Will e-book readers make your library obsolete? - Page 5

ShortNCuddlyAm · 02-17-2009, 03:01 PM

I've been trying to buy only ebooks since I got my reader. I've succeeded as far as fiction goes, but not non-fiction. I've also been writing to authors and publishers trying to persuade them to publish their books as ebooks - and had a range of responses from "nope, never" to "it's in our plans"

There are lots of reasons I won't be moving over to all eboooks for the forseeable future.

Not all the pbooks I have that I want to keep are available as ebooks, and right now I don't have any desire to scan and OCR them myself. Maybe when some of the larger ones finally fall apart (sadly, in the case of Against the Day, that's not going to take too long - that paperback is very badly bound), and replacing them with another pbook is problematic I'll change my mind.

Even if all my pbooks were available as ebooks, and usable as such, it would cost far too much to replace them all.

The current batch of readers are neither big enough nor rugged enough for me to be happy using at my workbench or whilst I'm cooking (I do read on my reader when I'm cooking, but it never gets as close to the stove or ingredients as the cookery books do...)

None of the current batch of readers are any use for books with full colour photography, of which I have more than few - from "coffee table" books to technique books)

Some books just don't work as ebooks for me - certainly not as things currently are, anyway. I have a few books that are best read by dipping in and out at random - trivia, quotations, that sort of thing.

BlackVoid · 02-17-2009, 03:14 PM

Home libraries = irrational exuberance.

peitsao · 02-17-2009, 03:17 PM

While I love the smell & touch of a new 1st ed., the reality is that we move around the country every few years, and now the movers are charging by weight. And my eyes are getting older, so I need to enlarge the print since glasses help but not enough (and just try walking around the room with a pair of 3.00+ hanging from your nose!). I have both Sony & Kindle, and don't have a pref. as neither one totally meets my needs.

desertgrandma · 02-17-2009, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackVoid

Home libraries = irrational exuberance.

Exuberance
Ex*u"ber*ance\, n. [L. exuberantia: cf. F. exub['e]rance.] The state of being exuberant; an overflowing quantity; a copious or excessive production or supply; superabundance; richness; as, an exuberance of joy, of fancy, or of foliage.

Syn: Abundance; superabundance; excess; plenty; copiousness; profusion; richness; overflow; overgrowth; rankness; wantonness. See Abundance.

so you are saying what...having a library is irrational..............what.?

ShortNCuddlyAm · 02-17-2009, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

so you are saying what...having a library is irrational..............what.?

If it's irrational, I'm pleased to call myself irrational. (Does having books and books shelves in every room of the house count as having a "library"? We don't have one dedicated room of books, mainly because we don't have one room large enough...)

Milarepa · 02-17-2009, 03:57 PM

If something like this is irrational exuberance then sign me up!!

SpiderMatt · 02-17-2009, 04:09 PM

I use e-books as convenience. Papers books are still nice to have.

desertgrandma · 02-17-2009, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Milarepa

If something like this is irrational exuberance then sign me up!!

See, if you can look at something like this, and feel a tug at your heart, your heart is missing something...........

pilotbob · 02-17-2009, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Milarepa

If something like this is irrational exuberance then sign me up!!

I do admit that is very beautiful. But, all that space would make an awesome home theater. A nice 12 foot screen... would be so fun to play XBox 360 on.

BOb

Amalthia · 02-17-2009, 04:13 PM

I have the same problem Zelda has with pbooks. I take good care of them but the newer books seem to fall apart faster than the ones printed in the 80s and the longer the book...the more likely the pages will fall out even faster. (anyone else have the unabridged Stephen King's novel the Stand?) I do plan on keeping my hardcovers but my goal is to eventually replace my paper library with a digital one. I move too much and carting 2000 pbooks gets expensive and they take up a lot of space.

Another reason I cut down on buying dvds/music cds/and pbooks is because harddrives are cheaper than square feet in apartments/houses. So basically, in our household anything we can buy digitally that's what we do. it's really helped cut down on the clutter. (though I guess having 4 computers adds clutter too)

mcastell · 02-17-2009, 04:14 PM

Some of my favorite possessions are books, and when I put away my Sony reader at night, it rests on top of a row of tall art books on the bottom shelf of one of my library cases. My Ebookwise reader rests on top of a small pile of books on my end table in the bedroom, and my Nokia 810 tablet is usually on top of the most recent reading material I am carrying around during the day, and it travels with those papers and/or books.

I would never give up my signed copy of Jean Shepard's "In God We Trust--All Others Pay Cash." At the same time, I have several of the stories on my various e-readers along with MP3s of some of the old WOR Shepard radio broadcasts.
There's no pushing or shoving--all the formats get along nicely, as it should be. It's a world that would not be possible in a silent, backroom library.

desertgrandma · 02-17-2009, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amalthia

I have the same problem Zelda has with pbooks. I take good care of them but the newer books seem to fall apart faster than the ones printed in the 80s and the longer the book...the more likely the pages will fall out even faster. (anyone else have the unabridged Stephen King's novel the Stand?) I do plan on keeping my hardcovers but my goal is to eventually replace my paper library with a digital one. I move too much and carting 2000 pbooks gets expensive and they take up a lot of space.

Another reason I cut down on buying dvds/music cds/and pbooks is because harddrives are cheaper than square feet in apartments/houses. So basically, in our household anything we can buy digitally that's what we do. it's really helped cut down on the clutter. (though I guess having 4 computers adds clutter too)

(jumping up and down with raised hands) I do I do i do!!!

DixieGal · 02-17-2009, 04:16 PM

I went online shopping for a nice duplexing scanner - found nothing like I want for under $400. Seems a bit pricey. Went to Fictionwise, bought the book I wanted to scan for $5.99 with my survey coupon discount. Didn't buy the scanner, because I can re-purchase and download the books I want to keep. This will possibly cause a stroke in the troll in the other thread who is freaking over paying $9.99, because I am double-buying books.

This coming weekend, everything on the shelves must go! Except for my travel books and art books. Those are forever.

Alisa · 02-17-2009, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I do admit that is very beautiful. But, all that space would make an awesome home theater. A nice 12 foot screen... would be so fun to play XBox 360 on.

BOb

I'd love a beautiful reading room but I don't need it filled with books.

desertgrandma · 02-17-2009, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DixieGal

This will possibly cause a stroke in the troll in the other thread who is freaking over paying $9.99, because I am double-buying books.

Except for my travel books and art books. Those are forever.

I'm gonna tell................

View Poll Results: Will e-readers make your library obsolete?
Yes, happily so. It's called progress.	178	60.14%
Yes, unfortunately. The trend is unavoidable.	23	7.77%
No, I'd always miss getting newsprint on my fingers.	95	32.09%
Voters: 296. You may not vote on this poll

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02-17-2009, 03:01 PM	#61
ShortNCuddlyAm WWHALD Posts: 7,879 Karma: 337114 Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Mitcham, Surrey, UK Device: iPad. Selling my silver 505 here	I've been trying to buy only ebooks since I got my reader. I've succeeded as far as fiction goes, but not non-fiction. I've also been writing to authors and publishers trying to persuade them to publish their books as ebooks - and had a range of responses from "nope, never" to "it's in our plans" There are lots of reasons I won't be moving over to all eboooks for the forseeable future. Not all the pbooks I have that I want to keep are available as ebooks, and right now I don't have any desire to scan and OCR them myself. Maybe when some of the larger ones finally fall apart (sadly, in the case of Against the Day, that's not going to take too long - that paperback is very badly bound), and replacing them with another pbook is problematic I'll change my mind. Even if all my pbooks were available as ebooks, and usable as such, it would cost far too much to replace them all. The current batch of readers are neither big enough nor rugged enough for me to be happy using at my workbench or whilst I'm cooking (I do read on my reader when I'm cooking, but it never gets as close to the stove or ingredients as the cookery books do...) None of the current batch of readers are any use for books with full colour photography, of which I have more than few - from "coffee table" books to technique books) Some books just don't work as ebooks for me - certainly not as things currently are, anyway. I have a few books that are best read by dipping in and out at random - trivia, quotations, that sort of thing.

02-17-2009, 03:14 PM	#62
BlackVoid Evangelist Posts: 415 Karma: 510423 Join Date: Nov 2006 Device: Sony PRS-505	Home libraries = irrational exuberance.

02-17-2009, 03:17 PM	#63
peitsao Addict Posts: 211 Karma: 32760 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Allegheny Mountains Device: Kobo mini, PW3,NookST	While I love the smell & touch of a new 1st ed., the reality is that we move around the country every few years, and now the movers are charging by weight. And my eyes are getting older, so I need to enlarge the print since glasses help but not enough (and just try walking around the room with a pair of 3.00+ hanging from your nose!). I have both Sony & Kindle, and don't have a pref. as neither one totally meets my needs.

02-17-2009, 03:57 PM	#66
Milarepa Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 298 Join Date: Jul 2008 Device: Sony PRS-505	If something like this is irrational exuberance then sign me up!!

02-17-2009, 04:09 PM	#67
SpiderMatt Grand Arbiter Posts: 447 Karma: 1574837 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Arizona Device: iPod Touch, Amazon Kindle, Motorola Droid	I use e-books as convenience. Papers books are still nice to have.

02-17-2009, 04:13 PM	#70
Amalthia Wizard Posts: 1,158 Karma: 32196 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Anchorage, AK Device: Sony Reader PRS-505, PRS-650, PRS-T3, Pocketbook HD2	I have the same problem Zelda has with pbooks. I take good care of them but the newer books seem to fall apart faster than the ones printed in the 80s and the longer the book...the more likely the pages will fall out even faster. (anyone else have the unabridged Stephen King's novel the Stand?) I do plan on keeping my hardcovers but my goal is to eventually replace my paper library with a digital one. I move too much and carting 2000 pbooks gets expensive and they take up a lot of space. Another reason I cut down on buying dvds/music cds/and pbooks is because harddrives are cheaper than square feet in apartments/houses. So basically, in our household anything we can buy digitally that's what we do. it's really helped cut down on the clutter. (though I guess having 4 computers adds clutter too)

02-17-2009, 04:14 PM	#71
mcastell Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2007 Device: Sony PRS-505, ebookwise reader, hiebook, nokia 770	Some of my favorite possessions are books, and when I put away my Sony reader at night, it rests on top of a row of tall art books on the bottom shelf of one of my library cases. My Ebookwise reader rests on top of a small pile of books on my end table in the bedroom, and my Nokia 810 tablet is usually on top of the most recent reading material I am carrying around during the day, and it travels with those papers and/or books. I would never give up my signed copy of Jean Shepard's "In God We Trust--All Others Pay Cash." At the same time, I have several of the stories on my various e-readers along with MP3s of some of the old WOR Shepard radio broadcasts. There's no pushing or shoving--all the formats get along nicely, as it should be. It's a world that would not be possible in a silent, backroom library.

02-17-2009, 04:16 PM	#73
DixieGal Hi There! Posts: 7,473 Karma: 2930523 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Ft Lauderdale Device: iPad	I went online shopping for a nice duplexing scanner - found nothing like I want for under $400. Seems a bit pricey. Went to Fictionwise, bought the book I wanted to scan for $5.99 with my survey coupon discount. Didn't buy the scanner, because I can re-purchase and download the books I want to keep. This will possibly cause a stroke in the troll in the other thread who is freaking over paying $9.99, because I am double-buying books. This coming weekend, everything on the shelves must go! Except for my travel books and art books. Those are forever.

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