Only on a fan board can "I like both, I simply prefer _____" be considered "arguing." 
Being a discussion of the various merits and drawbacks of physical books and e-books
- Thread starter frkcd
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Files you don’t own. They are licensed, just like you don’t “own” a movie file that you buy from iTunes or Amazon. And the publisher has all the legal rights in the world to install on your device or your account a command to tell its program to delete that file if the publisher orders all electronic copies sold deleted from all accounts and devices.
And publishers may issue DRM free ebooks, but they still put watermarks and other security measures in those files that tie those files to your account or device, and only offer a limited amount of sharing/copying.
For the five millionth time: Both print and e-books have different advantages and different drawbacks. Nothing is perfect, so merely pointing out that a thing has imperfections does not indict its very existence. It's good that both formats exist, and everyone is free to choose for themselves which one, or ones, they prefer. It's stupid to fight over it, and I'm done wasting my time with this.
But as a teacher-librarian, the size, shape, texture and illustrations are just as instrinsic for me as the words. And for books I have read, seeing that book back on its shelf still conveys memories of the reading experience. For books I own but have not yet read - and that pile is getting larger every day - I may not get to them for many years, but they carry a promise. I have a lot of books that I remember exactly where I was, and the mood I was in, the day I bought them. The eBook files on my iPhone are just... convenience.
But I can also appreciate the decision-making and skills that went into the design of that product. It's a part of the controlled reading experience.
I get the same experience scrolling through the e-books on my reading apps, or looking through my collection on Goodreads.
The Star Trek books have all been DRM free for the last few years too.
On the other hand, you don't have the suffer the weight of all your eBooks when you're packing to move house!
I love the Ikea bookshelf my girlfriend and I put together, but I did not love moving it or its contents...!
None of that has anything to do with the fact that Christopher did not advocate for piracy as you claimed.
Absolutely! But it is also by definition more homogenized than an eBook if you can't make those decisions yourself.
Anyway, I prefer printed books but see the value of eBooks, too. In particular I prefer eBooks for texts where my interest is more utilitarian and printed books where my interest is more artistic.
Making back up copies is like photocopying a physical book. The photocopies are not legal copies unless you got permission from the publisher to make them. You are going against the terms of your license and if the publisher caught you with them they’d have every right to destroy them.
I'm retitling this thread. This is now our official physical books vs ebooks thread.
Enjoy...
Enjoy...
Lack of space is what pushed me into the e-book camp. My library/office/collection room was hastily redecorated as a pre-teen girl's bedroom and I lost space. But I also like having a large library of novel on kindle or phone to take with me wherever I go. Text books/academic books I would rather have in hard copy to underline and annotate, I think.
As I have aged I have developed a terrible dust allergy and consequently I have gotten rid of my rather large book collection...a large collection of books rather than a collection of large books that is
.
So I switched to an e-reader and am generally happy with the results.
.So I switched to an e-reader and am generally happy with the results.
I almost always prefer e-books. I have 45-year-old paperbacks that I can't read anymore because of yellowed, brittle pages, deteriorating binding glue, and tiny font. Hardcovers are better but are uncomfortable to hold.
The only time I prefer a printed book is if it's a research/reference book that I want to be able to skim backwards a few pages to remind myself of something, and then jump back to where I was. Kindle readers (e-ink or phone/tablet) have a decent feature for that, but It's still an awkward maneuver.
And I love being able to buy as many e-books as I want and not have to worry about where I'll put them.
The only time I prefer a printed book is if it's a research/reference book that I want to be able to skim backwards a few pages to remind myself of something, and then jump back to where I was. Kindle readers (e-ink or phone/tablet) have a decent feature for that, but It's still an awkward maneuver.
And I love being able to buy as many e-books as I want and not have to worry about where I'll put them.
I went e-book years ago and never looked back. (Not only that, but I'm actively replacing my existing physical books with e-books. I'd like to get them ALL taken care of, if possible.)
It's simply more efficient, that's the way I look at it. E-books don't take up any shelf space, can be read on multiple devices, can increase or decrease the font size as needed, and since they have no physical existence, you can't get your fingerprints all over them!
Yeah, yeah, battery power. So charge your bloody devices already!
It's simply more efficient, that's the way I look at it. E-books don't take up any shelf space, can be read on multiple devices, can increase or decrease the font size as needed, and since they have no physical existence, you can't get your fingerprints all over them!
Yeah, yeah, battery power. So charge your bloody devices already!
A good story is a good story, regardless of how one absorbs it. I prefer ebooks because I can adjust the font size, an important consideration as I get older.
But eBooks are better. You can read in the dark. You can have multiple eBooks with you are one time without taking up any extra space and weight. A lot of phones/Readers are waterproof and can get wet without being damaged. You don't need to take up some a large amount of space with bookcases. You can still get older Star Trek books fairly easily. If you need a larger text size, you can have such.
I know there are some advantages to pBooks, but they are few and there are many more advantages to eBooks.
The words are exactly the same. So once you are reading the eBook, you should be enjoying it the same as if you were reading a pBook. With an eInk Reader (Kobo), you get a display that is not harsh and cold. It's warm and inviting (in most cases more so then pBooks). You get reflowable (nothing like a PDF) text.
So would you stop reading if all we had were eBooks?
This is where I take offense. eBooks are real books. If you are saying that only pBooks are real books, then you may as well say that only stone slabs are real books.
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This is where I take offense. eBooks are real books. As for smell, I've read of people getting sick from smelling books because the smell was mold.
Yes you can keep your eBooks. I have eBooks from shops that are no longer in business. If you take care of your eBooks, you can have them for a very long time.
If a publisher ever removed eBooks from someone's Reader., there would be hell to pay. Amazon got in big trouble when they removed a copy of 1984 from Kindles. They never did that again. You really don't understand how eBooks work. You are saying things that are just not correct.
There is nothing worse then reading, finishing the book, wanting to start another book and not having one to start because you didn't bring an extra pBook with you.
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Ebooks are not real books. They are phosphorescent pixels illuminated on a light emitting diode.
Sorry but you are incorrect. You do not own e-books, you purchase a license when you buy your “book” from any e-store. That e-store, like Amazon, is acting as an agent of the publisher, and if that agent goes bankrupt or the agent loses their license to distribute ebooks from that publisher, then they must remove all copies from all accounts, because the e-store does not own the book either, it is the publisher (I.e. Trek published by CBS & Simon & Schuster is owned by S&S even if you buy an ebook from Amazon. If CBS through S&S decided that they didn’t want Amazon selling “Star Trek The Motion Picture Novelization” and CBS wanted it removed from sale and all Amazon accounts, Amazon would have to comply and those who had purchased e-copies would lose access to them.) Ebooks are digital and the path of ownership is really unclear.
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I've found two, fairly important to me, disadvantages to ebooks.
Almost all the books I've been reading for the past 5 or so years are unavailable in ebooks. I mostly read translated fiction, a lot of it's out of print or hard to source. The more modern stuff is often offered by kindle but the rabbit hole I've gone down, nope. Obviously putting all this older stuff on ebooks would be excellent for many reasons.
LENDING. I am always lending my books. And before someone says "but you can lend on kindle" nope, every single book I've bought on kindle is not in their lending category. I've read a lot of memoirs on kindle which has been great, perfect for impulse purchase because you get it instantly, but.. in a few cases I ended up buying the hard copy so I could then lend it to people. It gives me a lot of enjoyment passing books around.
The best thing about ebooks for me has been the very generous samples you can instantly download, that's been great. A lot of fun really. I had an actual kindle but I never really took to it and for some reason it seemed to lose my page a lot. It wasn't great on my eyes. But now I just have kindle on my phone and I find it very easy to read a whole book on my phone. It surprised me.
I also have some reference books for one of my hobbies on kindle and being able to search is amazing.
Almost all the books I've been reading for the past 5 or so years are unavailable in ebooks. I mostly read translated fiction, a lot of it's out of print or hard to source. The more modern stuff is often offered by kindle but the rabbit hole I've gone down, nope. Obviously putting all this older stuff on ebooks would be excellent for many reasons.
LENDING. I am always lending my books. And before someone says "but you can lend on kindle" nope, every single book I've bought on kindle is not in their lending category. I've read a lot of memoirs on kindle which has been great, perfect for impulse purchase because you get it instantly, but.. in a few cases I ended up buying the hard copy so I could then lend it to people. It gives me a lot of enjoyment passing books around.
The best thing about ebooks for me has been the very generous samples you can instantly download, that's been great. A lot of fun really. I had an actual kindle but I never really took to it and for some reason it seemed to lose my page a lot. It wasn't great on my eyes. But now I just have kindle on my phone and I find it very easy to read a whole book on my phone. It surprised me.
I also have some reference books for one of my hobbies on kindle and being able to search is amazing.
I don't own an eBook reader or a Kindle but I don't begrudge anyone who buys only eBooks and reads with a handheld device. I also don't pretend that my way of doing things(paper books) is the only good way to enjoy reading nor would I ever deign to tell anyone else that one medium or the other is objectively superior and the only way to go. If you have countless books stored on a Kindle then more power to you but please don't lecture everybody else that modern wireless technology has made traditional books obsolete and impractical.
There are advantages to using both and whomever uses which or even both doesn't make me lose any sleep at night. To each their own but nobody should take the attitude of "it's my way or the highway."
Books are learning and recreation, not Road House.
There are advantages to using both and whomever uses which or even both doesn't make me lose any sleep at night. To each their own but nobody should take the attitude of "it's my way or the highway."
Books are learning and recreation, not Road House.