But You Can't Read an Ebook in the Bath

[neilmarr]

When I started this thread, I neglected to mention that I don't even have a bath in my wee apartment, so for me the question's purely academic anyway: reading in the shower holds little appeal to even the most avid bookworm. I think posts so far, though, do prove my point that the old, old (often uninformed or misinformed) prejudices against ebooks are not only tiresome but tired. Cheers. Neil

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by BuddyBoy

Cover the reader screen with a screen protector, bring up the image of the cover page, get signature, remove screen protector, paste in autograph book.

OK!

[calvin-c]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I have a signed copy of Cornel West's Restoring Hope that I accidentally dropped in a puddle one day. It's still readable, but why did this have to happen to a signed copy?

Which brings up another point in favor of paper: authors can't autograph e-books!

Because you took your signed copy outdoors? IMO signed copies are 'keepsakes' and I don't generally carry those around. (Of course maybe you'd just gotten it signed. That happens, like when I bought an antique cabinet sewing machine & it fell out of the truck while I was bringing it home. Ouch!)

I think most of the responders to my post about Mobipocket's bookshelf missed my point. The tech to display ebooks on a bookshelf does exist-but neither it nor the ebook industry is mature enough for it to be anything more than a slender niche right now-but it is there, which means that once the industry matures (IMO one thing that will mean is some sort of 'universal' format, which I doubt will be Mobipocket's-but it's possible) the bookshelf technology can be a part of that. For now, I agree with those who said it's too much trouble (or impossible due to reader limitations) to convert everything to Mobipocket format then add covers, etc.

I've done that, but more as a project to prove that it's feasible-in no way does that mean I think it's practical. Yes, I display my Mobipocket books that way, because I like the appearance of the display & I like the ability to 'browse' thru my library (or at least that part of it that's in Mobipocket format). That's personal choice (as is the opinion of the responder who said he didn't care to display his books).

As for signing ebooks, I'm pretty sure the tech is there although I don't know of anybody who's implemented it for ebooks. (I know of several organizations that use digitized signatures on documents, but mostly those are documents that end up being printed.) But basically, all it would require is adding a digitized image-and maybe a digital signature to prevent people from 'forging' signatures. (So many possibilities there-but really little more than is currently possible with pbooks.)

So I'm pretty sure that's possible-but to make that easy would be another matter and again, is likely to wait until the ebook industry matures. (I suppose it depends on what is meant by 'matures', too. IMO it'll be mature when people can buy an ebook & treat it pretty much like they treat pbooks now, i.e. write in it, tear out pages, decorate it, etc. but not edit it. They can even add pages to a pbook, although not in a 'permanent' fashion. (I do it all the time on a book covering a news topic-I simply insert the news articles I clip or print between the pages of the book.)

So a lot more can be done than is usually being done, but little of it is easy yet. And that, I think, is what I mean by the ebook industry maturing-it'll make it easy for the novice user to do all these things that are 'instinctive' with pbooks.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by calvin-c

Because you took your signed copy outdoors? IMO signed copies are 'keepsakes' and I don't generally carry those around. (Of course maybe you'd just gotten it signed. That happens, like when I bought an antique cabinet sewing machine & it fell out of the truck while I was bringing it home. Ouch!)

I was taking it to work to show a friend. Guess I should have just invited them to stop by.

It's still a keepsake to me, just a slightly soiled one.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by neilmarr

When I started this thread, I neglected to mention that I don't even have a bath in my wee apartment, so for me the question's purely academic anyway.

I shower... so I probably shouldn't have jumped in at all!

[kindlekitten]

well yeah, there ya' go

[geneven]

I love browsing people's bookshelves. The permanency of books means that you are seeing the cumulative work (or neglect) of years. Ebooks aren't quite like that, at least yet. Even when we have longer experience with them, it will always be more intrusive to pick up someone's ebook and examine the archives and contents than it is to wander a room and look at the shelves.

[Stitchawl]

Honestly...
I'd still love to have a room dedicated as a library, shelves on all the walls filled with old and musty books, and a rolling ladder to reach the upper levels. A big overstuffed easy chair and foot stool and a nice fireplace.

It's in THAT sort of location that I'd quite contentedly sit on a rainy day with a large mug of Lapsang Suchang and read my e-book reader!!

Stitchawl

[Alisa]

Wow. This thread is packed full of great stuff and I'm sure I've missed plenty. Please forgive me if I'm going back to anything already addressed.

I would like to address the paper book love. If your mental image when you speak of paper books is the lovely embossed leather-bound volume of yesteryear, I just want to say that it doesn't reflect now. If it did, that would mean only the rich could have books and I certainly don't want to go back there. Get over it. Yes, books can be gorgeous. I take joy in a lovely artisanal printing of a great book. While I love the aesthetic idea of a vast library of these lovely works, the reality of my book-loving life is that this is rare. Most books I read are, by both definition and connotation, ephemeral. I shall read them once and not again. Printing them even on cheap paper and binding would be a waste. I could count on my hands the books that I would read over and over through the years. I have very few high-quality paper books. Most of my books are mass-market paperbacks and cloth-bound hardbacks. Since I do not own a stately home with a large library, my largely low quality books overflow my space. If you make this pro-paper argument to me, be prepared to show me a vast room of leather bound volumes. If you can't, shut your fantasy self up. Most book lovers I know have libraries that look like mine: cheap paper cramped on shelves and full of dust.

Part of my sentimental self would like to have my best beloveds in beautiful bindings so I could have every aspect of them glorify their great art. They don't need to be glorified to me, however. If what you want is a library that speaks your interests to others, dead trees on a shelf aren't the only way or even the best way. They reach very few people. I might occasionally spy an interesting book on my friends' shelves but I guarantee you I've spent less time taking them in than they've spent thinking about them. I'm a guest. I'm busy visiting. I'll get more book ideas out of conversation than I will looking at their shelves. I've seen plenty of folks with stocked shelves and barren minds. After all, I don't know what you've actually read and understood. What I see on your bookshelves won't make that big of a difference in my opinion of you compared to a few minutes of conversation. If you want to show me your collection, the web can do that better than a dust-gathering shelf in your house.

Oh, and the bath thing, just get a freaking plastic bag. Is that so hard?

[kacir]

Originally Posted by Alisa

If your mental image when you speak of paper books is the lovely embossed leather-bound volume of yesteryear, ...

Wrong.

My mental image is a hardback, in a very tattered cover made from strong polyethylene foil and adhesive tape, with spine broken in many places, covers askew and half the pages dislodged and tacked back by a clear adhesive tape. Pages are yellow and musty smelling. On the first page there is a rubber stamp "Property of County Library of ...".

I live in a large town, so there are quite a few libraries here. For many, many years I have been coming to the library at least once a week. The first place to look in was the "just returned" pile waiting to be sorted and placed back to shelves. The most popular books were usually those in the worst shape. Sometimes, very rarely, I scored a book that was recently purchased, but there was usually very long waiting queue for those. And there was no Internet, so we were not informed about all those new books that were being published. So you just went to library and checked out whatever you have found.

This is why I very seldom complain that the XY books is not available as an e-book. I grew up to be an opportunist, so I look at the e-books available at the moment and usually enjoy what I grab. There are wast amounts of free stuff and some of those are surprisingly good. If I do not like it, there are at least a dozen more waiting to be read on my Reader.

[neilmarr]

Your post has made my day, Alisa. Couldn't agree more. I recall so many living rooms that depressingly display, for instance, beautifully bound complete sets of expensive encyclopedias in pride of place (and perhaps dated 1976). For all that they're consulted, they might as well be replaced by a collection of porcelain thimbles. Neil

[Red Alert]

Duality. For many years I bought hardback after hardback until my shelves groaned under the weight.
Then I planned to relocate to a much smaller RV and full time in it. Certainly no place for all my books.
Along came the Sony PRS-500. So from then on, I bought only eBOOKS. Lets face it, you can store a ton of books on a single DVD.

As far as what bothers me is the reporting of Ereaders by mainstream press. You would think from their articles that the Kindle was the origin of Ereaders. They never seem to mention that the Sony preceded the Kindle and I know there were others that preceded the Sonys. I just don't know their names.

Ralph

[zacheryjensen]

Originally Posted by Red Alert

Duality. For many years I bought hardback after hardback until my shelves groaned under the weight.
Then I planned to relocate to a much smaller RV and full time in it. Certainly no place for all my books.
Along came the Sony PRS-500. So from then on, I bought only eBOOKS. Lets face it, you can store a ton of books on a single DVD.

As far as what bothers me is the reporting of Ereaders by mainstream press. You would think from their articles that the Kindle was the origin of Ereaders. They never seem to mention that the Sony preceded the Kindle and I know there were others that preceded the Sonys. I just don't know their names.

Ralph

It's annoying but important to remember that this happens during the emerging public awareness of basically every single important technological advance. I mean, look at iPod and iPhone. In both cases you'd think nobody had seen an MP3 player before, or a smartphone before.

It's just a matter of when that technology becomes relevant to consumers. Sony can take pride, assuming ereaders really take off in a meaningful way (they haven't yet though everyone predicts they will,) in the fact that they were "there" for years before the surge.

But, to be fair, Sony isn't doing a single thing to make themselves stand out from their competition. They are sticking with the same aged software with slight updates to their line. It's the same mistake they made for years in the MP3 player market while Apple dominated them on marketable merits and ease of use, despite not being technically superior.

Amazon has made the Kindle popular by adding free network access. That's the big deal with the Kindle. I have been watching tech for a long time and I never expected that from a company like Amazon. No strings attached. It's impressive and warrants attention. But yes, it does give the perception that they were the first. What's really important to remember is that they aren't the last. In fact, in my opinion, the entry of Barnes and Noble into this market is far more interesting because this is one of the very oldest booksellers, and a company that consistently outsells Amazon on books specifically over the last couple years or so. Such a formidable entity making an entry validates the market to investors and more conservative consumers.

So while, right now, people will wrongfully give Amazon credit for starting this trend, down the road you'll probably have even more confusing reporting about how Barnes & Noble is the progenitor of the market or some nonsense like that. Yay media! Yay non-critical sheepish masses that produced this "media!" heh

[geneven]

Those of you who have friends whose bookshelves are boring: I hate to tell you this, but you have the wrong friends

You who don't examine your friends' bookshelves because you're too busy visiting: I hate to tell you this, but you ARE the wrong friend

[lostatsea]

I read my Sony Reader in the bath every morning, no safety plastic bag needed. I have never dropped a book in the bath so don't have a reason to think I will drop my reader. If I ever do drop it, well that is a good excuse to get an upgrade.