rpggal she/her Posted October 1, 2012 Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 Which do you prefer? E-books or paperbooks? For me, it is a draw. I love the convenience of ebooks and the feel of paper books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voidus Posted October 1, 2012 Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 Paper all the way. Sometimes I'll get an ebook but I'll always try to get a hard copy as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RenegadeShroom Posted October 1, 2012 Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 Ebooks are much more useful, being smaller, and you can pretty much have a portable library with you all the time with an ebook. But paper simply feels better, I reckon, and feeling how heavy the book is, cracking it open, and that new paper smell are all amazing things. Both have their benefits and downsides, but the ebook is more practical and whatnot, while paper has more emotion and feeling attached to it. :3 Having said that, I favour paper myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenith Posted October 3, 2012 Report Share Posted October 3, 2012 Paper, every time. I like to read in a bath (it's relaxing ), and you just don't DO that with ebooks (or audiobooks for that matter). Either way, I do like bookmarking, sometimes the feel, sometimes even the smell. Besides, why mess with all those weird controls? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eerongal he/him Posted October 3, 2012 Report Share Posted October 3, 2012 yup, paper for me too. I just prefer thumbing through a book as opposed to carrying around a tablet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trizee Posted October 3, 2012 Report Share Posted October 3, 2012 I also prefer physical books, if only because they're much easier to flip through- I can flip back to look something up much more easily than in an e-book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KChan she/her Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 For me, nothing can ever beat paper books. I love the feel, the smell, the funny looks I get when I pull out my Way of Kings hardcover to read in public... Plus, you know, not having to stop reading while the plane is taking off, or worrying about my book running out of battery. That said, I find that ebooks are handy to have on hand for theorizing and looking up quick references. For that reason, I like having Brandon's works both as ebooks and physical copies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inkthinker Posted October 17, 2012 Report Share Posted October 17, 2012 Paper when I can, but ebooks are rapidly taking over my "new books" section, which used to be about the hardbounds. Ebooks are cheaper on same-day release and weigh a LOT less than a new hardback book. Still, given the same price point, I'll go for paper most times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thought Posted October 17, 2012 Report Share Posted October 17, 2012 Both. E-books are far superior for ease of integration into life (especially if you have a smartphone), while paperbooks are far superior for the collector in me. I would LOVE to pay extra to get both a hard copy and an electronic copy. Alas, companies seem to not want my money. Silly mortals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EHyde she/her Posted October 17, 2012 Report Share Posted October 17, 2012 I just started reading ebooks in the last month and I have to say I like them a lot, but they'll never completely replace paper for me. I, too, like to read in the bath and yeah, electronics don't work so well for that. But I really like the feature that the Kindle has (don't know of other e-readers do, though I'd assume so) where you can highlight stuff and then view everything you've highlighted in one place online. I've found that quite useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yamato Posted October 17, 2012 Report Share Posted October 17, 2012 The thing about paper books, only the book enthusiasts really have a fiery dedication to them, the new generations have a rapidly declining interest in literature. The people who don't grow up with paper books, and had fond memories of cracking open a book on a rainy sunday (or for me, sunny saturday) will not buy many paper books, unless they read so little that buying paper books is actually LESS than the cost of paying for a E-reader. Even me, someone who loves reading more than anything in the world, I buy Ebook because I read so much (9-12 books a week) that the cost would be (and has been) astronomically more. Now that I have things besides books I want to buy, I am loath to pay 5-13 dollars more simply for nostalgia. I still spend most of my money on books, so why pay so much more for new books? On the other hand, there are some books I will NEVER buy in ebook form, no matter how cheap, because the memories of reading them in paper form are so powerful. Basically, we need to make more people read. Otherwise, the paper book industry, and the book industry at large is doomed. And I literally could not live without books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenith Posted October 17, 2012 Report Share Posted October 17, 2012 The traitor! It's not simply nostalgia but functionality! You can use them at school! People comment on them when you use them! First things first: I love books. I, however, get new books so rarely that it still "makes sense" to get paper books. Plus, the e-readers have that yucky battery life issue. You'll never hear "Oh no, I can't read this book, right here in my hand, because it ran out of battery!" ..... Plus, if you want TeS, you need a paper book. There are all sorts of reasons to get one over an ebook, not simply nostalgia. Most people I know use paper books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yamato Posted October 17, 2012 Report Share Posted October 17, 2012 The price is most definently the biggest thing for me. I charge my kindle every night, so it's never a problem. I never buy Sanderson books on Kindle. Except for Mistborn 1. Most people I know who use paper books don't read nearly as fast as me. I spend a ton a month on books even when buying ebooks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thought Posted October 18, 2012 Report Share Posted October 18, 2012 Yamato, the actual cost difference between a dead-tree version of a book and an electronic version of the same book is actually relatively minor when compared to the total cost of the book. People expect ethereal things, like ebooks, to cost less than "real" books, because hey, you didn't get anything real. Its harder to sell them at the same price, so often ebooks are slightly discounted. Unfortunately, the margin of profit on books is already relatively small. Companies that deeply discount ebooks essentially give the finger to publishers. If companies like TOR can't make a successful and profitable transaction to the ebook market, then they'll go out of business. That won't be the end of books, of course, but rather the filter between what is worth reading and what is horrible will be removed, making it harder to find anything of value. It will also be harder for good authors to make a living at writing, because instead of having to impress a relatively small industry's worth of editors to be marketed, they have to market themselves against potentially less talented but richer competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KChan she/her Posted October 18, 2012 Report Share Posted October 18, 2012 Let's not forget that not everyone likes to stare at a screen all day. Even with e-ink technology, which claims to be just like paper, my eyes can still tell the difference, and they feel strained a lot sooner than with good old-fashioned ink on paper. Those backlit models like Nook Color and Kindle Fire? Forget it. It's the same reason I can't read on the computer for very long without getting a headache. Some people can handle it just fine, but others, not so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Yasha she/her Posted October 18, 2012 Report Share Posted October 18, 2012 When you have a long journey or have nowhere to charge your electronic device it can be a hassle. Plus if you're like me who forgets to recharge his phone before going out you have a real nightmare on your hands. I don't want to spend two hours on a damnation train with nothing to read. You only read one book at a time anyway so it isn't that much of a burden to carry around. Besides, nothing can beat the feel and the smell of a book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yamato Posted October 18, 2012 Report Share Posted October 18, 2012 Hmm... very good point. That puts me in a dilemma though. Do I save money, or do I help publishers? Personally, I get a lot of books through the library, but I also buy a lot of both mass market paperbacks, ebooks, and some hardcovers on special book releases. I probably overstated my ebook buying habits. That said, it saves the environment to do ebooks, as the total cost to society is more when buying paper books, as the cost of processing trees, killing them, and using chemicals and plastics for the covers is environmentally huge. I'm not going to say my initial decision to buy ebooks was environment based, as that would be a dumb lie, but the reason I keep buying some is because partially the price, but also the additional societal costs that I am learning more and more about. Yes, I would love to see Tor get their fair share, but I would advocate opening up their own ebook store as opposed to making paper books. I also think that is stupid and greedy for a company to expect the same money for a book that costs so much less to make. Yes, Amazon is most definently NOT giving enough, but i don't see how it is anything other than greed when Tor wants the exact same price as solid form for a commodity that costs so much less to produce. I feel like publishers need to band together to get Amazon to fold, rather than relying on paper, since ebooks are actually great for a modern society, since we take up too much trees to ever promote paper books in a society far larger than when they were created. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EHyde she/her Posted October 18, 2012 Report Share Posted October 18, 2012 Another advantage that paper books have I've found, is that public libraries are still mostly paper books. For someone who reads a lot, I don't actually buy new books very much; I get a lot of books from the library. Though some libraries are starting to build ebook collections, most are still pretty small. And you really don't see people selling used ebooks either. Libraries, it's just a matter of people catching up with the technology, but I don't see reselling ebooks ever really being a thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenith Posted October 18, 2012 Report Share Posted October 18, 2012 Another advantage that paper books have I've found, is that public libraries are still mostly paper books. For someone who reads a lot, I don't actually buy new books very much; I get a lot of books from the library. Though some libraries are starting to build ebook collections, most are still pretty small. And you really don't see people selling used ebooks either. Libraries, it's just a matter of people catching up with the technology, but I don't see reselling ebooks ever really being a thing. How do you operate a library with ebooks? .-. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yamato Posted October 18, 2012 Report Share Posted October 18, 2012 Actually, libraries are experimenting with that. They do this duuuumb thing where they only have limited copies of the book, when in ebook form a big advantage would be to make it so library waiting lists no longer exist. Since this system is sooo stupid and soooooo badly implemented, I agree about the libraries not becoming ebooks, at least anytime soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EHyde she/her Posted October 18, 2012 Report Share Posted October 18, 2012 Basically you sign in with your library card info and download a book, and it will expire/delete itself after the checkout period is over. They do this with audiobooks too. Though depending on what sort of device you use you can keep the books longer by not syncing. I'm assuming that the limited copies are for copyright reasons; the libraries I've seen that do this usually have a selection of "always available" books that are mostly older out of copyright stuff. Mostly, they just seem to have a really tiny selection. In Oregon (and maybe other states too), most of the public libraries have combined their digital collections, which makes a lot of sense as it really doesn't matter where you are. What would be really nice though is if it didn't have to be connected to physical public libraries at all; seems like an entirely web-based digital library would be a nice thing to have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windrunner he/him Posted October 18, 2012 Report Share Posted October 18, 2012 For just reading in general, paper books are where it's at, preferably hardcovers because I have a tendency to totally trash paperback by accident or over-reading.(Witness my paperback copies of Elantris, Warbreaker, and the Mistborn Trilogy D:) However, when quote chasing or wikiing, I prefer ebooks enormously. I can usually find a quote eventually in a paper book, and sometimes I have to read a book to find a quote, but 9 times out of 10 ebooks are far superior for that type of work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yamato Posted October 18, 2012 Report Share Posted October 18, 2012 Seriously, I think you guys are still not considering the much greater cost to society. Environment is a factor too! Even if Ereaders cost society, the vast amount of paper books produced creates an even larger detriment to the environment, and thus people everywhere suffer. A lot of traditional practices no longer work in a crowded world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aethling he/him Posted October 18, 2012 Report Share Posted October 18, 2012 I use a library that loans out ebooks. Even with them, they have a limited number. You check it out from their site, and they have a button to download it for kindle. A nice trick that I discovered is that if you download using usb and never connect your kindle to an internet connection, you can keep the books forever. All you have to do is check the book out, download it, and return it. That takes probably 10 minutes max. I still prefer real books though. Nothing beats the feel and smell of a real book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Yasha she/her Posted October 18, 2012 Report Share Posted October 18, 2012 Seriously, I think you guys are still not considering the much greater cost to society. Environment is a factor too! Even if Ereaders cost society, the vast amount of paper books produced creates an even larger detriment to the environment, and thus people everywhere suffer. A lot of traditional practices no longer work in a crowded world. This isn't a debate about what is more ecologically and economically viable. We're simply explaining our preferences for either or. If you want to get into a debate about this you should create a topic for it in Tech Discussion. But I'm just going to say that electronic products offer as much environmental damages and costs as paper, and also the same solutions. What are computers, e-books, phones, etc. made from? Silicon and plastic, both of which don't bio-degrade. Regulating electronic waste is no easy task and there are worse problems to recycling electronics than there is to paper. We can currently hand in books for recycling at much lower costs, both to the environment and economically, than electronics. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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