MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - E-book VS Paper Book

Lordvic · 07-14-2011, 10:50 AM

I love the feel of paper. there's a feeling on the fingers when turning the page and holding it. A smell. a crispness. I love it, and it's impossible to describe it perfectly. There has so far been no way that this has been replicated.

However.
Books are heavy.
They take up a lot of space.
They use natural resources to create, such as paper and whatever goes into the inks, stuff we shouldn't be abusing.
They wear down and away, fall apart, become unreadable after long enough.
They can be damaged and destroyed quite easily, and should that happen, are only replaceable by buying replacements.
They are costly for publishers cause they need to be printed and produced.
Shipping is expensive cause of the weight and volume.
Warehousing costs are astronomical.

Where Ebooks + readers:
Can store thousands of books in the palm of your hand.
those thousands of books use far more materials to make than 1 ereader.
there's no book production costs. no printing, no trees to cut down and inks to produce.
ebooks are files. Easily backed up and restored. Loose your kobo? it break? it catch fire? replace it, and just restore your library. nothing digital ever needs to be lost forever since iits not a tangible item, but digital
read in multiple places. you're not limited to just your paperbook and where you can find place to read it. Carrying 1 book alone makes a big enough buldge in your pocket. imagine 2 or 3.

Yes, ereaders aren't that cheep to make themselves. theres environment costs associated with plastics, electronics and batteries. But the question is, which has a larger foot print, 1 Kobo reader with 1000 books on it... or 1000 books?

What my biggest problem, Ebooks need to be cheaper. As i said above. There's a giant cost savings with producing ebooks. There's so much a publisher does not need to do anymore. So why are ebooks the same price? Why are they in some cases on Kobo's site MORE than a trade paperback? its like the publishers are saying they do NOT want to make the move to digital. its hard to tell what the price point should be, but 9.99 isn't it.

07-14-2011, 10:50 AM	#4
Lordvic Connoisseur Posts: 85 Karma: 19104 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Toronto / Ontario Device: Blackberry Playbook	I love the feel of paper. there's a feeling on the fingers when turning the page and holding it. A smell. a crispness. I love it, and it's impossible to describe it perfectly. There has so far been no way that this has been replicated. However. Books are heavy. They take up a lot of space. They use natural resources to create, such as paper and whatever goes into the inks, stuff we shouldn't be abusing. They wear down and away, fall apart, become unreadable after long enough. They can be damaged and destroyed quite easily, and should that happen, are only replaceable by buying replacements. They are costly for publishers cause they need to be printed and produced. Shipping is expensive cause of the weight and volume. Warehousing costs are astronomical. Where Ebooks + readers: Can store thousands of books in the palm of your hand. those thousands of books use far more materials to make than 1 ereader. there's no book production costs. no printing, no trees to cut down and inks to produce. ebooks are files. Easily backed up and restored. Loose your kobo? it break? it catch fire? replace it, and just restore your library. nothing digital ever needs to be lost forever since iits not a tangible item, but digital read in multiple places. you're not limited to just your paperbook and where you can find place to read it. Carrying 1 book alone makes a big enough buldge in your pocket. imagine 2 or 3. Yes, ereaders aren't that cheep to make themselves. theres environment costs associated with plastics, electronics and batteries. But the question is, which has a larger foot print, 1 Kobo reader with 1000 books on it... or 1000 books? What my biggest problem, Ebooks need to be cheaper. As i said above. There's a giant cost savings with producing ebooks. There's so much a publisher does not need to do anymore. So why are ebooks the same price? Why are they in some cases on Kobo's site MORE than a trade paperback? its like the publishers are saying they do NOT want to make the move to digital. its hard to tell what the price point should be, but 9.99 isn't it.