[Timboli]

Originally Posted by HarryT

No, I didn't used to use a dictionary with paper books, so it's an ability I've gained with ebooks. Easy access to a dictionary is one of the many benefits of ebooks.

While I can agree with that, it depends on the book for me.

Originally Posted by radius

Ah, I would have called that a case instead of a cover. I believe most of Mobileread would as well.

Well that's personal I guess. I find the terms can be interchangeable.

I read one handed on the bus and every extra ounce is a nuisance. So is any extra mechanical complexity. There is no way I would read a hardcover novel in those conditions either.

For me, there is an amount before it becomes a nuisance.
I have very deliberately not read a hardcover on the bus or train, for both size and weight. Not sure where I suggested extra mechanical complexity, as I certainly don't envisage any.

In fact, I read outside of the house at least twice as much as I do at home, always without protection. I have never damaged a screen.

To be honest, I rarely read outside the house these days and when I do, it is generally my phone I use ... unless on a rarer long journey, which would naturally include baggage etc ... and thus my Tablet & Kindle as well.

What is b-grade about the materials used for electronic devices? They are typically made from glass and aluminium with some textured plastics. That is no worse than the vinyl, or cloth of many ereader cases. Even hardcover books are usually just cardboard and cloth. I don't know about your reading budget, but I don't have a library full of leather bound books with embossed, gold leaf covers

I was talking relative - Book vs Device. Very different entities, but you have the latter attempting to be a replacement for the former. I don't have such a library either, but budget is only part of it.

All in all it is about preference, and if you have a different preference to mine, fair enough. However, I am am talking about reasons why many have not bought into ereaders + ebooks as a replacement for their beloved books.

I find this very condescending. It is fully possibly to love reading and books without loving the physical artifact of a paper book; those readers can be just as much book lovers as someone who caresses and smells each book lovingly before opening it with reverence. And you can also love both. Do all books, like old pulps or hack romance novels for example, even "deserve" the luxury book binding treatment?

Not condescending at all. I quite understand why many care for nothing beyond the story. Many out there however, care for the whole package.

EDIT - I am not trying to substitute my preference in place of yours or others, or even saying mine is better. If you are happy with current status quo, then lucky you ... we should be so lucky. Some of us have a different preference, that we also, are entitled to. In a very real way, to say the current status quo SHOULD be acceptable for all, is in itself taking a condescending line.

Many books don't deserve to be written let alone published ... especially in hardcover. On that we can agree I suspect.

It's fine for you to feel that the essence, or Platonic ideal of a book includes certain feel in the hand and certain smells, and even certain memory evocations, but that would not increase ebook and ereader adoption in my opinion. Cost is the overwhelming driver. Adding the features you want is technically feasible, but would not work in the mass market because it adds cost. If customers were really all that bothered about the physical feel of books, then hardcovers would dominate book sales and they don't.

Undeniably, a great number of people, especially the younger readers, would not be bothered about device or book ... to them cost and easy use would be all ... for the majority of them. Even just buying a device is a cost impediment many struggle to deal with ... especially while many ebooks aren't as cheap as they should be.

I am primarily talking about others, many who like me, haven't been buying as many hardcovers as they would have liked ... because they too have often been too pricey. The desire was there though. Most of these others are older people and a great number of them collectors ... like myself.

We are talking about a different scenario now. Times have changed and being a collector is not the pressing thing it used to be, for things are easy to obtain ... from a kind of corporate collector, if you like.

Even though ebooks are often not as cheap as they should be, they are still a factor in the different condition now. In the first instance, when you buy your first ebook, you generally need to also buy an ereader of some kind. It is an investment that many, especially elderly readers, struggle to get their head around ... though for me, the benefit is very logical.

Part of it I am sure, is because they are not sure they are going to enjoy the experience, and so paying out what seems a large sum of money (compared to the cost of a single book), seems a big risk.

One way around that problem, would be to have Libraries for instance, lend ereaders, so that people could try for free. Another is to drive the cost right down. Another is to make the device worthy on its own ... make it as attractive as possible ... something one would be proud etc to own.

There was a time, and still is for many, where the cover of a book is an important factor when making a purchase. This might be because you've never read that author before, or because you want to have a matching series, or just because the cover really appeals to you, etc. The blurb only tells you so much, and while I'm not a big fan of judging a book by its cover, it is a starting point sometimes and can sometimes tell you a bit more than the blurb alone.

So in this day and age, where perhaps the cover image is no longer quite the factor it used to be, an ebook file is on its own, pretty dull & boring ... lifeless even. So for many, the attention can then turn to the state of the reader, and how attractive that is or could be.

Yes, I am reading a story and enjoying it. I am also enjoying the cover every time I pick the physical book up. Often I have held the book in my hands and spent some time scrutinizing the cover ... the glorious artwork. That is something, especially without color, that is either missing or not as it was. So all in all, a previous joy is now missing or considerably lessened (perhaps to the point of not bothering) with ebooks.

At the very least, my voice is a voice for those graphic design artists, most of whom struggle to get their work seen, let alone respected and appreciated. There are only so many walls in a house suitable for pictures and spots on a shelf. Sure you can deliberately force yourself to browse a collection of artwork you have collected. But where did you even start to build that collection. Incidental viewing is the best access to that world.

Maybe there is a market for high end ereaders with the features you'd like, but so far we have seen that price is more important by far for the average reader.

If price were all, then everyone would have swapped to ebooks ages ago. A huge number haven't, so to my mind, it puts what you said, to the lie.

Here I think you are looking at the physical ereader as being equivalent somehow to physical books. That's not the way I see it at all. My ereaders are more like magical portals that allow me to scry into my *REAL* library which exists nowhere and everywhere at once. And a ruined reading device does nothing to harm any book in my library.

Each to their own, and I do buy into some of that.
However, like many, I want the best of both worlds.

You and I and most others here who own an ereader, are in relative terms overall, early adopters. There are factors that made us so, that don't apply to many others out there. That should never be forgotten.

Sometimes, one's joy, gives blinkers to the likes and dislikes of others.