Fraction of ebooks vs paper books read?

[Curly]

Since I bought my prs505 two weeks ago, 80% has been ebook. I've been reading aloud a pbook version of Percy Jackson, Lighting Thief by Rick Reardon to my son (I recommend Percy Jackson by the way).

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by chlorine

Actually I was kind of convinced there were a lot of polls of this type lying around, so I was hesitant to start a new one
(and now it looks like it's not possible to add a poll to an existing thread, so it's too late)

ha, so you've noticed how much we love polls around here. well no worries ; we'll just keep this idea for a future poll.

I'm impressed with the number of people reading only ebooks or a very small fraction of paper books. But then I'm french, and though I read a lot of books in english I also read a fair number of french books, and few of these semm to be available as ebooks. So to go 100% ebooks I really would have to choose what I read based on the fact that it's available as ebooks, rather than read what I want to read. This constraint must be lighter for people reading only in english.

i'm not so surprised by that, it's what i expected to see. since i got my liseuse i've been reading almost exclusively ebooks, in fact i discovered that i no longer really like to read pbooks because i find them much less comfortable to hold, and this seems to be a very common experience. however like you i'm really frustrated by the scarcity of french ebooks ; sometimes i get tired of reading in english and i wish there were more french ebooks available (and i wish specifically the books i want to read were available as ebooks). hopefully the publishers will accelerate the movement to make ebooks available in 2009. it is true that to some degree my reading list is now influenced by what is available as an ebook, and this is a bit frustrating. however there is quite a lot available to me that i am interested in reading, so it could be worse.

to answer the question then, i would say that since i got my liseuse about 14 months ago, i've read 95% ebooks, the 5% remaining is mostly pbooks that friends have lent to me.

[AnemicOak]

For 2008 I read 327 ebooks and 1 pbook.

Other than maybe 5 books I want to read & haven't found an ebook available I've had no problem getting what I want in e-format.

[Elsi]

Since I'm in a book swapping group, I continue to read paper books -- but I don't buy many of them. I did pick up 5 or 6 paperbacks with the $50.00 gift card to Barnes & Noble that I received for Christmas. The gift card to Amazon.com has been spent exclusively on books for the Kindle.

Here's the breakdown of books I read in 2008. Note that I received my Kindle around 17 February 2008, and I had read 16 books before opening the box containing my Kindle.

Summary by format:
* Audio: 5
* Electronic Books: 56
* Hardback: 4
* Mass Market Paperback: 59
* Trade Paperback: 16

So, if you sum up all the paper editions, you get: 40% electronic books, 4% audio books, and 56% paper books

So far in 2009, I've read 14 books, only 3 of which are paper books. I'm going to be reading a bit more in paper books, though, because I owe some books to some of my swapping buddies and I need to get them on their way as soon as possible.

[lilac_jive]

Wow, I'm so glad I'm not the only person who keeps track of this kind of stuff.

[ylefox]

since i bought a palm pda 5 or 6 years ago all my reading has been ebooks,i now have the cybook gen 3 which is a lot easier to read. i do not even buy a daily paper anymore as i can get the headlines on the internet

[slayda]

Probably 95+% ebooks only because I still have so many unread pbooks. Once I reduce that stock of pbooks it will probably climb to 99+%, only because there still are a few books I real want that are not in ebook format.

[patchymama]

I am probably at about 99% ebooks now. The only time I don't read ebooks is if it isn't available and often I just say nevermind if that is the case LOL

[chlorine]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

however like you i'm really frustrated by the scarcity of french ebooks ; sometimes i get tired of reading in english and i wish there were more french ebooks available (and i wish specifically the books i want to read were available as ebooks). hopefully the publishers will accelerate the movement to make ebooks available in 2009.

Let's hope they do! In the meantime I've discovered that even if we are willing to read ebooks in english, some of them are not available if you're buying from outside the US, limiting further the choice of available ebooks... Luckily for me I still have a _huge_ pile of paper books to read!

[Polyglot27]

I got my Cybook only on Christmas eve 2008 and I have read at least 8 books (in English) on it during the last 8 weeks. One book per week is pretty good for me as I am a slow reader. However, I have also started 2 pbooks in the meantime because they are in Japanese and not available as ebooks. I wonder if this is a trend that I will follow in the months ahead. I agree with Zelda that there are too few books in French at the moment. Hope the situation will change as more French readers join MR.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by chlorine

Let's hope they do! In the meantime I've discovered that even if we are willing to read ebooks in english, some of them are not available if you're buying from outside the US, limiting further the choice of available ebooks... Luckily for me I still have a _huge_ pile of paper books to read!

so do i but i don't want to read them anymore. i agree the geographical limitations of ebook sales are really frustrating (and nonsensical, sheesh, it's called the "world wide web" !!!). note that on some sites you can get around them by either not entering your location or changing it to the US... yet another thing we must hope publishers will sort out soon.

Originally Posted by Polyglot27

I agree with Zelda that there are too few books in French at the moment. Hope the situation will change as more French readers join MR.

well, it's not really the members of mr who can change the situation, however what i hope is that there will be more and more french people purchasing liseuses, and buying the (few...) ebooks that are available for the moment, and most importantly asking publishers for more (write to the publishers !!!), so that they will realise there is really a demand and be more active.

[ravenne]

I can´t stand pbooks anymore
I have one or two English pbooks in my shelf that I haven´t read so far, but the font size of those US paperbacks is terribly small. I would probably have to switch on all the lights in the house to read it comfortably. Problem number 2: no lookup-mode in pbooks, so you need the pbook AND the dictionary on the sofa.
I also prefer to read German books as ebooks. Reading on a Cybook is just more comfortable, kids do not accidentally use it as painting book etc.