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Originally Posted by sakura-panda
It's not really comparable though, is it? I can't take my existing books and move them to a digital format and still be able to use those books...
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Actually, you can but it is a lot of work and requires an investment in certain equipment such as high speed ADF scanners (flat plate
will work if only doing a few books but it's slow as a dead turtle), paper cutters, etc. CD to MP3 is much easier since all one needs is a computer with an optical drive and some software that can be obtained for free. I've been digitizing my books and I'm already using them without any more problems than using MP3s present. A dedicated MP3 player is roughly analogous to a dedicated e-book reader. Despite certain, minor compromises, I've found reading e-books to be far more convenient to reading p-books.
Granted, one would have to have some serious motivation to want to undertake digitizing their present p-book library, especially if it is very large. In my case, it's a looming lack of room that will force me otherwise part with my p-books (something I would prefer death to) in the not too distant future.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sakura-panda
...I buy CDs exclusively. I bought my first CD about 20 years ago and for the last 15 years, they have been ripped to the mp3 format. I listen to the CDs themselves more often than I listen to those mp3s. I do use my iPod enough to justify having them converted, but I find it more convenient to listen to the CDs themselves than to program the iPod...
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I actually find playing MP3s to be far, far more convenient than playing my CDs (which I will be getting rid of once I get over my irrational attachment to them, something that will have to happen soon). The only time I now buy CDs instead of downloading MP3s is if high quality downloads are unavailable or I'm wanting the cover art/data that comes with the CD (the latter rarely being available for download). However, it is far more convenient (and usually less expensive) to buy the download than to have to rip the CD.
At home, it is fairly easy to que up a playlist (which can be saved) to play the MP3s on my computer, which is connected to a 5.1 sound system. My truck has a 6 CD changer that can hold 20-30 hours worth of music, even more if I were to plug in a player with a decent sized HDD or SSD. I don't use a portable player (don't especially want one) but if I did, it wouldn't be an iPod. From what people have told me, they can be inconvenient to program. I also will not use iTunes because it can be inconvenient. I'm using a legacy organizer program that will also play my music on whatever computer player I choose (I use VLC) but will need to upgrade when I upgrade from XP to the OS du Jour when I upgrade in two or three years (Win 8 should be out by then; there is nothing wrong with Win 7 except my current machine, which is only 2 years old, won't run on it and I want to get my money's worth out of it).
Quote:
Originally Posted by sakura-panda
...I honestly can't see what one has to do with the other. If mp3s were independent from CDs, like ebooks are from paper books, I'm sure I wouldn't have any mp3 files at all.
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I don't really how you can say mp3s are any more or less independent from CDs than e-books are from p-books. Both e-books and mp3s are digital replacements for physical media. Once I destroy my physical CDs, my mp3s are going to be completely independent of them (they might as well be now since I never use the CDs anymore). Digitizing my p-books destroys them.