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Preferred format of reading


PCK

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E-books for me. I read primary in English, but because it's not my native language, ease of looking up an occasional unknown word is crucial. I have no sentimental feelings towards physical books.

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I borrow books from the library and rarely buy them anymore.  An ereader could possibly happen in the future, but paper, print and all that goes with it is my first love. 

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Kindle is what I use when reading fiction.  I read faster, love being able to change the font size for my aging eyes, and it's great being able to shift from the e-ink Kindle tablet to the app on my phone.

For anything that is "non-linear" reading (e.g., a reference work, a collection of works, etc), I want print.  Same goes if graphics are involved throughout the work.  Print all day.

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21 hours ago, Nasty LongRider said:

I borrow books from the library and rarely buy them anymore.  An ereader could possibly happen in the future, but paper, print and all that goes with it is my first love. 

Those are words I could have written myself. My wife gets annoyed if I bring too many hooks home though. I have a tablet now and have an e- reader app on it. Project Gutenberg is where I download a lot of books now. I just finished She and am reading the journals of Marco Polo now. 

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2 hours ago, maarsen said:

Those are words I could have written myself. My wife gets annoyed if I bring too many hooks home though. I have a tablet now and have an e- reader app on it. Project Gutenberg is where I download a lot of books now. I just finished She and am reading the journals of Marco Polo now. 

Sites like PG are such a great resource.  What an ereader would be good for is expanding ones borrowing capability.  Access, that's where the rubb---eh, the print meets the paper.    :D

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A friend has just illustrated another reason why I prefer books to eReaders.  None of the problems she mentions exist with books:

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My Samsung tablet stopped charging earlier this week and is now useless.  I've tried all on the hacks available on the internet but no luck.

So I turned to my long ignored laptop and soon remembered why I switched to the tablet - it is infected with so many virus it no longer functions and it overheats.  I'm currently running the 12 hour and outdated Clamwin scan - it won't connect to the Internet until it is cleaned up so I can't get the updates. 

Hopefully [her husband] will take them to work tomorrow and resurrect one of them.

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4 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Your physical books are also useless if your house burns down or they get water damaged in flooding. But unlike e-books there is no way of recovering them...

Good reasons for reading library books, if those things happen at the library, and they do, the loss is theirs and not yours. 

I don't really have big issues with ereaders since they can be used to borrow books too.  I just like 'real' books better. 

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4 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Your physical books are also useless if your house burns down or they get water damaged in flooding. But unlike e-books there is no way of recovering them...

What Helena said. I don't have piles of books all over my house gathering dust -- or bookworms -- or mold -- or cat pee. I don't have to move hundreds of pounds of books, or build bookshelves, or carve out space for storage boxes. I don't have to worry about a fire hazard. I own -- literally -- several thousands of books in ebook and/or audio format, all in the tiny space taken up by my laptop. And I can't lose them, whether they're from Amazon or elsewhere, because I keep backups -- which also take miniscule amounts of space. And I can cart ALL of them on vacation with me, if I so choose, without weighing down my luggage or giving myself a hernia by stuffing books into a purse or backpack.

 

Seriously -- what's not to love?

 

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So I turned to my long ignored laptop and soon remembered why I switched to the tablet - it is infected with so many virus it no longer functions and it overheats.  I'm currently running the 12 hour and outdated Clamwin scan - it won't connect to the Internet until it is cleaned up so I can't get the updates. 

That's why God invented Macintosh. B)

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22 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

A friend has just illustrated another reason why I prefer books to eReaders.  None of the problems she mentions exist with books:

This. Technology has its uses, but in this case technology isn't necessary. We have books, we don't need other devices to emulate books. At least not for me, I'm constantly frustrated at technology and any chance to be free of it is something I enjoy.

21 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Your physical books are also useless if your house burns down or they get water damaged in flooding. But unlike e-books there is no way of recovering them...

Fair enough point, but if you just buy paperbacks, or even standard hardcovers in some case, they are cheap and easy to replace. I'm also not much of a "collector" so it isn't too hard for me to get another copy of books I absolutely must own - grabbing another The Lord of the Rings isn't too hard for me. Amazon is also a great tool if you can't find the particular book you want in your local Chapters, or so. Just my opinion. Besides, does house damage like that occur that often that it should be a concern?

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34 minutes ago, Maelys I Blackfyre said:

This. Technology has its uses, but in this case technology isn't necessary. We have books, we don't need other devices to emulate books. At least not for me, I'm constantly frustrated at technology and any chance to be free of it is something I enjoy.

Fair enough point, but if you just buy paperbacks, or even standard hardcovers in some case, they are cheap and easy to replace. I'm also not much of a "collector" so it isn't too hard for me to get another copy of books I absolutely must own - grabbing another The Lord of the Rings isn't too hard for me. Amazon is also a great tool if you can't find the particular book you want in your local Chapters, or so. Just my opinion. Besides, does house damage like that occur that often that it should be a concern?

No it doesn't, but that was my point. It's also exceedingly unusual that you lose all possibility of recovering your ebooks just because a device is broken. They are linked to your account - Amazon, Kobo, etc. Just because my iPad breaks, and maybe my laptop is down too, doesn't mean I lost those files. I still have them, I just need to access my account again.

And while we may not need technology, it makes buying and carrying around books so much easier. If I want to read War and Peace on my commute, it's not exactly practical to lug it around in my bag and try to prop it open during rush hour on the tube. Whereas with an e-reader it's much easier. Same with travelling. If I'm on an extended journey I like to carry a lot of books. Having an ereader means I have an entire library and none of the book weight. Carrying around the number of physical books I want to read on a long journey is just not practical.

I do like physical copies of books. I find it easier reading print, which is why my university textbooks are always physical copies. But you have to be awfully stubborn to ignore the fact that ereaders and ebooks are very useful and more practical for the majority of readers.

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25 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said:

No it doesn't, but that was my point. It's also exceedingly unusual that you lose all possibility of recovering your ebooks just because a device is broken. They are linked to your account - Amazon, Kobo, etc. Just because my iPad breaks, and maybe my laptop is down too, doesn't mean I lost those files. I still have them, I just need to access my account again.

And while we may not need technology, it makes buying and carrying around books so much easier. If I want to read War and Peace on my commute, it's not exactly practical to lug it around in my bag and try to prop it open during rush hour on the tube. Whereas with an e-reader it's much easier. Same with travelling. If I'm on an extended journey I like to carry a lot of books. Having an ereader means I have an entire library and none of the book weight. Carrying around the number of physical books I want to read on a long journey is just not practical.

I do like physical copies of books. I find it easier reading print, which is why my university textbooks are always physical copies. But you have to be awfully stubborn to ignore the fact that ereaders and ebooks are very useful and more practical for the majority of readers.

Yeah, but how often is there a fire or flood that destroys every book you own?  Buying a new device is pricier (which you have to have to get access to your stored library) than replacing one book, which is what people usually lose to accidents, isn't it?

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6 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Yeah, but how often is there a fire or flood that destroys every book you own?  Buying a new device is pricier (which you have to have to get access to your stored library) than replacing one book, which is what people usually lose to accidents, isn't it?

It might be more common but it's still not that frequent an occurrence. Not much more risky than possible damage to a book (I recall going on holiday when I was younger, I had three books with me and through a combination my own stupidity and misfortune, all of them were ruined. One by a bottle of sun cream leaking in the bag, one from water damage, the other I left in the sun and the pages came away from the binding. That one at least was recoverable). In addition to that, I mostly use my the kobo and kindle apps on my iPad now. So if it was damaged I would be replacing it anyway (it's handy if I need to access various files I downloaded but don't want to carry my laptop). E-readers and tablets aren't cheap but they aren't massively expensive anymore either. Some of them are about the price of two hardback books. 

I suppose my point is that there is a risk of having to replace your device, but it's not a big one, and i would say it's worth it for the benefits you get 

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A laptop is not an eReader, and neither is a Samsung tablet.  That's like printing a copy of a book on letter/A4 paper and then complaining that it's awkward to hold and the pages get mixed up.  

A Kindle or a Nook are much more reliable, stable, persistent, comfortable to hold, easy on the eyes, etc.  And what you save in convenience and reduced expenses of acquiring & storing physical books will more than offset the cost to upgrade your eReader every 5-10 years. 

There are legitimate reasons to prefer books, but let's not dabble in straw men. 

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6 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Yeah, but how often is there a fire or flood that destroys every book you own?  Buying a new device is pricier (which you have to have to get access to your stored library) than replacing one book, which is what people usually lose to accidents, isn't it?

You don't need to buy a new device. I can read ebooks on my laptop, Kindle, or phone -- if one dies, I can still read on the other two. And as already mentioned, ereaders are very cheap these days -- some Kindles sell for as low as $40 new when there's a good sale, $80 when there isn't. That's less than the cost of three or four hardbacks. If I lose one box of hardcopy books because the cat peed on them (and I have!), that's easily a couple hundred bucks -- especially if they were hardbacks. If the cat pees on my Kindle, I can replace it for $40-$80. No comparison.

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11 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

But you have to be awfully stubborn to ignore the fact that ereaders and ebooks are very useful and more practical for the majority of readers.

Are we talking about what we prefer personally, or what majority of readers find very useful and more practical?

There's no denying it's way more practical to have one e-reader with all my books than keeping all my books on shelves but I'm too used to reading printed books. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've ever finished reading a books in digital format. It just feels weird to me to read the book on screen.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must say I've never tried Kindle or any similar device and am talking about reading books on my computer.

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