Being a discussion of the various merits and drawbacks of physical books and e-books

[JWolf]

Ebooks are not real books. They are phosphorescent pixels illuminated on a light emitting diode.

pBooks are just ink on trees. In fact, the more pBooks you buy, the worse it is for planet Earth.

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.

I buy an eBook, I download that eBook and I keep it. Ido not rely on Kobo or Amazon to keep them for me. That they currently do is good, but if for some reason they don't, I still have them. Now, you want to get a copy of Star Trek: Vanguard: Declassified. The pBook is $24.99 and the eBook is $7.99. I know which I'd rather buy. also, getting older Star Trek books is not easy as pBooks but trivial as eBooks. I know not all Star Trek books are eBooks, but most are. Try starting a collection NOW and see how you get going just pBook.

 

[Captain Crow]

But eBooks are better.

That's your opinion. Not a fact.

For me physical books are better.

I prefer having a physical book over a simulated one. I don't want to have to worry about batteries or charging. They're still readable in bright lighting conditions.

Plus I get painful eye strain depending on the type of back light a device/modern monitor uses. Warm white, like my desktop monitor uses, I can look at for a couple of hours without issue. Cold White, like my phone and laptop that can convert into a tablet uses, becomes painful to look at after about 20 or 30 minutes.

You can read in the dark.

I have a little book light so can read physical books in the dark just fine.

 

[JD]

The Amazon Marketplace has very good quality used paperbacks of Vanguard Declassified for around $7 with free shipping.
Even though I'm an e-book user, I have absolutely no problem with paper books and I really don't think one is objectively better. It's all down to what your preferences are and what you are looking for out of the reading experience. For me the goods points for e-books outnumber the good points for paperback.

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.

You don't need to have a Kindle or e-reader to read e-books, they can be read on any smart phone, tablet, and some, like Kindle e-books can be read on your computer.

 

[tomswift2002]

With ebooks, and what JWolf is clearly not getting, is that you are paying for access to the book. You do not own the book, just like with movies and TV shows you “buy” from iTunes—-you are only paying for a license and you are at the mercy of the studio that owns that movie.

I remember back in the VHS era when people said they “bought” ‘The Santa Clause’ or whatever movie they owned the plastic and tape, not the movie which they licensed.

pBooks are just ink on trees. In fact, the more pBooks you buy, the worse it is for planet Earth.


I buy an eBook, I download that eBook and I keep it. Ido not rely on Kobo or Amazon to keep them for me. That they currently do is good, but if for some reason they don't, I still have them. Now, you want to get a copy of Star Trek: Vanguard: Declassified. The pBook is $24.99 and the eBook is $7.99. I know which I'd rather buy. also, getting older Star Trek books is not easy as pBooks but trivial as eBooks. I know not all Star Trek books are eBooks, but most are. Try starting a collection NOW and see how you get going just pBook.

Again you are incorrect.
You don’t own Ebooks. You only license-rent them.

 

[cooleddie74]

You don't need to have a Kindle or e-reader to read e-books, they can be read on any smart phone, tablet, and some, like Kindle e-books can be read on your computer.

Oh, I know but that's how I word myself and refer to them when talking about eBooks. I tend to lump them all together.

 

[Ovation]

Some (admittedly a quite limited number) of e-books are available in DRM-free form as PDFs (I have a number of them among my comprehensive field readings for my Ph.D.). But most are as noted above--licenced long-term use. Despite those limitations, I "own" several hundred e-books (along with about 5000 print books, so it's not like I'm textually monogamous ).

I get e-books for the following reasons:

1. "Airplane novels" I know I'll only read once...if the e-version is significantly less expensive. (Any Trek book I might read falls into this category.)
2. For work--I teach history and find it very convenient to project pages from the textbook I'm using (with highlights) from my laptop or iPad in class. Saves me from having to make powerpoint slides (which I loathe doing). I also get related texts the students don't necessarily have to read, but I can use them in class (and it saves me from lugging dozens of books around from campus to campus--I teach at 4 different ones). When sufficiently inexpensive, I get e-versions of books I already have in print for work purposes. The convenience outweighs the lack of "true ownership" (which, even with print books, is not absolute).
3. Many of the e-books I get for work are also available with an audio narration for a smallish fee (often the combined audio/e-book is less expensive than the same book only in audio--don't know why, but it works for me). Not only do I teach at 4 different campuses, 3 of them are 150km/90miles away from my house. I listen to the chapter associated with the course of the day on my way to work as a refresher, and get ahead on my way home. Turns the roughly 2 hour drive each way from a total time suck into a productive session of "reading". Can't do that with print (and I can't afford to hire someone to read to me as I drive ).
4. The significant price reduction on e-books allows me to have a much larger library for work purposes than I could otherwise afford (I don't have the book-buying budget some of my friends have where they teach, sadly, nor can I expense the books on my taxes).
5. As for the complaint about reading from an emissive display (something I have to do far too much these days with forced online teaching--thanks COVID), my Kindle Paperwhite gives me the best of both worlds. If needed, I can read it with a backlight (and night-mode is great so as to not disturb my wife who goes to bed far earlier than I do) AND I can read it in bright sunshine (the brighter the better) like a print book--something I can't do on my other Kindle-equipped devices. Plus it's waterproof (none of my print books are--I have a few "accidents" on my shelf as proof).

However, when I want to relax and read (for myself, not my work or Ph.D. research), there's nothing I like better than to grab a big, hefty tome from my one of my many shelves, pour myself a single malt, light a fire in the fireplace, and settle in for hours of enjoyment. And I am always happy to get such a tome for Christmas or my birthday.

In the end, each format has its uses and neither is "wrong" as a way to enjoy a book. I would have thought this was spectacularly self-evident. Alas, seems I was wrong.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

This all just boils down to preference. One is not better than the other. Choose the reading experience that works best for you.

That's it.

 

[Therin of Andor]

This is where I take offense. eBooks are real books.

Go ahead and take offence. One of my pleasures is wandering in bookshops. Especially second hand bookshops. It connects to me to my discovery of Trek fandom in 1979, and of spending the next four or so years buying up every Trek book I had missed.

If you are saying that only pBooks are real books, then you may as well say that only stone slabs are real books.

Where did I say that? Holding/owning a book is a tactile experience. eBooks are real books, sure, but they don't convey all of the qualities I seek. And actually, stone slabs are beautiful!

As for smell, I've read of people getting sick from smelling books because the smell was mold.

NOT mould. I'm a retired school librarian; mouldy books break my heart and have to be disposed of, in the bin. There is no saving them. But old, old books smell delightful. eBooks smell like a laptop. I read them on planes. Pre-Covid, of course.

 

[thribs]

Ebooks requires power to read while books require light.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

Ebooks requires power to read while books require light.

Which is literally the same thing if you use a a solar powered charger.

 

[cooleddie74]

As long as I can see words on a page and turn said pages the medium is irrelevant.

 

[Smiley]

I do most of my reading as ebooks for cost and space reasons. For library books, I will use whichever format is available. Some larger books with art and graphic novels make more sense to read in paper form to be easier on the eyes.

Whichever format you can and will read on is the appropriate one to choose, and you can mix it up according to the situation.

 

[David Weller]

I unexpectedly went into hospital earlier in the year and used my phone to read some of the Star Trek ebook novellas.

When I came home I reverted to pbooks.

However, I picked up a Star Trek novel to read and the print was so small I couldn’t read it even wearing my usual glasses. So I got the ebook version to read on my tablet.

Have never looked back. It’s now ebooks all the way.

 

[JWolf]

That's your opinion. Not a fact.

For me physical books are better.

I prefer having a physical book over a simulated one. I don't want to have to worry about batteries or charging. They're still readable in bright lighting conditions.

Plus I get painful eye strain depending on the type of back light a device/modern monitor uses. Warm white, like my desktop monitor uses, I can look at for a couple of hours without issue. Cold White, like my phone and laptop that can convert into a tablet uses, becomes painful to look at after about 20 or 30 minutes.

You've obviously not read with an eInk Reader. eInk is not the same as LCD. eInk is not bright and harsh. One advantage to my Kobo Aura H2O is that it's always the same size and same weight. The screen is very readable. And for those that do not care for reading on a LCD screen, eInk is the solution.

Ebooks requires power to read while books require light.

I make sure my Reader s charged enough. Also, I have a portable battery I got to go with my phone that also works with my Reader. In the car, I can charge my Reader. In a lot of airplanes I can charge my Reader. So really, I;m rarely far enough away from being able to charge my Reader. Plus, eInk Readers last a long time between charges. I can go weeks between charges. And my Reader has a light built in so I can read with just my Reader in total darkness.

 

[JWolf]

There are other advantages to eBooks not yet mentioned.

eBooks do not sell out. You do not have to order online and wait or drive to the local bookstore. When you see an eBook available for sale, you can buy it and get it now from your computer or phone.

 

[Leathco]

I prefer ebooks. The ability to carry my entire library in my pocket is huge, along with the fact that there is something RIGHT about reading Trek books on a phone or tablet. Beyond that, they take up no extra real world space, and I can read across multiple devices and they all know where I start and stop.

That being said, I do still use physical books for certain things. Playing DnD feels better using physical books, although I also keep digital copies on hand for quick lookups. Also, I love tabletop hardback books on various subjects. I keep Pat Contris guide to SNES and NES Libraries books out all the time (they review every US NES and SNES game).

 

[Therin of Andor]

Surely that's secondary, though. The purpose of books is not to have a smell or to look good on a shelf. The purpose of books is to be read. The words and ideas are the only parts that truly matter. Everything else is superficial. It's just the delivery system. You guys are arguing about the box and ignoring the contents.

I dunno. I am a school librarian. With children's picture books, everything (book design, selection of font, placement of the art, texture of the cover and paper) interrelates to enhance the reading experience. I also have many novels in my collection that I love but am actually yet to read.

 

[Avro Arrow]

eBooks do not sell out.

And yet on the Star Trek eBook sale page, every single month they include the phrase "while supplies last"...

 

[tomswift2002]

There are other advantages to eBooks not yet mentioned.

eBooks do not sell out. You do not have to order online and wait or drive to the local bookstore. When you see an eBook available for sale, you can buy it and get it now from your computer or phone.

Ebooks may not sell out, however publishers can set availability time periods. I’m just using this as an example from another digital domain, but Nintendo just released Super Mario 3-D All-Stars on the Switch in September, and said that both physical and digital would only be available until March 31, 2021. After which point both versions will be discontinued. However, after March 31if I want to, I would still be able to track down the physical version to play whereas digital, I’m out of luck.

Same with book, an e-book could be released and only out for a short time before being discontinued by the publisher or removed because of legalities or whatever. But a physical book, even if it’s out-of-print, can usually be tracked down and read, either by buying second hand or getting it from you local library or through inter-library loan.

 

[Captain Crow]

You've obviously not read with an eInk Reader. eInk is not the same as LCD. eInk is not bright and harsh. One advantage to my Kobo Aura H2O is that it's always the same size and same weight. The screen is very readable. And for those that do not care for reading on a LCD screen, eInk is the solution.

I can't justify wasting money on a single function device when I've already got multi-function devices that can do the same thing.

And to be brutally honest sometimes it just nice to do something, like reading a physical book, that doesn't require you to have your face glued to a frigging display screen.

eBooks do not sell out.

Not true.

Publishers can set an X amount of licenses that can be sold.