MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Will e-book readers make your library obsolete?

giddion · 02-18-2009, 09:34 AM

I'm in the category of my no answer wasn't available - personally newspaper wise I'm happy to see them go the way of the Dodo, huge waste of space and resources for something that is out of date before it rolls off the end of the press.

However printed and bound books will always have space in my library, actually this very topic was largely the reason for a relationship break up. I had a girlfriend that insisted my library was a huge clutter issue (don't have a separate library room, the shelves occupy one wall of my living room) and she felt I should pack them all in boxes and store them in the basement somewhere. MY GOD, can you think of a worse place to put your books?

I like seeing my favorite books on the wall every day, I guess in some small way it makes me feel closer to the characters and authors I love so much.

I like people to walk in my house to know I am a reader and how much those books mean to me. I like my children to see and experience those books as integral part of their lives - My children are all avid readers and having those books there I think influences that (children's books are on a different set of shelves right out side their bedrooms so not part of the clutter girl friend was complaining about)

When I want to read a book I like to stand in front of those shelf and run my hands along the spines of my books, to look at the covers and remember what reading that book meant to me. This brings me back to the world inside the book and in the case of some books back to the time and place I was at in my life the first time I read the book.

I want to be able to lend my books, to share my favorite authors and to foist my addiction off on my friends, with all this DRM stuff most of the books I download can't be loaned to anyone, yes I know I can strip the DRM, but even then I'm afraid to loan the book cause now I'm putting illegal goods into the hands of my friends.

To be quite honest I've already downloaded some of my books that I have on the shelf as ebooks, there is a easy to having a few novels with me at all times on my phone. It's more support I can give to my favorite authors and in so doing encourage a technology I love. But it's also so that now I can loan out the physical copy and not worry as much about losing access to the novel I love.

Personally I would LOVE very much if book publishers started following what DVD publishers are starting to do. Some DVD's are coming out now with the eformat of the same movie included so you can watch the Blue Ray on your HD TV and at the same time take the lower format copy with you on your phone or other hand held device. I would be extremely happy to pay a couple bucks more if the next Lawrence Watt-Evans book came out in hard cover and at the back had a CD or a coupon code of some sort that I could then turn around and access the same content from fictionwise as ebook.

02-18-2009, 09:34 AM	#132
giddion Connoisseur Posts: 73 Karma: 186 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: CT, USA Device: samsung i910 now - cybook later	I'm in the category of my no answer wasn't available - personally newspaper wise I'm happy to see them go the way of the Dodo, huge waste of space and resources for something that is out of date before it rolls off the end of the press. However printed and bound books will always have space in my library, actually this very topic was largely the reason for a relationship break up. I had a girlfriend that insisted my library was a huge clutter issue (don't have a separate library room, the shelves occupy one wall of my living room) and she felt I should pack them all in boxes and store them in the basement somewhere. MY GOD, can you think of a worse place to put your books? I like seeing my favorite books on the wall every day, I guess in some small way it makes me feel closer to the characters and authors I love so much. I like people to walk in my house to know I am a reader and how much those books mean to me. I like my children to see and experience those books as integral part of their lives - My children are all avid readers and having those books there I think influences that (children's books are on a different set of shelves right out side their bedrooms so not part of the clutter girl friend was complaining about) When I want to read a book I like to stand in front of those shelf and run my hands along the spines of my books, to look at the covers and remember what reading that book meant to me. This brings me back to the world inside the book and in the case of some books back to the time and place I was at in my life the first time I read the book. I want to be able to lend my books, to share my favorite authors and to foist my addiction off on my friends, with all this DRM stuff most of the books I download can't be loaned to anyone, yes I know I can strip the DRM, but even then I'm afraid to loan the book cause now I'm putting illegal goods into the hands of my friends. To be quite honest I've already downloaded some of my books that I have on the shelf as ebooks, there is a easy to having a few novels with me at all times on my phone. It's more support I can give to my favorite authors and in so doing encourage a technology I love. But it's also so that now I can loan out the physical copy and not worry as much about losing access to the novel I love. Personally I would LOVE very much if book publishers started following what DVD publishers are starting to do. Some DVD's are coming out now with the eformat of the same movie included so you can watch the Blue Ray on your HD TV and at the same time take the lower format copy with you on your phone or other hand held device. I would be extremely happy to pay a couple bucks more if the next Lawrence Watt-Evans book came out in hard cover and at the back had a CD or a coupon code of some sort that I could then turn around and access the same content from fictionwise as ebook.