Real Books? eBooks? Where do you stand?

[BookManEd]

This is a great topic for us to discuss. Most people have certain feelings on it, but I would enjoy hearing what everyone has to say. The main question is:

Do you prefer hard/soft cover, tangible books? or Are you all about electronic books now?

It's not really a fair question as, I'm sure most of us would answer that the tangible books will always be number one. But, now that technology has advanced so far, and we have ebooks, what are your feelings on it?

There are pro's and con's to both of course. Mainly being that the tangible books were there first, and without then, most ebooks wouldn't be there. But with ebooks, more authors are out there now, creating and self publishing their own work and bringing into the world.

You can't beat a good tangible book, that you can hold, turn the pages, sit on the front porch and just read. But now with ebooks, you could take your e-reader on that porch and read multi books without getting up to get a new one. Or you can switch between books/magazines/comics etc, right at your finger tips.

Now that technology is where it is, and children use e-readers in schools now, Do you ever fear that the old lost art of reading a "real" book will disappear? Will old dusty novels now just become collector items? Sitting on selves, or in frames. 1st editions displayed in the Smithsonian?

With ebooks, people are bringing out new mediums of fiction such as the emotobooks that I have mentioned before. Or even new comics, graphical novels and so much more. It has given authors a chance to express themselves freely and by doing it on their own.

I am by any means, no author, but I would think that ebooks have given a lot over all, compared to their parent tangible books.

We could go on and on about the topic, but I want others to chime in and give some opinions, feedback, etc :lol:

Enjoy, Discuss, and Keep it Friendly

 

[Peder]

I buy either, depending on how permanent I think my interest in the book will be, and on price. I think kindle offers great prices for very readable enjoyment.

 

[beer good]

There are pro's and con's to both of course. Mainly being that the tangible books were there first, and without then, most ebooks wouldn't be there.

That's the main feature of physical books - that they were first?

With ebooks, people are bringing out new mediums of fiction such as the emotobooks that I have mentioned before. Or even new comics, graphical novels and so much more. It has given authors a chance to express themselves freely and by doing it on their own.

That is one of the sad drawbacks of digitization, yes. Fortunately, it's easy to ignore for the most part.

A book is a book is a book. You can wrap it in bits of dead tree or ones and zeroes, that's just different formats; a well-written, well-edited book remains the same. I love that I have quick and easy access to a lot of literature that would have taken me weeks to get a few years ago, and wouldn't have been available at all just a few decades (let alone centuries) ago.

 

[sparkchaser]

That's the main feature of physical books - that they were first?

:


I like them both and I will continue to buy both.

 

[Landslide]

Tangible books for me. Of course that may have something to do with the fact that I don't own an ereader...

 

[abecedarian]

I like them both and will continue to buy both and use my library card too. Ebooks are not the perfect format for all books; I still prefer a printed edition for cookbooks and crochet patterns, for instance. I'm leery of taking my ereader into the kitchen so I can follow a recipe. Since I can't print out a pattern or recipe, I'd have to touch the screen every so often so it would stay on and my hands get messy when I cook..

 

[bobblybear]

Since I bought my Kindle, it's ebooks for me all the way. It's the convenience, and the immediacy that I like. I'm actually reading a paperbook at the moment, and it took some getting used to again. :whistling: With ebooks, I don't strain my hand from holding the pages open, or try to find a comfortable position reading a heavy book.

I think it's safe to say that I won't buy another paper book again, unless it's something that I'll have as a 'collection'.

 

[abecedarian]

Since I bought my Kindle, it's ebooks for me all the way. It's the convenience, and the immediacy that I like. I'm actually reading a paperbook at the moment, and it took some getting used to again. :whistling: With ebooks, I don't strain my hand from holding the pages open, or try to find a comfortable position reading a heavy book.

I think it's safe to say that I won't buy another paper book again, unless it's something that I'll have as a 'collection'.

That's what I keep saying about cookbooks, but you should see my Amazon wishlist...and then there's garage sales:whistling::innocent::whistling:

 

[mmyap]

I do both and still use my library card as well. It's nice to have so many choices.

That's what I keep saying about cookbooks, but you should see my Amazon wishlist...and then there's garage sales:whistling::innocent::whistling:

I can totally relate. Not only do I have a shelf full of cookbooks I now also have a three-ring binder full of recipes I've printed off the internet. It's like crack, I tell ya'!

 

[abecedarian]

I do both and still use my library card as well. It's nice to have so many choices.



I can totally relate. Not only do I have a shelf full of cookbooks I now also have a three-ring binder full of recipes I've printed off the internet. It's like crack, I tell ya'!

Hey, I'm the Binder Queen of South Central Kansas. I've got binders for recipes and many, many(ok, MANY) binders full of crochet patterns). Cheap crack..

 

[BookManEd]

All valid points so far I asked my mother (who is older, and doesn't really even understand what an ebook is) She kinda laughed at me and said that she wouldn't give up tangible books for as long as she could see. I tried to somewhat explain to her what an ebook is, but she didn't care. Her reasons were that she grew up with books, she enjoys holding them in her hands, and turning the pages. So from her perspective, ebooks are apparently the devil

 

[abecedarian]

All valid points so far I asked my mother (who is older, and doesn't really even understand what an ebook is) She kinda laughed at me and said that she wouldn't give up tangible books for as long as she could see. I tried to somewhat explain to her what an ebook is, but she didn't care. Her reasons were that she grew up with books, she enjoys holding them in her hands, and turning the pages. So from her perspective, ebooks are apparently the devil

But every book can be a large print edition with ebooks..that's been nice.

 

[BookManEd]

But every book can be a large print edition with ebooks..that's been nice.

Very true

Another advantage of ebooks that I forgot to mention is that you can have 3000+ in your online library and not literally have to build a library to hold all of those tangible books hah

I do have a ton of hard bound books, but not so many that I have a problem storing them.

 

[Fantasy Moon]

I like to read both formats. Some books I like to have in hard/soft covers (usually favorites) and others I can read as e-books or purchase e-books at a reasonable price. I still use my library card for both kinds.

 

[BrianAdamsID]

Currently, I'll either get an e-book or a physical book from a library for the first time I read something, and then buy a physical book if I want to re-read the work. Still, large physical books can be a pain to hold. Also, the built-in dictionaries on e-readers are great. I felt like I missed out when I recently re-read Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy in paperback form and did not look up many unfamiliar words.

 

[abecedarian]

Currently, I'll either get an e-book or a physical book from a library for the first time I read something, and then buy a physical book if I want to re-read the work. Still, large physical books can be a pain to hold. Also, the built-in dictionaries on e-readers are great. I felt like I missed out when I recently re-read Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy in paperback form and did not look up many unfamiliar words.

We use interlibrary loan for most books we know we will only read once, and to preview books we might want to purchase for reference.

 

[BookManEd]

Some more great points guys I still, myself, will go to the library once in awhile and just browse around for books that might peek my interest. But here's another question. What about the stories (mainly self published) that you can only get in ebook form? Now that ebooks are around, many authors choose to not even bother with trying to get published for a tangible hard/soft bound book. They go straight to ebook world and self publish / advertise / etc. Hmmmm

 

[sparkchaser]

What about it? You either read it on your ereader/computer/smartphone/tablet or you don't.

 

[Alix]

I like both. I feel that I use my Kindle regularly, but I still visit the library and request books that I don't feel like purchasing. I'm currently reading a DTB from the library.

One of my biggest pet peeves about eBooks is the crappy editing in some of them. It bothers me when words are misused or homonyms are used for the correct word. I realize that eBooks are fairly new, but many of them need to be better edited. As a general rule, DTBs are better edited than their eBook counterparts.

 

[abecedarian]

I like both. I feel that I use my Kindle regularly, but I still visit the library and request books that I don't feel like purchasing. I'm currently reading a DTB from the library.

One of my biggest pet peeves about eBooks is the crappy editing in some of them. It bothers me when words are misused or homonyms are used for the correct word. I realize that eBooks are fairly new, but many of them need to be better edited. As a general rule, DTBs are better edited than their eBook counterparts.

Peeves are better shared. I've been very annoyed with some ebooks that might have been edited by 6th graders. What makes this home educator even more upset, I can't print out those errors to show my kids what 'bad' looks like..Oh well, there's always Junie B. Jones for that:whistling: