For ebook devotees, reading is a whole new experience

[kennyc]

Some good links/sources in the article:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/product...y-ebooks_n.htm

[Sweetpea]

What a delightful positive piece! No thumbing down of "the other side" but just people explaining why they do(n't) read electronically.

Thanks!

[poohbear_nc]

Very inclusive article - news sources are finally acknowledging the multiplicity of devices available, including phones with apps, and the diversity of people that are adopting ereaders.

[RainingLemur]

Good read. Makes sense, too.

[dreams]

Great article and finally one that is positive and not one that is devoted to just one device, but to the overall positive use of any device or app for all readers. I loved the below:

If anything, the growing popularity of ebooks shows that readers are still willing to pay for good writing, despite the profusion of free content available online. In that sense, it's a reaffirmation of the old publishing business model.

[Namekuseijin]

It evidences the same nightmare every electronic devices share:
that so much free content can be found as to wear your storage down,
and yet no free time to query no more than a bit of summary.

Carrying Dickens in your pocket shall supply no more wisdom
than from staring over a bakery counter shall your hunger dwindle.

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

It evidences the same nightmare every electronic devices share:
that so much free content can be found as to wear your storage down,
and yet no free time to query no more than a bit of summary.

Carrying Dickens in your pocket shall supply no more wisdom
than from staring over a bakery counter shall your hunger dwindle.

But at least if it's in your pocket then you have the choice to read it at any time should you choose unlike if it's on a shelf at home or in your local library...

[SensualPoet]

I dunno ... the "spokespeople" for the reporter's point-of-view are oddly chosen. It starts with a playwright who owns a car and an iPad ... finding any playwright earning enough money for a car and an iPad is a rarity.

Then there is the blogger who is delighted to be able to "read" while walking the dog.

Or the development manager for a well-known non-profit who doesn't "know how to use my iPod" but can read on her Kindle and Kindle app for her iPhone. Apparently she reads "in hard copy on my Kindle" and, because Amazon has "a lot of the classics for free, so I'll read a few pages when I'm in line".

Then there's a novelist and English professor who pipes up to say, no, it's the books not worth reading more than once he likes as ebooks.

And the local morning radio host who adds that he views books as clutter: "It's largely a clutter thing ... I don't let a book into my house if I don't think I'm going to read it more than once". Somewhat obtusely he adds: "Now I have all these electronic versions of Dickens that I cannot read electronically ... It makes me feel good to know I have Dickens even though I know I'm probaly never going to get through it."

The founder and president of a local small press likes ebooks because if she's not sure of the title: "if it is only a peripheral interest and I don't read the whole book, it's OK." A quick surf to her corporate website confirms not one of her publishing house titles are available as an ebook.

There there is the poet and assistant professor of English who "wrote" Poetry Foundation's Twitter feed last summer. "Poetry is one of the forms that defies the short attention span. Poetry is a way of paying attention."

And another novelist and professor of English who writes "flash fiction" (very short stories) "because they're easier for grazing online readers to digest".

Though the article title is "For ebook devotees, reading is a whole new experience", my hope it that people are choosing dedicated ereaders because they actually like to read long form fiction and not because they can catch 40 words in a “session” while walking the dog or be able to download a new bestseller while in the waiting room of their dentist.

Damning with faint praise?

Helpfully, the founder of Goodreads refused to take credit for Goodreads.com changing the way we read. "I think that what's changed is how people discover books and share books."

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

And another novelist and professor of English who writes "flash fiction" (very short stories) "because they're easier for grazing online readers to digest".

Flash fiction: for those with the attention span of goldfish.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

Or the development manager for a well-known non-profit who doesn't "know how to use my iPod" but can read on her Kindle and Kindle app for her iPhone. Apparently she reads "in hard copy on my Kindle" and, because Amazon has "a lot of the classics for free, so I'll read a few pages when I'm in line".

I think there was just a comma missing from that sentence so it was meant to be hard copy, on my kindle or on the phone rather than calling the version on the kindle a hard copy.

[Crowl]

I personally find my ebook reader is ideal for longer fiction as I can't keep losing my bookmark and can drop into it even if I only have time to read a few pages.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by Crowl

I personally find my ebook reader is ideal for longer fiction as I can't keep losing my bookmark and can drop into it even if I only have time to read a few pages.

Why would you lose your bookmark? The ones with magnets stick pretty well to the page.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

Flash fiction: for those with the attention span of goldfish.

Would you say the same of poetry?

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Crowl

I personally find my ebook reader is ideal for longer fiction as I can't keep losing my bookmark and can drop into it even if I only have time to read a few pages.

I'm also finding the syncing between Amazon/Kindle devices very nice for that very reason.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Would you say the same of poetry?

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
If you have 10 cents to spare,
They'll sell you two.

There is poetry, and there is poetry. I don't think that the author of the article was talking about the Iliad.