Complete Library Why?

[JSWolf]

Why is it that a lot of people feel the need to have their complete collection of eBooks on their Reader? It just seems a bit unwieldy to me. I have somewhere around 100 eBooks on my H2O and if I find I want to read something that's not on there, I'll add it when I'm next at my computer.

[Cinisajoy]

Why is it some people want very few books on their ereader?
Why do some people have sparce kitchens and others have massive kitchens with duplicates?
Why do people read? Why don't people read?
Why do some people think shelves expand to fit new book purchases? Then get home to realize there is no shelf space.

In other words: I have no answer.

[salamanderjuice]

Why not? If they are all there you don't have to add it next when you are the computer. You just find it and start reading. It's no different from people who want to carry around an MP3 player or phone with all their music then spend time syncing and swapping stuff to a 4GB iPod. If the mood strikes you can start reading whatever whenever, doesn't matter if your on a hiking trip in Alaska or on a cruise thousands of miles from your computer or just sitting on your sofa too lazy to get up.

I read a lot of comics and can easily fill up a 4GB or even an 8GB reader and it is a PITA to constantly have to delete stuff to make room for new books. I'm already at 20GB of ebooks.

Plus keeping all your books on the device can be a nice extra backup.

[4691mls]

As long as you don't have so many books that it slows down the ereader, why not have them all? If a whim strikes and you want to read a particular book, you'll have it and not have to wait until you get home to your computer.

[cfrizz]

I like having options, and if all of my books and music are on my phone/tablet, then I can/do switch over to something different whenever I want to. I can't do that if I have to wait to go to my pc to load it on.

So I keep all 1559 of my ebooks on my phone/tablet, and all 921 songs on an sd card also on my phone available for me to access.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Why is it that a lot of people feel the need to have their complete collection of eBooks on their Reader? It just seems a bit unwieldy to me. I have somewhere around 100 eBooks on my H2O and if I find I want to read something that's not on there, I'll add it when I'm next at my computer.

I keep everything in the cloud so it's accessible. I don't use a computer often. No need to when I have a tablet that does the basics.

Sent from my XT1528

[Apache]

I have my library backed up in the cloud, on my personal cloud, a hard drive and a flash drive. I have Calibre installed on my Surface Pro 4 and the Calibre Library is on a flash drive plugged into the USB port. I rarely decide in advance what I want to read next and prefer to have my complete library available. I do not think that everyone has to follow my example either.
Apache

[GlenBarrington]

I personally don't keep EVERYTHING on my eBook device. It's a holdover from my days reading on my Palm Treo, I guess.

I'm also not much of a re-reader of books unless it has been years since I last read a book. I'd rather keep a month or so of my "To Be Read" list on the PW2. 100 to 200 books at a time on the device, tops, depending on how many interesting candidates, I have heard about on MR and elsewhere.

I have no problem with those who do keep everything on their device, whatever 'floats your boat', I guess. But my experience with my now elderly Sony devices has been that too many books can really slow response time down, I don't know if that's true with Kindle devices, but my habits and workflow is now set.

[issybird]

I have about 200 books (the same 200) on my three main devices, but other than having twice as many books, I agree with Jon.

It's a reasonably curated collection for both breadth and high appeal as I don't want to have to scroll through everything in my library in a particular category to select my next read. Once I start to feel certain books have been rejected too often, I can change it up, to keep it fresh. And I certainly don't want finished books slowing down the selection process either.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Why is it that a lot of people feel the need to have their complete collection of eBooks on their Reader? It just seems a bit unwieldy to me. I have somewhere around 100 eBooks on my H2O and if I find I want to read something that's not on there, I'll add it when I'm next at my computer.

To each their own. I too am surprised at how many here have talked about wanting so many books on their ereader but I know we're sort of the extreme of readers at mobileread so I understand why those who read fast and furious want a huge selection for when they fancy starting a new book, or just for the comfort of knowing their favourites are there.

As for me, I'm still a little scarred from my old Sony 950 becoming soooo slow and it only speeding up when I'd make it as empty as possible, so now I usually keep less than ten on my ereader, unless I'm lazy and those I've finished start piling up as is the case right now lol. I think I have about 30 at the moment, mostly consisting of finished books, though some are from an Agatha Christie sale Amazon had not too long ago. I usually don't buy books until I'm ready to read them but the deal on these were too good and I plan to read through her at some point in the next years so it was a no-brainer. When I buy books on Amazon they automatically show up on my Voyage and again I've been lazy and haven't tidied it up for a long while now.

[GeoffR]

I keep most finished books on the device, even ones I don't expect to read again, so when I go to select another book by an author the covers trigger memories of the ones I have already read. It is enjoyable sometimes just to browse the finished books on the device and let the memories of the books I have read resurface.

Also some practical reasons to keep all books on the device: no need to connect to wi-fi to download, so longer battery life and no hassles when out of wi-fi range.

[GlenBarrington]

Everyone's reasons for doing what they do seem valid and reasonable. Boats and floating, I guess.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Why is it that a lot of people feel the need to have their complete collection of eBooks on their Reader?

Because I want to.

It just seems a bit unwieldy to me.

Not at all, at least I don't find it so. With Calibre Companion I have the benefit of looking for books basically the same I can in Calibre. On my Kobo the search function works quite well to find anything I'm looking for among thousands of books (and search on the Kindle works quite well too from what I remember).

I have somewhere around 100 eBooks on my H2O and if I find I want to read something that's not on there, I'll add it when I'm next at my computer.

Glad that works for you. It's worked okay for me in the past too, but having everything there works better.



Seriously though haven't you gotten enough answers to this question from other times you've asked it or the threads other people have asked in? It all boils down to different things are preferred by different people and there is no right or wrong answer.

[Hemmi]

I delete a book from my ereader once I've read it. I can always add it back later. Even though my reader shows me what's been read or not, I like to delete the already read ones.

I only have 3 or 4 books that're always on there and that I like to read or skim thru from time to time.

[william z]

Why not? What's wrong with having a huge library on your ereader?