaur after printed books are physical cables. "Would you kindly die?" :borg:
     
  6. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 10, 2005
    Location:
    Confederation of Earth
    That's why I buy in Kindle format. I know they won't ever go away. Amazon's just too well entrenched for that.

    And I believe they're the only ones who offer an app for desktop computers in which to read. I don't have a Kindle itself, but there are Kindle apps for iOS devices AND OS X, so that's why I chose that one.
     
  7. tomswift2002

    tomswift2002 Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Dec 19, 2011
     
  8. Daddy Todd

    Daddy Todd Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2004
    Location:
    Utah
    B&N offer Nook for PC. I have it installed, but rarely use it.
     
  9. JWolf

    JWolf Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Oct 9, 2005
    Location:
    Massachusetts, USA
    The best way to keep your digital books in order is to buy in ePub and strip the DRM.
     
  10. nickyboy

    nickyboy Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Jan 23, 2005
    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
    I only buy ebooks.

    I will buy some of the books in paper for 'my collection' so I will buy all of the The Fall books in ebook and paper.
     
  11. Avro Arrow

    Avro Arrow Vice Admiral Moderator

    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2003
    Location:
    Canada
    Significantly? My experience has been that for a "recent" single novel eBook, you usually save about $1 off the paperback price. (I will grant that savings for TPs and HCs are often a little more substantial.)

    And as for older out-of-print books... whenever I go looking for a specific book, I usually tend to find it is not available. I was hoping that I would be able to get more OOP books this way, but I guess perhaps the publishers feel the effort to digitize more obscure older books isn't worth it?
     
  12. tomswift2002

    tomswift2002 Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Dec 19, 2011
    Afro, I would have to say that there's even less of a difference between the price of a new book in ebook or paperback format. It's closer to about fifty cents.

    And I just did a search for "Ghost-Walker", and while the paperback is out of print, the last list price I could find for the book was $5.95. The ebook is currently at $7.99.
     
  13. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2004
    Location:
    Arizona, USA
    For the Nook most of the new paperbacks are the exact same price, and the Nook versions of new hardcovers tend to be about $3-$4 less.
     
  14. Avro Arrow

    Avro Arrow Vice Admiral Moderator

    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2003
    Location:
    Canada
    I was just going by my experience as a Canadian Kobo user. To use the recent Trek books as an example, the Chapters list price is CA$9.99, and the price in the Kobo store is CA$8.99.

    But yes, to be fair, if you are a Chapters iRewards member and you buy the paperback at Chapters' website (5% discount), then you pay CA$9.49, and the difference is fifty cents. And if you buy the paperback in-store (10% discount), then you pay CA$8.99, and the price is the same as the eBook version.
     
  15. Anika Hanson

    Anika Hanson Captain Captain

    Joined:
    Aug 30, 2008
    Location:
    Thallon
    All ebooks. They are just more practical and convenient for me. I have a kindle paperwhite, a Nook, an iPad, an iPod touch and a galaxy tab. I only tend to read on my kindle though. I've been reading ebooks exclusively since 2010.
     
  16. Infern0

    Infern0 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2008
    Ebooks for me.

    I actually prefer paper, but its outweighed by the convenience that you get with E-Books, particularly in NZ where finding Trek Lit in print is nigh on impossible unless you get lucky at a second hand bookstore
     
  17. Csalem

    Csalem Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Mar 28, 2006
    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    I was in the anti-ebook brigade for the last ten years or so until last week when I got a Kindle and am now in love with it. I think in future I will buy paper books that I really want to keep and keep ebooks to those whimsical purchases or the special Star Trek ebooks.
     
  18. CaffeineAddict

    CaffeineAddict Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    May 25, 2013
    I used to read dead-tree editions, but about three years ago i got a Kindle, and have never really looked back. I read far more on the kindle than I ever did before, so its more convenient than having a massive library. For example, I've read 61 books since January.
     
  19. Third Nacelle

    Third Nacelle Captain Captain

    Joined:
    Apr 4, 2013
    Location:
    The Denorios Belt
    I have a Kindle, and I love it, but it's nice to buy real books now and then to have something on my shelves. E-books have replaced paperbacks for me, but I don't think they'll ever replace hardbacks.
     
  20. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2004
    Location:
    Arizona, USA
    I just thought of another advantage of e-books over paper books. I don't have to worry about broken bindings, damaged covers, or torn pages with e-books. I tend to be very picky about the condition of my books, so things like that drive me friggin' nuts.