Pew research weighs in
 

Recently Pew had something to say about their research in electronic books:

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2236/ebo...blets-ereaders

jbcohen, please add a little more to your URL referral so we know more about the subject. Thanks for the reference though.

What I found most interesting was:

"While e-book reading is markedly growing, printed books still dominate the world of book readers. In a December 2011 survey, 72% of American adults said they had read a printed book and 11% listened to an audiobook in the previous year, compared with the 17% of adults who had read an e-book."


I didn't know that many people listened to audio books. More than 1/2 as many as read an eBook.

That makes sense to me. 1)the convenience of carrying an eReader as well as the anonymity of the title, and; 2)the desire to get a return from the money invested in the eReader

As for audioBooks, they are extremely convenient for drivers. I had a job with a 1-hr drive each way and consumed a lot of audio's

i've never heard an audio book. i'm afraid that i simply wouldn't be able to concentrate on whats going on.

I though this small tidbit interesting.

http://libraries.pewinternet.org/fil...04/Chart-1.jpg

The full report is very detailed and fascinating:

http://libraries.pewinternet.org/201...-of-e-reading/

I suspect the reading with a child ratio is going to change dramatically in the next couple of years. A friend of mine was waxing lyrical last weekend about sitting down with her two year old and exploring stories (and bouncing off into interactive content) with her iPad.

Graham

I've tried it on a few occasions. I suppose they would be okay for long drives. I found the experience mind-numbingly slow. Most folks read at a speed substantially faster than the spoken word, especially when it comes to dialog; the dialog is not only read far more quickly than spoken, but the descriptors of that dialog (she said, he exclaimed, etc) is not so much read as it is absorbed congruently with the dialog. I suppose the same goes for adverbs and adjectives to a lesser extent. When every word is verbalized, it distracts me to the point of aggravation: get to the point!

I wonder how many of those who listened to an audio book had read that same book prior to listening. (God, I hope that made sense)

I did that with a pair of books, recently. I read the ebook. Then afterwards, I gave their audiobook counterparts a run through while I'd go running or on my walk home from work. It was rather enjoyable.

I do agree that it can be somewhat aggravating considering I read a great deal faster than Jay Snyder reads aloud.

I find the statistics given for Having a Wide Selection of Books to Choose From, 35% to 53% in favor of ebooks, hard to fathom. I know of many, many books that are available in paper form but not as ebooks. I have yet to encounter a case where an ebook is not available in paper. Am I not looking at some segment of the book market?

Well there are a large number of eBook only releases, yes. Look at Amazon's KDP programme, for example.
But also, even if pBooks exist, you probably can't find them in a nearby bookstore.

The Darknet might explain it. :pirateattack: