eBooks, Yes or No?

[ValHallaGirl]

There's no backlight on a Kindle so it won't bother your eyes..you need a booklight at night. I get a lot of free books from amazon as well and most of them are pretty good .. plus they have some books that are free all the time like classics! There are some other sites(i.e.smashwords and Author sites ) of self published authors have free books or promos of a series where one or 2 are free. Anyway i do love the paper books but mine are usually so big and if i go out of town or something(i do a lot) i don't want to have to lug a bunch of books with me i read a book every 1-2 days. The Kindle battery lasts like four days without a recharge so this is good too. There are some awesome kindle skins and covers out there to keep it safe as well.
So ... I love my old paper books sometimes i still buy them but, i usually get e-books and i can save most of them to a flash drive or external hard drive. Having e-books also is good because i don't have room for my books.. most of them are packed away in storage gonk I would LOVE a library of my own someday (the paper kind), a room full of shelves with books on them. -sigh-  

[celesi]

I'm torn. I love the physical comfort and smell of a paper book, but I am growing addicted to the various ebooks.

To answer what some people said on the first few pages, I think we need a general, non-reader specific vendor. Amazon caters to kindles, B&N to Nooks, and I don't even know what Borders new reader is called. To make it better, I think this mythical vendor should have a record on our individual accounts of which books we've bought so when the device does malfunction, you don't lose however much money you've spent.

As for sunlight or tiny screen, google ereader comparison. The iPad's bigger than a sheet of paper and has adjustable lighting. The Sony Reader and Kindle use e-ink which is easier on the eyes than a lit page. You can read your books on your tiny phone or ipod or put (some formats) onto your computer.

I'm really upset that Amazon removed all buy links from a publisher, not just ebooks this year when rumors Apple would let publishers set their own prices.

ebooks are not perfect. I have yet to read one book without some sort of punctuation or spelling error.

But I advise you look at your school or local library. Several communities are experimenting with lending out ereaders and ebooks.

Whether you want to use ebooks or not, this new evolution of books is going to affect how books are priced, sold and created. I pray for the day you get a free ebook version with a $25 hardcover. That would make me willing to buy hardcovers again.  

[Bee 1704]

ebooks are cheaper, i'll give you that much, but I much prefer the legit copy. I think its a preference thing, based on how much you read and generally when you were born. I think that the iGeneration is more apt to the ebooks or e or i anything really.  

[Miss Shelock Holmes]

I'm torn as well, I love the feel of books but ebooks are easier to carry around and pack for trips.

So, I am going to say

normal books for home

Ebooks for the road  

[the_forgotten_thought]

i personally don't like them. while yes, it is cheaper, i tend to go to libraries. not to mention that my friends typically read books similar to my taste, so i can always borrow a few for free.

additionally, i am the type of person who likes the feeling of the pages in my hand as i'm trying to complete a chapter. i would never have the patience during the climax of a book for the next page to load, either.

plus, being a student, i prefer having the highlighted pages with notes physically in front of me. i know a woman who owns a kindle, and while you can highlight and add notes, i don't write down the pages i'm going to use until an essay is assigned, and it would take me forever to find out exactly where the passage i wanted to use was.

nothing could ever replace paper books for me. kindles and such aren't going to acquire that well-used, seasoned book scent that i've grown to love. i may be from the generation infatuated by technology, but this just isn't my cup of tea.  

[Seirya]

Celesi: I don't think it's a question of finding a non-device-specific book vendor, but rather a device that doesn't run a narrow range of ebook formats. There are plenty of free ebooks out there as well, commonly in ePub, pdf and .txt and .doc formats, but not all ebook readers cover them all.

Also, I think the common practice to prevent losing books/data you've brought is to back them up on your main computer... Most of the recently released ebook readers allow you to sync your device with your computer 'library'.


In general:
I like the direction the ebook reader market is taking, but I don't think I'll actually buy a reader until the technology is better.
I recently tried both the iPad and Borders new ebook readers when I was in store, and in both cases I wasn't completely sold for both. Sure, the iPad used a natural motion to turn the page, and it was nice and big, but it's expected battery life was a mark against it. The Borders one had a smaller than comfortable screen, but it wasn't nearly as aggravating as the grandma-quality resolution- at anything smaller than size 16 font, you started to lose sharpness. Font size 10 was terrible.

In the meantime, I'll stick to a mix of paperbacks and ebooks read on my pc.  

[Lunar Kissed]

I confess that I haven't really read my Alura-tek much and I've had it for a few years now. I thought I was satisfied with it, but then I got a Kindle. heart I've read more on my Kindle in a month than an entire year with my other e-reader.

I still read physical books, but I am liking e-books too. Although my favorite stories need a hardcover/paperback version on my shelves.