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eBooks vs Regular Books

I

itswoodie

New Member
Hello,
I am new to this forum, but have been interested in books my entire life. I recently purchased my computer, and have started to get accustomed to online life. One thing that has caught my attention, is the popularity of eBooks.
Not only are they cheaper then regular books, but many times you can get them sent to you immediately after you buy them which means you rarely have to wait more then 10 minutes to jump into that book u just bought. Every purchase I have made has resulted in receiving the book in minutes through my email address.

I was just curious to see what everyone on this forum thought of this growing trend. If you want, respond and let us know your feelings on which one is better. Thanks a lot!

- itswoodie




p.s. - If you are interested in some cheap eBooks, check out this link:
[ Link removed by admin - links to online auction sites are not allowed - membership agreement 3.4 ]

Available titles include: All five harry potter books, "The Hobbit", the new Bill Clinton memiors "My Life", and "The Da Vinci Code".
 
Hmmm ebooks seem ok, I dont really enjoys reading off the computer screen too much, and I love the feel of books and owning them. If you enjoy reading books online there are alot of free Ebooks on places like Bibliomania.com, and Bartleby.com just to name a couple.

Welcome!
 
Hi there :)

I don't like Ebooks that much. The computer screen has so no soul. A book is warm. A thing with a heart. The scent, the touch. You can take it anywhere. You can lend it to people. You can give a book as a gift. I love books not just for the content but for the container and what they stand for :)

Maybe I am a product of my generation though? It's interesting to think about. I'm sure people said the same of the telephone when it first came alone. Maybe the generation that is growing up now will have no problem reading from a screen.
 
If I had an ebook reader, I'd be all about it. I've read a few on my laptop, which is not particuarly comfortable. There seems to be a lot out there that is published only on ebooks as they don't fit the stardard publishing's mold.

Where's Jenna? She is our ebook guru, but only has time to pop in occasionally.
 
I wouldn't say it's a generational thing. I have been online since I was quite young, but I wouldn't contemplate owning ebooks. I just couldn't do without the feel of an actual proper book in my hand. The owning is as much a pleasure as the reading.
 
Likewise - I've been active on the WWW for as long as I can remember, but I wouldn't use/read an eBook if my life depended on it. Well, that's a bit strong, but much prefer an actual book, with pages, and a cover, and ink.

Cheers
 
I hate reading on the PC, it's less comfortable, hurts your eyes after a while and somehow it seems soulless, unlike a conventiona, printed book that you can hold and feel its presence.
 
SillyWabbit said:
Maybe I am a product of my generation though? It's interesting to think about. I'm sure people said the same of the telephone when it first came alone. Maybe the generation that is growing up now will have no problem reading from a screen.
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I don't think it's a generational thing, I'm only 21 have been accustomed to the internet for quite some time and would not contemplate giving up my books :). I agree with you that the book seems to take on some sort of extension of life, and i cannot see that happening off of a computer screen. Thumbing through the book and looking for a passage for somebody, and reading it to them out of one of my books is something I llve to do. I don't want to say, "hold on let me boot up my computer and I"ll pull up the bookmark." :( bleh

I'm with the wabbit! :cool:
 
Reading on a properly designed little Ebook reader is quite different from reading on a computer screen. And they do have an element of convenience about them. But I still like books best. It's the feel of them, and I like the look of them all lined up on the book shelf. You don't get that same buzz from a stored file.
 
True@1stLight said:
I don't think it's a generational thing, I'm only 21 have been accustomed to the internet for quite some time and would not contemplate giving up my books :). I agree with you that the book seems to take on some sort of extension of life, and i cannot see that happening off of a computer screen. Thumbing through the book and looking for a passage for somebody, and reading it to them out of one of my books is something I llve to do. I don't want to say, "hold on let me boot up my computer and I"ll pull up the bookmark." :( bleh

I'm with the wabbit! :cool:
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I agree, I'm even younger than you and practically live in front of my PC, but I still, as I said above, feel the same way about eBooks.
 
I've never tried one, but you can hardly curl up in bed or on the sofa with a great big computer monitor can you? And I should imagne e-books are pretty dangerous in the bath.
 
Freya said:
I've never tried one, but you can hardly curl up in bed or on the sofa with a great big computer monitor can you? And I should imagne e-books are pretty dangerous in the bath.
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We have another thread about this around somewhere - Jenna said she put her ebook reader in a ziplock bag for bathtime reading. :eek:

I prefer the traditional format but I'm open to the ebook idea, with the proper setup, especially as it is allowing more variation in what gets published.
 
Supposedly you will be able to one day read ebooks on the Apple Ipod. I'm getting one for my B-day in October! :) I also found a download where you can read the Bible on the Ipod.
 
I prefer books to ebooks, but I'm open to the idea, if a decent ebook reader comes out. There's nothing like having a bunch of books on your shelf, though, or holding one in your hands while reading. And, I'm so afraid that something will happen and I'll lose all my stored files (I'm not sure I could back them up enough times to feel comfortable).
 
I like ebooks. Yeah, I could keep all of my paperbacks but the must, dust, mites, yellowing pages, loaded and sagging bookshelves, ugh. My ebook reader is lighter than any paperback, and I can put a dozen or more books on it at one time. I can carry it in my pocket, purse, backpack, whatever. I can switch back and forth from book to book wherever I am. I can keep the books I like by copying them to CD - I have no idea how many books I can get on one CD yet. I can read anywhere I want to read - in bed, in the bath, on the deck, on a plane, in the car (I've heard from numerous sources that if you get car-sick reading a paperback, you don't with a reader - I don't know as I'm usually the driver, and reading and driving at the same time don't mix :) ) I just went through my sagging bookshelves and donated dozens of books. I rarely, if ever, went back and reread them. Come on, people, how many times have you gone back and re-read ALL of your books? Maybe one or two, maybe a half dozen. I'm beginning to think that people have bulging bookshelves more for the way it looks than anything else. I read a lot, but I don't need to keep a lot. Unless it's research. And even then, I curse because if I had an ebook with the research material, I could just do a find and go right to what I wanted without having to browse through pages and pages of stuff. Argh!

Also, there are people who are allergic to dust and ink, so electronic books have been a godsend. Or people who are housebound. People who are sight impaired (they can enlarge the font). People in other countries who don't want to pay the horrible shipping fees to get their books.

And consider those who have ailments where holding even a thin paperback is painful. My own mother can't hold open the pages on a book without paying the price the next day. She can hold a small ebook reader, or sit at the computer and read, however. I can't get comfortable in bed holding a paperback, because I have arthritis, and it's painful. But I can hold my ebook reader for hours and have no problems at all.

To me, a book isn't what it's printed on, but what it says to me, to my heart and soul. I can get that in paperback, hardback or electronic. Makes no difference.
 
I've just looked at a few e-readers and they look pretty nifty actually. This e-book business is nothing like what I thought it was. Infact, Jennas reply almost makes me want to try some :) I wonder if it would hurt my eyes.
 
I forgot to mention the wide range of reading material available in electronic format. You can get the classics, for free at a lot of places, and then you get the wonderful mid-list that NY doesn't seem interested in anymore unless you're a celebrity or an ex president. ;)

Mid-list like westerns, dark fantasy (vampires, werewolves, ghosts, oh my), sweet romance, scifi (other authors ARE out there!), fantasy adventure (gosh, there is someone else besides Tolkien, Pratchett, and Kay), historicals, and mixed genres. Take a gander at historical dark fantasy, historical paranormals, dark fantasy romances, dark fantasy science fiction. Not to mention if you prefer your books in plain brown paper wrappings, there are scads of erotica books out there. :D

I posted some of the books I'd read lately in electronic format that I would recommend. It was moved to the introduction section for some reason, but it's there. Might be something you would be interested in.
 
i agree with Jenna. though i love books (almost consider them my friends), i would have no problem reading them in electronic format if it were as convenient as reading a regular book. i don't have an ebook reader, but if i did i would most likely use that as often as the paper edition (would still buy paper if i found a good deal!) it's the stories that touch me, not the paper. besides, i ran out of shelf-room long ago.

many of you have probably been here, but thought i would post this link anyway for those who haven't. it's great for free classic literature:
The Literature Network
 
To me, a book isn't what it's printed on, but what it says to me, to my heart and soul. I can get that in paperback, hardback or electronic. Makes no difference.
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You have a point there.

What reader do you use?

I have thought about it, but ipaqs are quite expensive. I work away from home and take about 6 books away with me each time. I'll generally read 3-4 of them, but a cheap ipaq and a load of ebooks could be the go?
 
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