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Elfwreck · 10-20-2009, 11:47 PM

I don't shop at Sony. I can't buy ebooks at Amazon. I have only limited interest in public domain classics; those aren't why I got an ebook reader.

I like science fiction, & fantasy, some romance, and books on copyright law and current civil rights issues. My local libraries--which aren't small, nor far away--don't have enough to keep up with me. At least, not in my choice of styles, often enough that I don't run out of reading material. I don't want to have to wait in a line of unknown length to get a book I'd like to read.

I'm a voracious reader. When I've got uninterrupted time to focus, I read novels at about 100 pages/hour. With an hour and a half per weekday of reading time (including my transit time on the train, and twenty minutes or so at lunch), and a couple hours on the weekend, that's several books per week. If I got them from the library, I'd have to plan several trips--and choose which book I'd read next when I left for work, or carry several books with me.

I buy ebooks from Baen.com and Fictionwise; they sell non-DRM'd ebooks. (I won't pay for DRM.) I've bought a few from other ebook sites--Smashwords, Freya's Bower, allromanceebooks. Between those, and Mobileread's & Feedbooks' free books, and downloading fanfic & converting it to ebook formats, I will never run out of reading material. And I don't have to wait for someone else to get done before I can start.

Also, after reading on screens for a few years, I have limited tolerance for paper books. They're bulky. They don't stay open. They take two hands to operate, and I have to keep tilting them to get the light to the angle that works in the center. The text can't be made bigger for reading when I'm tired. I can't read them in the rain.

I'll grant that ebook readers are expensive, often-glitchy tech. They're new, and constantly changing. The format wars are an endless source of confusion. They're like limited computers with pathetic web ability. Not for everyone, these devices.

But for those who want to read a thousand pages a week, every week, they're incredibly useful. I can carry a week's worth of reading in my purse. I'm not stuck with throwing away a perfectly good book that nobody else wants to read. I can easily read on crowded trains. I can download new content to read, every day if I want.

I deal with paper books as reference works (gaming books) and art books, and that's about it; I can barely stand to read paperback novels anymore. I find myself wanting to cut the bindings off & scan them to convert to a useful format.

10-20-2009, 11:47 PM	#11
Elfwreck Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,187 Karma: 25133758 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3 (Past: Kobo Mini, PEZ, PRS-505, Clié)	I don't shop at Sony. I can't buy ebooks at Amazon. I have only limited interest in public domain classics; those aren't why I got an ebook reader. I like science fiction, & fantasy, some romance, and books on copyright law and current civil rights issues. My local libraries--which aren't small, nor far away--don't have enough to keep up with me. At least, not in my choice of styles, often enough that I don't run out of reading material. I don't want to have to wait in a line of unknown length to get a book I'd like to read. I'm a voracious reader. When I've got uninterrupted time to focus, I read novels at about 100 pages/hour. With an hour and a half per weekday of reading time (including my transit time on the train, and twenty minutes or so at lunch), and a couple hours on the weekend, that's several books per week. If I got them from the library, I'd have to plan several trips--and choose which book I'd read next when I left for work, or carry several books with me. I buy ebooks from Baen.com and Fictionwise; they sell non-DRM'd ebooks. (I won't pay for DRM.) I've bought a few from other ebook sites--Smashwords, Freya's Bower, allromanceebooks. Between those, and Mobileread's & Feedbooks' free books, and downloading fanfic & converting it to ebook formats, I will never run out of reading material. And I don't have to wait for someone else to get done before I can start. Also, after reading on screens for a few years, I have limited tolerance for paper books. They're bulky. They don't stay open. They take two hands to operate, and I have to keep tilting them to get the light to the angle that works in the center. The text can't be made bigger for reading when I'm tired. I can't read them in the rain. I'll grant that ebook readers are expensive, often-glitchy tech. They're new, and constantly changing. The format wars are an endless source of confusion. They're like limited computers with pathetic web ability. Not for everyone, these devices. But for those who want to read a thousand pages a week, every week, they're incredibly useful. I can carry a week's worth of reading in my purse. I'm not stuck with throwing away a perfectly good book that nobody else wants to read. I can easily read on crowded trains. I can download new content to read, every day if I want. I deal with paper books as reference works (gaming books) and art books, and that's about it; I can barely stand to read paperback novels anymore. I find myself wanting to cut the bindings off & scan them to convert to a useful format.