[mdb139]

What I read, sadly, is not necessarily what I buy. I'm at the point now that I simply will not buy a paper book that I don't "have to" buy (such as technical books for work).

Reading (novels at least) in eBook format is so much more convenient for me that I'm only willing to buy them in eBook format. As already mentioned, I like having my entire library on my device (ppc) and I love having a dictionary at my fingertips so that I can look up words if I have to (I'm the person that always wrote down words I didn't know on my bookmark to look them up later).

The downside of this is that not all of the books/authors that I want to read are available in eBook format. So if I can't find the books I want by other means, I'll get it from the library or, as is probably more often the case, look for something else to read. I will not buy a paper book b/c it's the only format that's available.

Neither will I buy DRM'ed books that I can't crack, b/c I also like to reformat my books to suit my reading preferences. I've bought too many books that were poorly formatted and/or had errors in them that I won't do it again. Not to mention that I don't want my library married to a particular device/format.

Bottom line for me: I only buy for my device/format, but I read what I want to read one way or another. My preference is to buy (as opposed to all the other options available) b/c in the long run it's less hassle, and I guess I believe in paying for what I use.

Yes, I'm an NPR member.

...Just thought I'd address: the topic of the thread references "buy" but the poll says "read" -- not really the same thing, at least not for me.