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Ereaders and their fans

BookCat

BookCat

New Member
I haven't spent much time on this site for a while. This is because I've been over at a site dedicated to lovers of ebooks and ereaders. Maybe you could start a department devoted to them, to keep those of us who consider paper books to be yet more clutter.

I have friends who hate the idea of ereaders, saying that they're not REAL books, and talking about the tactile quality of dead tree books. If the writing and story is good, one forgets the medium.

If I want something to read, I just stretch out my arm, open my reader and have over 900 books to choose from. I don't have to go rummaging amongst bags of clutter.

Consider joining us on the electronic e-ink side; you'll never look back.
 
BookCat said:
I haven't spent much time on this site for a while. This is because I've been over at a site dedicated to lovers of ebooks and ereaders. Maybe you could start a department devoted to them, to keep those of us who consider paper books to be yet more clutter.
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That's not a bad suggestion.


BookCat said:
Consider joining us on the electronic e-ink side; you'll never look back.
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I agree eBooks have their place but one of those places is not in replacing my 1,500+ titles I currently own.
 
Think of all the space you'd free up. Your house would look positively HUGE!

Your paper books could be donated to charity, or a library, or some other needy cause.

And you can get so many books FOR FREE and legally; especially classics and giveaways. Of course, if you venture onto the dark side .....
 
I would venture to say that at least 30-50% or more of my books are not available on eReader format, legal or otherwise. My last estimate at replacing what was replaceable with legal versions was $8-10,000. I think I'd rather buy $8-10,000 worth of paper books and still be ahead of the game.

Besides, I can think of few things sadder than a living room with no books.
 
I don't mean to come across as an anti-eReader Luddite. I do see myself purchasing one in the near future to complement my library, just not to replace it.
 
Yes, it's true that modern books are more expensive and harder to get - sometimes impossible - in e formats, but this isn't the case with antiquated books. I agree that very old books are nice for themselves. However, I think it's dreadful that some people pay up to £5.00 for a paperback version of classics like the Brontes, Dickens, Defoe, George Eliot etc when they are freely available for nothing in well-formatted e-versions. (The great formats depends on knowing where to go.)

Personally, I would love to have the courage to trash all my paperbacks. The only reason I don't is that many of them are in copyright and not yet in legal, cheap, e versions. But I haven't read a paperbook, other than reference, since I bought my reader, two years ago.

I regard new paperbacks as clutter and inwardly moan if I'm bought one. My ereader is comforting; a large library in my hand.

Does it show that I've become a major convert?!
 
BookCat said:
Yes, it's true that modern books are more expensive and harder to get - sometimes impossible - in e formats, but this isn't the case with antiquated books. I agree that very old books are nice for themselves. However, I think it's dreadful that some people pay up to £5.00 for a paperback version of classics like the Brontes, Dickens, Defoe, George Eliot etc when they are freely available for nothing in well-formatted e-versions. (The great formats depends on knowing where to go.)

Personally, I would love to have the courage to trash all my paperbacks. The only reason I don't is that many of them are in copyright and not yet in legal, cheap, e versions. But I haven't read a paperbook, other than reference, since I bought my reader, two years ago.

I regard new paperbacks as clutter and inwardly moan if I'm bought one. My ereader is comforting; a large library in my hand.

Does it show that I've become a major convert?!
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I know how and where to get free digital books but I just like the feel of a real book.

And I agree with what sparkchaser said: my room would look naked without books.
 
BookCat,

I don't see anything wrong at all with being a major convert.

Like Sparky, I wouldn't be surprised to see my self owning one sometime in the near to medium future. In my case, just sort of because.

But it wouldn't address my major issue, which is having the time to read the backlog of unread books that I already own. And if it made buying new books easier or cheaper, that is already something that I do not personally need help with; the 900 books that you mentioned would already take me at least 20 to 40 years to read. I need a time machine, not a reading machine. Yet I continue to buy books, because there are always interesting new ones out there and I guess I am just a book nut.

A further thought, whimsical this time. If I knew which new books I bought that I would never get around to reading, then I could purchase them for an e-reader and, when it was full, throw it away. That would save shelf space. And clutter.

Note: If someone thinks this post is off topic, or a threadkiller, please just delete it and spare me the catcalls. I offer it simply as one indication of the diversity in the market that an e-reader faces.

Happy reading,
Peder
 
I love my e-book reader. What's not to like about being able to carry around 1500 books in your purse. Now just for the record, I don't have 1500 books on my e-book reader. But I do have over 100.
 
I think it would suck if you lost 1500 books when your eReader gets lost, stolen, or broken. I understand you can always download them again, but the reader ain't free.
 
I am someone that has to look at monitors all day long. So, when I want to read (for enjoyment purposes) there is something refreshing about picking up a book (hardcover or paperback). I have tried ebooks on the computer and even ereaders. They are way cool and technology is great. For me though, escaping modern day technology is how I will do it until they stop printing on paper all together.
 
I have an e-redaer that I got for my thirtieth and, whilst it's very cool to keep in my bag or by the bed so that I don't have to plan in advance what sort of book I'll be in the mood for when it's just not practical to carry all my books about, I wouldn't ever converts wholly to it.

I like to annotate as I go along in a lot o my books (a cursed habit picked up from uni) and, though my ereader has the facility to make notes, it's not a quick process and the qwerty keyboard is too small for quick typing.

Also, the ereader just doesn't smell as good as a 'real' book and, since none of my friends have one, I can't share any really good books on it with my friends, as I would with my books.
 
i really like the feel of the kindle. the screen is very clear and it looks nice. I think what really holds me back from using my kindle more is the fact that i really enjoy going to the book store and walking around and looking at different books until one strikes my fancy. I can't do that with the kindle, so it makes it harder for me to want to buy ebooks for it. Whenever I get around to getting an ebook for it I always enjoy it because it does make reading books nice. If hard copies of books came with a ebook version, i would probably always use the ebook version when I bought hard copies of books at the bookstore
 
When I moved across country this past April, I donated most of my paper books to charity, mostly to avoid the expense of moving them. My very favorites (and the ones it took me months to track down) I kept. But the Kindle has changed my life. As I age, my eyes have more trouble seeing the tiny print in mass market paperbacks. Now I buy 95% of my books in .MOBI or Kindle format. The few paperbacks I've purchased (because they didn't come in an ebook) are still on my to-read list.

My 76-year-old mom feels the same way about her Kindle. She used to read voraciously, and then started having more and more trouble with the paperbacks. Now she's back to devouring books, and they don't stack up beside her bed and create piles for me to have to haul to the library every couple of months. :p
 
Blindsided said:
I think what really holds me back from using my kindle more is the fact that i really enjoy going to the book store and walking around and looking at different books until one strikes my fancy. I can't do that with the kindle, so it makes it harder for me to want to buy ebooks for it.
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I still go to the bookstore! I just don't buy the books I find until I get back home. :D
 
Peder said:
Two e-readers? The thought of unbacked-up electronic files gives me the shudders.
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I don't know about the Nook but Amazon lets you re-download what you bought in case you lose it.

If your eReader has a removable flash card, backing up is simple and painless. The Kindle for whatever reason doesn't have removable flash storage. The bastiges.
 
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