Why do you read ebooks?

[Greg Anos]

Mobility... Maybe I'll go mobile in my retirement. I couldn't even consider doing that before the old days as, I wouldn't give up my library. Now my library is a quarter kilo (1/2 pound)....

[sabredog]

Even though my wife and I have a fairly large house, we have no more room for books being both voracious readers. Our children are the same so there needed to be a solution.

Buying ebooks has provided that solution and I now have ebook versions of most of my personal paperback/hardcover library now. I t's nice to be able to read a book on the go using my smart phone or PDA and to browse through the elibrary to chose another to read quickly and without fuss..

Next step are dedicated ereaders and I have narrowed the field down to a Kindle2 or Onyx Boox.

[bilalamjad3]

because its in simple word and easy to access.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by kdf9511

I have been doing a lot of research on ebook readers lately before buying an Astak Pocket Pro and was just curious about why people are switching to the ebook format from the old paper books.

I have been reading ebooks personaly for over 15 years and started using them so I could always have a book handy at work or when ever I had to wait around for something. Now that I have moved to a rural area I am reading even more ebooks as there isn't a book store closer than 65 miles from the town I live in. I don't count Wally World as they don't have a decent stock of books.

Maybe if the publishers relized the market for ebooks in areas like mine where there isn't anywhere to purchase a paper book then they would bring the prices back down to a resonable level.

Like you, I switched out of convenience. I always was in the habit of bringing a book with me. Even if I didn't bring a bag, I'd have a book in my coat pocket. When I started working, I always went by train and if you have the choice of staring out of the window, blankly, or reading a good book...

But it's much easier to read from a small device (in my case, an Ebookman and later PDA), than a huge trade paperback or hardcover. Or even that thick mass market paperback. And when you're on holiday, it's much easier to carry that small device, instead of those 4 books you plan to read. After a certain long weekend, I always brought multiple books as you never know what will happen (we got stuck on the middle of a mountain, with nowhere to go as the lifts weren't operating due to high winds and there was no road down).

I only wish I could buy my ebooks in a brick and mortar store. I've always loved browsing bookstores and there are times where I miss the feeling. (I won't go there now, because I know I'll go away with books I don't have space for at the moment... Just wait till the lounge is ready!)

[Ben Thornton]

eBooks combine my love of books and love of gadgets!

as well as the reasons given already (convenience etc.), another advantage for me is that there is a lot of free/sample material which allows you to try out things that you would never buy as a physical book (or at least, I wouldn't)

[Panda Rose]

For me it is the convenience aspect of the Sony when travelling. We work away a lot and sometimes I don't know what kind of book I will feel like Reading at the end of a working day. I can take my choice with me now. All the other advantages have been mentioned already. But given the choice of my Sony or my iPhone? I would give up my mobile phone quicker than a blink of an eye to keep my ebook!

[robkat]

[QUOTE=Ben Thornton;781731]eBooks combine my love of books and love of gadgets!

Before getting my PRS 300 most of my reading was from the local library. It was the state of the books that made me change, ash from smokers dropping out of the books when reading, general lack of hygiene and fear of germs.

Silly I know but what ever the reason I have rediscovered my love of reading with the eReader.

[CyberSmoke53]

I read ebooks because I can store an entire library on little SD cards and have any book I own readily at hand for reading while on break at work or just waiting around for appointments, rides etc..

Also ebooks do have a lot of Green Earth value. I also live in a rural area so its a 20 mile drive to the nearest bookstore. Ebooks download from the internet to my computer in seconds no matter where I am and I can start to read without all that waste of gas for the car or paper.

Another factor, I like to buy ebooks of my favorite keeper paper books as I find my ebooks are easier to locate!! My paper books always seem to be stacked up randomly and finding a particular favorite can be challenging. One day I might get my paper library more organized but somehow if I haven't done it yet, most likely I won't!

[GhostHawk]

3000 books currently on my SD card of my Ereader. You'd need a pickup truck to haul all those around. Each one is almost instantly accessible, organized in folders by author.

Yes I like the idea of saving trees, but I bought my reader because I had a library of ebooks on my computer. But I wanted a more mobile, flexible way to read them.
Hated being stuck in the office reading them on the big screen. Plus it was harder on the eyes.

Once I got started I quickly discovered I'd never go back to paper.
Lighter weight, don't have to hold pages open, never loses your place, adjustable font sizes, it all adds up. More reading, more authors, more choices fewer hassles, less weight.

[alecE]

I've been hooked on ebooks (and on MR!) for a little over a year now. The biggest plus point for me is space-saving - I'd run out of room so couldn't indulge myself and buy books. Now I've overcome that ands can buy new titles and also catch up on all the older pd stuff I've lusted after for years. And of course, I can carry my entire library with me wherever I go. Any my prs505 is *SO* nifty and lovely.

[Teyrnon]

I may be the only person who started on ebooks for health reasons. The last few years I've been having increasing issues with books and my sinuses. When it got to the point that I could spend more than a minute or two reading without descending into a fit of coughing and wheezing I decided it was time to look at ebook readers. I've always been a bit of an avid reader and the choice between giving up reading and switching to a new format was a no-brainer.

I'd been vaguely interested in ebooks for years but never really took them seriously. They were always two expensive and I was perfectly happy with my ever growing collection of paper books. I never really thought about the conveniences of ebooks until I started having the problem above. Now that I've been using ebooks for awhile I wish I'd made the switch sooner.

[Boston]

So I can deny the fact that I need reading glasses

[toomanybooks]

Because my husband told me I couldn't stack my tree books in piles around the house when I ran out of shelf space. And all the free public domain books.

[ctol]

I do a lot of literary research work for class and personal projects and having the seminal older books available is great for me. There are many older books I need access to and they can be conveniently downloaded from The Internet Archive if they have been scanned and posted for download. Having them on both my PRS 600 and computer makes tracking down specific info fantastic. This negates having to go the local university library and either finding the books checked out or having to go through interlibrary loan and only having them for a limited number of days. And having all the works of great fiction to read is a huge bonus as well. As mentioned in many post above having an entire library available in digital format is just plain amazing.

[the_callant]

Two reasons:
Either an ebook reader or buy a bigger house.
Business trips, after I had packed my reading material no room left for clothes.
Got my priorities right there.