I am not promoting piracy.
I must take issue with your words tho.
Wouldnt a Kindle in fact be a very good for a pirate to buy?
I am not promoting piracy.
I must take issue with your words tho.
Wouldnt a Kindle in fact be a very good for a pirate to buy?
Whereas some hardbacks are large enough to be unwieldy. For such a doorstop-size tome, an e-reader might be a more comfortable experience.
On the other hand, I'm of the opinion that the rise of e-books will enable novellas to become a viable format again. There's very little print market for novellas anymore; most magazines won't take anything over 10,000 words due to space limitations and you can rarely find a novel shorter than 60,000 anymore.
That's cool. I like the idea of readers learning something from their fiction (which is why I include science annotations for my novels), and I was raised in a house where there was always a dictionary close at hand for looking up words.
Although just clicking the word on the page and getting a definition lacks that sense of occasion and adventure I had as a child. "What does this word mean? Quick -- to the dictionary!"
That's... actually a little creepy. They're watching you! They know what page you're on!
Well for me the two biggest reasons for loving my Nook are portabilit and ease of use. With my Nook I can baisically carry an entire library with me where ever I go. I can switch books with just a couple quick commands, instead of having to go digging through a crowded bookcase. I don't have to worry about dropping my bookmark and losing my place. Every book I read is the same size, and weighs very little and for someone with medical problems that sometimes make it hard to hold books open, that is a very very big plus. When I'm in really bad shape I don't even have to use my hands at all, I can just it down in front of me and not have to worry about breaking the spine, and if I have to set it down at a distance that makes it hard to see the standard text size, I can just make it bigger. Honestly, I think the Ereaders are one of the greatest inventions for disabled readers. My Nook is my favorite piece of tech I have ever bought, and I don't think that will be changing anytime soon.
Sure, if you wanted to steal books, any brand of ereader would be a good thing for a pirate to have. I'm just saying that it wouldn't be a good selling point. Can you see Barnes & Noble or Amazon putting out commercials saying "Buy our product and you'll never have to buy another book again because you can just steal them from the Internet and read them for free"
I was just confused by your original post. It didn't really seem to make a whole lot of sense to me. What exactly does "Books cost money, ebooks can not." mean anyway?
I'm sorry if you weren't referring to piracy. I'm glad you weren't. It's just that your post wasn't very clear and I don't think there were too many who knew exactly what it was you were referring to. I certainly didn't.
- Byron
There are many reasons why I prefer to read books on my Kindle or iPad. The main reasons are
1) my foremost reason is being able to increase the font size. I have poor eyesight and choosing a larger font means I no longer have to suffer headaches when I read. Since get my iPad and Kindle I have doubled the amount of books I read simply because it is so much easier to read.
2) cheapness of books. Books in Australia are about the dearest in the English speaking world. i used to have to buy books from Amazon.com and pay for international postage. I also bought from Book Depository, they have free postage but their prices are higher than Amazon.
3) Storage space. i can now reserve my limited remaining shelf space for art books, nature books etc rather than having to use it for the novels I want to keep.
4) ease of carrying. my Kindle takes up less space in my handbag than most paperbacks and I am not limited to the choice of only one book if I am out.
1) my foremost reason is being able to increase the font size. I have poor eyesight and choosing a larger font means I no longer have to suffer headaches when I read. Since get my iPad and Kindle I have doubled the amount of books I read simply because it is so much easier to read.
2) cheapness of books. Books in Australia are about the dearest in the English speaking world. i used to have to buy books from Amazon.com and pay for international postage. I also bought from Book Depository, they have free postage but their prices are higher than Amazon.
3) Storage space. i can now reserve my limited remaining shelf space for art books, nature books etc rather than having to use it for the novels I want to keep.
4) ease of carrying. my Kindle takes up less space in my handbag than most paperbacks and I am not limited to the choice of only one book if I am out.
In addition to pretty much everything everyone else has said . . .
I've liked having instant access to "out of the way" books. A few times I've run across a book online that sounded interesting and been reading it literally a couple minutes later, even if it's not a mainstream book. In hard copy, at the very least getting a book involves a trip to a book store, but with books that aren't mainstream, it often involves either a special order at the book store or an online order.
For that matter, we're getting to the point that a fair number of books are ebook-only, so even if you don't fully abandon printed books, having an e-reader gives you access to some stuff to which you wouldn't otherwise have access.
Finally, to expand on something some other people were talking about, there truly is a lot of free, legal content out there for e-readers. Even if you limit yourself to the public domain, there's a fair bit of money to be saved by getting free ebooks versus purchasing hard copies.
But you don't need to limit yourself to the public domain. The Baen Free Library offers tons of non-public domain books for free, usually the first book or two of a series, with the intention of generating sales for later books. That sort of free sample program, while not common, isn't limited to Baen.
I've even run into an ebook or two released free via the Creative Commons license. Specifically and appropriately, Lawrence Lessig's Free Culture is available free of charge in PDF.
The point is that you can pretty quickly recoup the $80 outlay for your e-reader with quality, professional content.
I've liked having instant access to "out of the way" books. A few times I've run across a book online that sounded interesting and been reading it literally a couple minutes later, even if it's not a mainstream book. In hard copy, at the very least getting a book involves a trip to a book store, but with books that aren't mainstream, it often involves either a special order at the book store or an online order.
For that matter, we're getting to the point that a fair number of books are ebook-only, so even if you don't fully abandon printed books, having an e-reader gives you access to some stuff to which you wouldn't otherwise have access.
Finally, to expand on something some other people were talking about, there truly is a lot of free, legal content out there for e-readers. Even if you limit yourself to the public domain, there's a fair bit of money to be saved by getting free ebooks versus purchasing hard copies.
But you don't need to limit yourself to the public domain. The Baen Free Library offers tons of non-public domain books for free, usually the first book or two of a series, with the intention of generating sales for later books. That sort of free sample program, while not common, isn't limited to Baen.
I've even run into an ebook or two released free via the Creative Commons license. Specifically and appropriately, Lawrence Lessig's Free Culture is available free of charge in PDF.
The point is that you can pretty quickly recoup the $80 outlay for your e-reader with quality, professional content.
A topic that may interest the people in this thread looking to get a good ereader/tablet for cheap. Though the price has risen a bit since the topic was started, it's still a good deal.
http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=152064
http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=152064
In addition to everything else everyone has already mentioned, I have to add my two cents.
I'm currently spending two years abroad in Korea teaching English, and since I've been here I've read very nearly 100 books. I love having access to any new book I like, and especially being able to read a ton of Trek books while abroad is amazing! Not to mention the many pubic-domain books available. When I first got here, I read a lot of Twain and Dickens. I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I didn't have my Kobo Touch! (/advertisement mode)
Seriously though, the thought of transporting a library with me when I move to a non-English speaking country? No way. For the amount I read, I'm so glad to have an e-reader.
I'm currently spending two years abroad in Korea teaching English, and since I've been here I've read very nearly 100 books. I love having access to any new book I like, and especially being able to read a ton of Trek books while abroad is amazing! Not to mention the many pubic-domain books available. When I first got here, I read a lot of Twain and Dickens. I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I didn't have my Kobo Touch! (/advertisement mode)
Seriously though, the thought of transporting a library with me when I move to a non-English speaking country? No way. For the amount I read, I'm so glad to have an e-reader.
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I love my Sony PRS-300. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You can literally buy them for $20 on eBay. I bought one for my mom and one for my best friend.
Yeah, this is another plus for me too. There are quite a few books in my wishlist that I probably never would have had access to if it weren't for the Nook.
Another plus I forgot about, the ability to get instant access to the books I want to read. I don't drive and I live at home so I pretty much have to rely on my mom to drive me where I want to go, and now that I have my Nook I don't have to bug her to take me to the bookstore every time I want a new book. And I don't have to worry about the book I want being in stock, as long as it's available in Epub, PDF, or a couple other formats, the stores will never run out of copies.
^ Put me in with that as well. I could never find a copy of "The Final Reflection," but I finally read it this year thanks to the Kobo bookstore.
Check out www.pixelofink.com They're free for a certain amount of time for both Kindle and Nook. Though it;'s not a very long list.
I have a Sony Reader PRS-650 and I also have the light cover. So I can read in any light conditions. Take your paper book (pBook) and try that without having to also carry around a separate clip-on light.
Also, when I travel or even read away from home, I don't have to cart around multiple books. 1 book weighs as much as 100 books.
eink is easy on the eyes. The 650 is lighter then most hardcovers. It is easier to read in bed with my 650 then a hardcover.
And one other reason in favor of eBooks. They don't go out of print. It's easier to get out of print Star trek books as eBooks then it is to find them used.
Also, when I travel or even read away from home, I don't have to cart around multiple books. 1 book weighs as much as 100 books.
eink is easy on the eyes. The 650 is lighter then most hardcovers. It is easier to read in bed with my 650 then a hardcover.
And one other reason in favor of eBooks. They don't go out of print. It's easier to get out of print Star trek books as eBooks then it is to find them used.
If it happens, I don't think the major publishers will be involved. Their recent attempts aren't providing enough value for money, at least for me.
I've been on the fence lately and my main concerns are that if the publishers or Government, etc want to pull a book, they could. There would be certain books I'd keep in print format, no matter what, but I have some print books that are sentimental to me because they were gifts and you can't do that with a Kindle.
I may be thought of as odd for this, but it's what I've been contemplating on this subject lately.
I may be thought of as odd for this, but it's what I've been contemplating on this subject lately.
If your reader gets wet, it can be damaged. Where did you get this wrong information? You have to protect your electronics in bad weather.
For me its:
Storage Space
Being able to carry around thousands of books with me at any given time
Being able to customise the way the text appears on the page
Built in dictionary
Ability to search
Storage Space
Being able to carry around thousands of books with me at any given time
Being able to customise the way the text appears on the page
Built in dictionary
Ability to search
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