E-Books or Paper Books
- Thread starter JD
- Start date
All paper. Even if I could afford a reader for ebooks (besides just a cimputer, I don't like just sitting at a computer and reading books) I really like paperbooks. i'm that way about everything. I don't buy digital, ever. Physical media is always going to be the only way I get books, movies, music, and games.
This describes my behavior and attitude very accurately (with caveat below).
This (in both the positive and negative respects). I also do prefer having concrete representations of my investments (partly, theoretically, due to their resale value, which is a reflection of my general financial policies, not my specific attitudes towards TrekLit).
Part of my issue with ebooks is that I already spend a lot of time on screens every day, and I have found that reading ebooks cuts out a small but useful part of my day where I'm off-screen.
Of course, part of this issue is that I'm using rather old screens to read; my phone is nearly ancient at this point, and I read on a laptop of similar age. In the years since I bought these items, visual displays have vastly improved and now produce more natural images that are crisper and easier to read.
In a few years, I'll probably buy a (by that point, very out of date) iPad and I suspect I will use ebooks much more then.
Skip the iPad and buy a e-ink reader specifically for books. They are much easier on the eyes (I have both an iPad and Kindle Paperwhite) and a dedicated reader is far cheaper.
^ I've had the opposite experience - I find e-books are MUCH easier for me to read on an iPad than on a Kindle. And it's one less device you have to worry about.
Skip the iPad and buy a e-ink reader specifically for books. They are much easier on the eyes (I have both an iPad and Kindle Paperwhite) and a dedicated reader is far cheaper.
Yeah, thus far I'm with Mr. Laser Beam; I have a friend who owns one of the new iPads, and it's very easy on my eyes. Eventually I think I will buy one, but not just for reading ebooks. And I do dislike having too many devices.
But who knows? Maybe Kindles will go down in price soon enough that I'll go ahead and get that first.
For almost all new purchases, I've gone fully eBook with my iPad. I still have a lot of paperback books that I'm slowly working my way through, and there are a few special cases where I think I'd always like to have a physical copy on a shelf (The Lord of the Rings, for example). Another exception is that I pre-ordered a signed edition of Neil Gaiman's latest novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Then again, since it will be signed, I might just put that copy on a shelf and buy an eBook version for actual reading...
The trick there is that 'easier on the eye' isn't necessarily 'better on the eye'.
iPads are lovely to read on because they're lit from behind and have super high-resolution screens... but they're still screens, just like a computer, and half the problem with that is you're essentially staring at a light all day.
The Kindle isn't lit from behind (the new ones sort of are but not really) and so eye-strain wise it should be no worse than reading on paper. But stuff looks nicer all lit up on a iPad...
Your movies, music and games are all digital unless you buy vinyl records for your music.
All paperback. Still love the look of books. Still love how they feel. Still love the simplicity. I read some of these ebook threads and people talk about having to hack files and disabling this or that (and that apparently you don't actually own these ebooks but more lease them is that right?) and I think, no not for me. Sounds too complicated. I have to stare at computer screens all day. I know many of these devices don't really look like a computer screen, but I just don't care. It's still an electronic device where I have to worry about power levels and what not when it's not even necessary.
I acknowledge that ebook popularity has definitely grown, apparently so much so that I doubt we'll ever see the recent spat of ebooks come out in dead tree form, let alone the remaining ebooks from before the current regime. I'm slowly beginning to just accept that and the fact that I'll probably never read the last eight SCE ebooks or Slings and Arrows.
I do know that I can download ebooks to my iPhone and tried a sample. Didn't care for it.
I acknowledge that ebook popularity has definitely grown, apparently so much so that I doubt we'll ever see the recent spat of ebooks come out in dead tree form, let alone the remaining ebooks from before the current regime. I'm slowly beginning to just accept that and the fact that I'll probably never read the last eight SCE ebooks or Slings and Arrows.
I do know that I can download ebooks to my iPhone and tried a sample. Didn't care for it.
I voted ebook but it's not so clear cut in reality. I have a preference for ebooks because they take up less space, both in terms of storage and because I can just slip my Kindle in my bag when I go to work or out-and-about. If I've forgotten my Kindle, I use my iPhone Kindle app but it's not ideal. Still, it's fine if I'm on the metro or in a waiting room and need to pass the time somehow.
Real books are still a pleasure. I prefer academic books to be physical. It's just easier to look through quickly. If I get given a physical book, I'm happy to keep it and read it.
But for preference, I will always choose the ebook version.
Real books are still a pleasure. I prefer academic books to be physical. It's just easier to look through quickly. If I get given a physical book, I'm happy to keep it and read it.
But for preference, I will always choose the ebook version.
You don't need to do all of the hacking in order to enjoy the average e-book. As far as I know the only times people do that is if you are trying to read a e-book on a device it isn't authorized for, or trying to get into options not available on the unhacked version of the file. I've been reading e-books for years, and I have never hacked one, and I've been perfectly happy with them. I don't even know how do all of the hacking stuff that people have talked about on here.
A
Amaris
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I love my Kindle 4. I have a shelf full of books, and hundreds of paperback Star Trek books, but I hardly crack them open anymore, since I've had my Kindle. It makes reading a novel so much easier, and I carry 1,900 books on my Kindle. That's a library, and it fits in my back pocket.
I've never had to hack an ebook. With Kindle, you just go to Amazon, buy a book you like and it appears on your Kindle. You can start reading straight away.
If Amazon in your country offers free returns and refund, why not buy a Kindle just to try it. Return if you don't like it. But I bet you will keep it.
I've never had to hack an ebook. With Kindle, you just go to Amazon, buy a book you like and it appears on your Kindle. You can start reading straight away.
If Amazon in your country offers free returns and refund, why not buy a Kindle just to try it. Return if you don't like it. But I bet you will keep it.
I think the reason so many people "hack" their ebooks (which is really just copying/backing up the files to another hard drive, and removing the DRM) is because Amazon has shown more than once a willingness to go into people's accounts and remove an ebook people have paid for. Sure, they apologize for it, but they proved with no doubt that they can and will do it. That says to me that you're not buying anything more than a license.
If they'll do it once, there is nothing in the world stopping them from doing it again.
Over the last few months I've bought some more comics, and a couple of magazines for my Nook. So at this point, other than stuff I already own, I'm probably at a good 95% digital. I did buy a paper magazine last month, but now that I've read parts of one of the mags on my Nook, I don't see myself getting anymore paper ones.
Paper books. Startrek or otherwise
If by hacking, you mean removing the DRM, once setup for that, it's as easy as dragging and dropping the eBook into Calibre. That's all I do and the DRM is removed. I am then able to do with them as I want. It's not actually hacking.
The real reasons most strip the DRM is so the eBooks will still be usable in the future. If you have Kindle eBooks now and want to switch to an ePub Reader, then you'd have to have the DRM removed so you can convert to ePub. It also means that your eBooks are yours. You don't have to worry that sometime in the futureI, the DRM will prevent you from actually doing anything with them.
Take a look at Mobipocket eBooks and MS Reader eBooks... Those are eBooks a lot of people have probably lost access to.
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