Pew report on rise of e-reading

[hughes]

A new Pew Internet report contains some interesting findings relating to ebooks and ereaders:

The rise of e-reading

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by hughes

A new Pew Internet report contains some interesting findings relating to ebooks and ereaders:

The rise of e-reading

Thus giving the lie to "most people don't read" or that the survey only reached readers but was ignored by most people (they didn't read it)...

[Synamon]

Publishers should read this survey. Ebook readers read more books and are more likely to buy books. That is an audience worth cultivating.

[mpeg2]

"Ebook readers read more books and are more likely to buy books."

Cart & Horse? I think the report said that people that read more books are more likely to be Ebook readers as well. Subtle, but important difference.

Rich

[afv011]

Originally Posted by hughes

A new Pew Internet report contains some interesting findings relating to ebooks and ereaders:

The rise of e-reading

I'm not surprised, it's the convenience. I always carry my eReader with me, it fits in a pocket and it's lightweight. Carrying a book is nowhere near as convenient. And as a result I read plenty more, like while on the bus, or even while in the queue to pay for my groceries.

[HappyMartin]

Originally Posted by afv011

I'm not surprised, it's the convenience. I always carry my eReader with me, it fits in a pocket and it's lightweight. Carrying a book is nowhere near as convenient. And as a result I read plenty more, like while on the bus, or even while in the queue to pay for my groceries.

That is a good and valid point but not the entire story I think. I don't carry my reader around with me at all during my work week but still read more now that I have it

The reasons for me are, greater selection of books, cheaper books and a more pleasant reading experience. Mostly I read in bed and that is very pleasant.

[Ravensknight]

Originally Posted by HappyMartin

That is a good and valid point but not the entire story I think. I don't carry my reader around with me at all during my work week but still read more now that I have it

The reasons for me are, greater selection of books, cheaper books and a more pleasant reading experience. Mostly I read in bed and that is very pleasant.

In all seriousness, WHERE do you shop?

I can find just about any dtb book, except current releases, for much cheaper on the Amazon marketplace than I can anywhere on the internet in ebook form.

And there are a lot of books I can't find at all in ebook form [Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion series springs to mind].

So ebooks, for me, have a lesser selection and cost more.

The benefits of not taking up space, in our condo or in my bookbag, are what drew me, and keep drawing me, to the ebook.

[Rob Lister]

[Fozzybear]

I'm surprised by the second part of that chart (Sharing books with other people) - unless you're downloading public domain e-books (or habitually crack drm) and have lots of friends/family with e-readers I don't see how as many as 25% of respondents thought e-books were good for sharing. Maybe it's a different situation in the US somehow?

I don't see e-books supplanting paper books for the majority any time soon, the cost of an e-reader would easily pay for a couple of year's worth of books (especially those buying second-hand or from bargain booksellers) - most people I know see them as interesting gadgets but expensive and pointless. Not being able to share a book with friends is especially baffling to them - there's no perceived benefit from replacing perfectly serviceable paper for something that places limits on what you can do with books, requires care in use and power to work and may well die in a couple of years... requiring even more expense to replace it to access the books you have paid for. That e-books are often only a few pence cheaper than paper from the same seller and cannot be bought second-hand for low cost also is a big negative.

I enjoy reading free books on my kindle, it's a nice way to read, but I still don't see it as a practical replacement for the paper book and the majority of people are going to take a LOT of convincing. For one thing, drop a paper book or dunk it in the bath and you need to dry it out or worst case, buy another copy for a few pounds... do the same to an e-reader and you may need to pay ten times or more that amount to replace it. I just don't see how you convince people to make the change without physically removing availability of paper books to force them to do so unwillingly.

[HappyMartin]

Originally Posted by Ravensknight

In all seriousness, WHERE do you shop?

I can find just about any dtb book, except current releases, for much cheaper on the Amazon marketplace than I can anywhere on the internet in ebook form.

And there are a lot of books I can't find at all in ebook form [Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion series springs to mind].

So ebooks, for me, have a lesser selection and cost more.

The benefits of not taking up space, in our condo or in my bookbag, are what drew me, and keep drawing me, to the ebook.

Where do I shop? In South Africa where I live of course.

[Ravensknight]

What online store?

[HappyMartin]

Our online stores in South Africa such as Kalahari.com don't have the range of books that Amazon have. The books are also more expensive than Amazon if I purchase from Amazon the shipping costs me about the same as the cost of the books. If I opt for a cheer shipping plan the books take up to a month to arrive or If coming through the local postal system never arrive at all

Am example was Joe Friels new cycling training book. Not available locally but I could order it and it would take 4 weeks. Think the price was $20. Bought it as an ebook from Amazon for $11

I could also go the local bookstore route where I go in and ask them to order it but not once ever have they managed to get that right.

[HappyMartin]

Here is another example. Steve Jobs biography sells at our biggest online store on special promotion on their home page for just under $30. It sells at Amazon for $17. I can get it on my kindle for $12

Like I said. Cheaper