Why e-books?
 

Hey, what was your reason to switch to e-books from the original paper books?

Storage space. My house had double-stacked bookcases on every available wall. Ebooks use no (physical) storage space.

I started in the PDA era. So: a library in my pocket.

Storage space for me too. Cheaper to buy an e-reader than a new house :rofl: Plus obviously makes having enough books to read on holiday super easy without having to fill up a suitcase.

:ditto: I can still remember packing for a beach trip years ago -- the entire back seat of the car was filled with stacks of books (for a week away from home) :D

Plus, our neighborhood suffers frequent extended power outages - I read by Coleman lantern for 6 weeks after Hurricane Fran went through - ereaders are a blessing to have in such times - with an adapter to recharge in the car of course .... :2thumbsup

I was held at gunpoint and forced to switch. I've since succumbed to Stockholm Syndrome, though, so I couldn't be happier, really.

Honestly, though; I can think of all kinds of advantages that convinced me to stay with ebooks (most of which only revealed themselves after the fact, TBH), but I started buying them for one reason and one reason alone: they were there and I'm a geek.

Ebooks were cheaper than paper counterparts plus many stories available in electronic form that aren't in paper form. Instant gratification too. Decide to buy a book and you download it and instantly have it. Beats ordering it and waiting for it to come in the mail.

Storage space is also a bonus. I had (still have) way too many paper books but it's getting better!

Me too. I read for well over 10 years with Microsoft Reader on various Compaq (later HP) Pocket PC devices. I must have read well over 1000 books in total on such devices.

The ease of being able to carry many many books.

Hey, why not tell us this is a research question (according to your introduction).

And....hey, why not tell us the results of your research. That would be a very courteous gesture on your part - don't you think?

I switched because I wanted to use dictionaries when reading Englisch books.

Eyes. I have bad eyes, I've worn glasses since I was 5. Being able to increase the font size is a godsend!!
S

My first HPC was the phillips velo 500. Built-in modem clinched the deal.
My favorite was the Jornada 560 with the flip cover. Best ergonomics ever, with the side-mounted paging button.

I went hog wild when I found the BLACK MASK site and found you could buy the full collection on disk, in multiple formats. I did. :)

Because it was there, and I am a techie that loves Science Fiction - Fantasy.

(OH, the major Boxes of books stacked around, bit also)

Yep - same here :). I devoured that DVD, and Gutenberg books.

The ability to carry a gazillion books without them weighing a gazillion pounds!

Money -- ebooks are free, paper books cost money :D

Library -- ebooks can be borrowed at home, paper books require a trip to the library
.

Space, money, availability and ubiquity.

Space: Obvious. Ebooks don't take up space in the house or in suitcases
Money: Ebooks were and to some extent still are much cheaper than paper books
Availability: I could get the latest Baen SF/Fantasy books as soon as they were published, rather than hoping to find them in a local book store.
Ubiquity: With a PDA, I always had a book or ten with me.

You try to put a copy of the Count of Monte Cristo in your coat pocket... I could do that with a PDA.

Also, reading in bed became a lot less painful as I can easily switch side, without having to hold a thick heavy book on it's side...

Space constraints..I seriously downsized my living space. Plus the nearest books store is approx. 75 miles round trip.

To start with it was the lure of free books (baen CD's, free library, the Gutenberg sites).

Matters of storage space, durability(many of my pbooks are falling apart due to excessive reading while my deDRMed ebooks are still readable), a good method of organization, and ease of access (portable readers with lots of storage and adjustable fonts) are why I grew to prefer ebooks.

Most of you are missing one very important point. It saves trees.
With me knowing the pollution that making any electronics causes I will not say that they are less pollution but at least we save a few trees. I also like caring around dozens and sometime hundreds of books on a device that weighs only a few oz.

Not particularly. Trees are grown to make paper. If fewer books are printed, fewer trees will be grown. "Wild trees" aren't used to make paper (not in western nations, at least).

I tried my first e-book on a dare. It was good so I tried another, and another. I said to myself, "I can stop any time I want to!" But it's years later and I'm still reading them.

(Do you have any good resources for those trying to quit? ;))

Actually cvkemp, not reading paper books does not save trees.
Most paper is made from 5 year old trees. The paper mills replant a tree for every tree they cut down and have since at least 1984.
So they no longer clear cut forests for paper.
Yes, I have personally seen the trees for paper. Also saw the entire paper mill.
Now all these new houses are another story, they do still clear cut for lumber.

Now back to the topic,
I read ebooks and paper books.
Space and money are the reasons. Also an ereader fits in a camper better than a bunch of books.

Actually, eBooks do take physical storage space. A flash drive, a hard drive, a CD, a DVD, blu-ray, Reader, phone, tablet, etc are all physical. You have to have someplace to store your eBooks. And that place is physical.

The main reason I started was because I wanted something easier to read while standing on the train to/from work. 1000 page novels are much harder to carry and read one handed.

The other reasons listed above (space, cost, multiple books in one device, etc.) all played a factor too but they weren't why I changed.

But the amount of physical space does not increase with the number of books. I can store 1 book or 1 million books on my 1TB hard disk, and it still remains the same size.

... a fact which you are perfectly well aware of.

And all those things together take up the space of less than 20 books.

Storage space. My home was one big bookshelf. Now it's only half bookshelves. :D

I have many reasons to be glad I switched to eBooks.
1) I was running out of storage space in my home.
2) I could carry my entire library with me. I used to carry two books around when I was close to finishing one of them.
3) eBooks are cheaper than hard and paper covered books.
4) It is easier and faster to start reading eBooks after you purchase them.
5) I do not need a separate light source to read in the dark.
6) I can order books directly from my eReader.
7) A built in dictionary.
8) I know longer have to memorize the page I stopped reading on.
9) I can also read magazines on the same reader.
Apache

Perhaps adjustable font size was the first reason for my selection of ereader. To carry a lot of books at time, and not carrying a bulky dictionary always, was another. Of course, the price factor of ebooks vs. pbooks was an important factor too.

This. :2thumbsup

Bad back. I can lie on my side and read with an e-reader. Try that with a paper book, especially an 800 page hardcover.

Also reclaiming physical space in my home, and being able to carry multiple books while traveling.

Have you never heard of bookmarks? ;)

Bookmarks can fall out or get misplaced.

You misplace your bookmark and you just use any old piece of paper you have handy.

Portability was by far the number one reason. I rationalized that I wasn't much of a reader anymore as I didn't want to lug books around.

After I bought an e-reader, my number one reason for continuing with it is accessibility. I cannot read on paper anymore--font size adjustment is a must.

Well now I tend to use parts of pages of magazines. The problem is, I keep drowning the bookmarks.
;)

Bookmarks, feh, why use a bookmark when you can dogear your page and/or break the spine by leaving the book open and facedown?