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Old 02-11-2009, 04:03 PM   #4
Elfwreck
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Posts: 5,185
Karma: 25133758
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA
Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3 (Past: Kobo Mini, PEZ, PRS-505, Clié)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Read it! View Post
Students in information-communication, we have a project on e-books and would like to have your opinion on these.
A moment to give us?
Some of your phrasing is so odd, it's hard to figure out what you mean. I've edited some of the questions.

Are you a man or a woman?
Male Female

Where do you live?
Oakland, California; USA

How old are you?
16-25 years 26-35 years
35-45 years 46-55 years
55-65 years Over 65 years

In which occupational group do you work?
(Note: these are not common ways of describing jobs in the U.S, and people may not understand what you mean by them. I have no idea what "Profession Liberal" means.)

Craftsman
Semiskilled worker
Intermediate
Profession Liberal
Commercial
Student
Executive
None/Retired (unemployed, at home ...)
Other

What e-book reading device do you have?
Sony PRS-505, and a couple of Cliés, which I no longer use regularly.

How long do you have e-book?
1 month 3 months
2 months 4 months
More (specify)
Sony: 3 months
Cliés: 2 years


Is this a personal purchase?
Yes No

Was this a professional purchase?
Yes No

Was this a gift?
Yes No
(Note: asking "was this a gift" implies "did you receive it as a gift?" Asking "is this a gift?" implies "Are you planning on giving it to someone else?" Also, it's possible these three could be combined into one question.)

Are you satisfied with your e-book?
Not at all satisfied Somewhat satisfied
Satisfied Very satisfied

If not satisfied, can you tell us why?
I am satisfied--it acts as I expected. The cover broke after a couple of weeks, and I am occasionally annoyed at long times for loading books, which is why I'm not "very satisfied."

How many books have you downloaded?
- than 3 books
3 to 10 books
10 to 20 books
20 to 50 books
Over 50 books
(I suspect you'll want to increase this number if you're asking regular readers of ebooks--since Sony offers 100 free downloads with purchase, and many free ebook sites have thousands of books, it's very common to have downloaded hundreds of books even if one hasn't read them.)


On average, how many hours per week do you use your e-book?
1 hour 2 hours
3 hours 4 hours
5 hours More than 5 hours (specify)
Probably 6-10 hours/week. It's hard to guess accurately, because I read on public transit and during breaks at work.

Which program do you use to download your digital book?
Various. I occasionally use Sony's library program. More often, I use Calibre to convert books from other formats to LRF. Sometimes I just throw PDFs or RTFs onto the reader without any conversion.

(This is a hard-to-understand question. I *download* books with Firefox, usually. I *install them on the Reader* with Sony's eLibrary, or Calibre, or Windows explorer.)


Get you more works free (public domain) or paid work (recent works)?
Free books
Paid work

(Another troublesome question. I have a large collection of free, Creative Commons works, which are recent and not in the public domain.)


Where do you use most often your e-book?
Public transport
House
Job

I use my Reader the majority of time I'm on public transit--but I spend more hours using it at home. I answered by percentage of time, rather than hours.

What types of books do you read?
Literature
Current events
School books
Practical life (kitchen, garden, health ...)
Social science (tests, papers ...)
Scientific and technical books
Dictionaries, encyclopedias
Other (specify)

Science fiction/fantasy, Fanfiction, Essays, Documentaries, Philosophy, Spirituality.
(Another troublesome question; these aren't how I mentally categorize books. Is all fiction considered "Literature?" And the nonfiction I read doesn't fit into any of those categories.)

How would you define your e-book?
Handy Yes No
Practical Yes No
Comfortable Yes No
Useful Yes No
Readable Yes No
Esthetic Yes No
Revolutionary Yes No
Economic Yes No

What do you think of the electronic reading?
I prefer books on screen; I no longer read books on paper if I can avoid it at all, and am considering converting some of the books I have and wish to read to ebooks because it'd be less annoying than reading the paper format.

However, I know that what appeals to me doesn't appeal to everyone, and until there's an eInk screen that's at least 5x7" and under $150, ebooks aren't going to appeal to many people. I don't think ebooks are going to "eliminate paper books" within the next 50 years, and maybe not ever--but I do think they're going to change the publishing industries.
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