MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Mid-Series pB vs eB Dilemma

unboggling · 01-13-2011, 06:40 PM

So. I've gotten over the newness of my first eBook device. I've grown past grabbing all the free books that I'll never read just because they were free. I've cleaned up what I kept, standardized my tags and methods, developed a comfortable workflow. My reading habits after fluctuating wildly have settled back to something like what they used to be. Now it's back to buying books. With a preference toward eBooks over pBooks.

But there's an awful dilemma. I have 2200 pBooks. Many of them members of series. Many of the series are open (meaning the author still writes additional series members and hasn't had the courtesy to die or otherwise kill the series) so when a new book comes out for that series, what should I buy, pBook or eBook. For example, Carrie Vaughn, the Kitty Norville werewolf series, I have 8 pBooks. Should I buy the 9th as pBook - to stay consistent in that series - or eBook, because now I'm a liberated gadgethead and pBooks kill trees and Vaughn may write 27 more novels in that series.

Imagine it's 5 years later. I'm standing in front of my pBookshelves looking for something to read. I see the Kitty series and say hmmm, I haven't read those in awhile. I see 8 and I vaguely recall I might have some Kitty eBooks, better fire up the computer and check. Do you see how awkward this is, to switch from pBook horse to eBook horse during a multiBook-series gallup?

As a collector, I like having an entire series before bothering to reread it. Sometimes I even wait till the author dies so I'm sure there won't be an additional book in the series that ruins my beautiful series-reading plan, and it would be nice to have them all in a consistent media such as eBook, pBook, or audioBook (not that I do much of the latter), and not a mix of media. While as an avid reader and fan I want to read the new books right away.

So what should I buy, the pBook or the eBook? In making this choice, remember that many of the older books of a series are not available as eBooks and may never be.

How do you experienced eBookers handle this terrible potential-collection-wrecking mid-series media-choosing stark do-or-die lose-either-way choice? Has it ruined anybody else's life or am I (poor me) the only one?

01-13-2011, 06:40 PM	#1
unboggling Wizard Posts: 1,065 Karma: 858115 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: Kobo Clara, Kindle Paperwhite 10	Mid-Series pB vs eB Dilemma So. I've gotten over the newness of my first eBook device. I've grown past grabbing all the free books that I'll never read just because they were free. I've cleaned up what I kept, standardized my tags and methods, developed a comfortable workflow. My reading habits after fluctuating wildly have settled back to something like what they used to be. Now it's back to buying books. With a preference toward eBooks over pBooks. But there's an awful dilemma. I have 2200 pBooks. Many of them members of series. Many of the series are open (meaning the author still writes additional series members and hasn't had the courtesy to die or otherwise kill the series) so when a new book comes out for that series, what should I buy, pBook or eBook. For example, Carrie Vaughn, the Kitty Norville werewolf series, I have 8 pBooks. Should I buy the 9th as pBook - to stay consistent in that series - or eBook, because now I'm a liberated gadgethead and pBooks kill trees and Vaughn may write 27 more novels in that series. Imagine it's 5 years later. I'm standing in front of my pBookshelves looking for something to read. I see the Kitty series and say hmmm, I haven't read those in awhile. I see 8 and I vaguely recall I might have some Kitty eBooks, better fire up the computer and check. Do you see how awkward this is, to switch from pBook horse to eBook horse during a multiBook-series gallup? As a collector, I like having an entire series before bothering to reread it. Sometimes I even wait till the author dies so I'm sure there won't be an additional book in the series that ruins my beautiful series-reading plan, and it would be nice to have them all in a consistent media such as eBook, pBook, or audioBook (not that I do much of the latter), and not a mix of media. While as an avid reader and fan I want to read the new books right away. So what should I buy, the pBook or the eBook? In making this choice, remember that many of the older books of a series are not available as eBooks and may never be. How do you experienced eBookers handle this terrible potential-collection-wrecking mid-series media-choosing stark do-or-die lose-either-way choice? Has it ruined anybody else's life or am I (poor me) the only one?