MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

cedhax · 06-13-2016, 09:34 PM

I own thousands of paper books and ebooks in my personal library. In the past, every time I moved, I'd rather throw away some old furniture than my boxes of old books. Paper books were clearly my preference. But this is no longer true today. Why?

E-books published over 10 years ago designed for ebook readers or apps at the time were simply no match for corresponding paper books. While the technology of paper books plateaued decades ago, the technology of ebooks has been improving. The arrival of iBooks 1.0 released on the first-generation iPad in 2010 marked a significant milestone. Writing is an art. So should the books be! With good enough ebook hardware and software, beautifully-rendered e-books should be a clear preference for me today then, right?

Alas! The biggest problem with ebooks today is DRM. If an ebook is delivered in such a way that I cannot convert, open and read it in a reader or app of my choice, then I will not purchase it. I'd rather buy the paper book version. (Fortunately, this conversion path is still feasible today, and thus I still buy a lot more ebooks than paper books.)

This is also why I prefer to borrow paper books over ebooks from public libraries. Ebooks borrowed from my local public libraries are tied to some specific e-reader app(s) that I really don't like and can't enjoy with.

Remember that the definition of ebooks are evolving. Perhaps 20 years from now, for most newly published books, you can basically only buy them in a non-convertible DRM'ed format from one super company (whose name begins with the letter A). Well, that'll be perhaps the time for me to get back to paper books...

P.S. For my recent view on reading experience and technology, see also this post.

06-13-2016, 09:34 PM	#11
cedhax Addict Posts: 286 Karma: 1546488 Join Date: Jan 2016 Device: ipad	I own thousands of paper books and ebooks in my personal library. In the past, every time I moved, I'd rather throw away some old furniture than my boxes of old books. Paper books were clearly my preference. But this is no longer true today. Why? E-books published over 10 years ago designed for ebook readers or apps at the time were simply no match for corresponding paper books. While the technology of paper books plateaued decades ago, the technology of ebooks has been improving. The arrival of iBooks 1.0 released on the first-generation iPad in 2010 marked a significant milestone. Writing is an art. So should the books be! With good enough ebook hardware and software, beautifully-rendered e-books should be a clear preference for me today then, right? Alas! The biggest problem with ebooks today is DRM. If an ebook is delivered in such a way that I cannot convert, open and read it in a reader or app of my choice, then I will not purchase it. I'd rather buy the paper book version. (Fortunately, this conversion path is still feasible today, and thus I still buy a lot more ebooks than paper books.) This is also why I prefer to borrow paper books over ebooks from public libraries. Ebooks borrowed from my local public libraries are tied to some specific e-reader app(s) that I really don't like and can't enjoy with. Remember that the definition of ebooks are evolving. Perhaps 20 years from now, for most newly published books, you can basically only buy them in a non-convertible DRM'ed format from one super company (whose name begins with the letter A). Well, that'll be perhaps the time for me to get back to paper books... P.S. For my recent view on reading experience and technology, see also this post.