Oh no-I can't stand paper anymore!!!

[AnemicOak]

I haven't read more than a handful of paper books since I got my first eInk reader in October of '07. Problem is I've got a couple thousand paper books, many of which I haven't read yet, but every time I pick one up I get a little way into it and end up grabbing a reader and reading something on it instead. For some reason, even though I don't do anything with them, I've had a hard time getting rid of anything I don't also have as an ebook.

[kindlekitten]

hehehehe you can check out anytime you like, but you can never really leave....

[kathyfitz]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Wait until you decide to clean off your bookshelves. It's so liberating! Last year I gave our library everything except my art and travel books. It was scary, but felt great to cut the ties to paper.

That sounds so scary I can't even imagine it!! Even though I haven't a paper book all year and most of last year too! I go out of my way to get an ebook rather than paper. Which sounds ridiculous considering how easy it is to get an ebook. But I've even bought the ebook of a book I have in paper because I know I just won't get around to reading it if I don't. If it isn't available as a ebook or in audio, it won't get read.

[JeremyZ]

dazcox - For me, the trick was that I prefer reading things that are new to me electronically via my Kindle. I tried an iPad, and I didn't find it to be in the same league for reading more than 15 minutes at a time.

Maybe I'm just arrogant, but a book on the shelf that I read is like a little trophy. Whenever I look at it on the shelf, I have a bit of pride and some fond memories of the book. That just doesn't happen with an electronic book. Electronic books don't start conversations with my guests the way paper books do. A literary classic that will be read more than once really deserves a bit of physical space and a nice hard binding, IMO. Books that I would rather have in hardcover, for instance:

- Sherlock Holmes
- Edgar Allen Poe
- Dictionary
- The Lord of the Rings

Despite this, I read a lot more eBooks now than paper books. But some of them just seem to deserve to be printed on paper.

[J. Strnad]

Uh, people? You realize that publishers are reading this thread and thinking, "Hm...maybe we should charge MORE for ebooks than hardbacks, since people like them better!"

So, for the record, ebooks suck and paper books are much, much, MUCH better and should cost a lot more than ebooks, like ten times as much.

[hgwlackey]

There are some fairly new books out that I want to read SO MUCH...

...but not quite enough to buy physical copies of them.

[JeremyZ]

J. Strnad - I think they're smarter than that. The bookshelf thread elsewhere in this forum would teach them otherwise. There are some folks (such as myself) that have some fiction stored elsewhere because we ran out of room for it. There are lots of folks like hgwlackey who just don't want to buy paper books.

Heck, I want to read Dragonlance again, but am too cheap/lazy to pay full price for them, and since paper books last pretty much forever and are much harder to lose, they're easy to find used.

[HansTWN]

I even read an electronic version of the newspaper every day. And I can't even remember the last time I read a pbook.

[lunixer]

I ordered my K3 3g+wifi when I was trying to read a paperback that is more than 1600 pages, larger than a standard paperback that weighs almost 2 pounds by my kitchen scale. (The complete Gormenghast trilogy if you're curious) Then I realized that the book is not available on the Kindle store or anywhere else as an ebook But I am taking a history of womens' literature class next semester that has more than 15 textbooks, so I'm sure I will be very happy with my Kindle. Unfortunately, most of my other textbooks (Computer Science major) are unavailable on the Kindle store, or cost the same amount as the resellable hardback version.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

Uh, people? You realize that publishers are reading this thread and thinking, "Hm...maybe we should charge MORE for ebooks than hardbacks, since people like them better!"

So, for the record, ebooks suck and paper books are much, much, MUCH better and should cost a lot more than ebooks, like ten times as much.

I think that they have figured out that we have figured out that if they are going to be that idiotic we know where the darknet is

[FizzyWater]

Yep, I think it was about 18 months ago I finally realized it wasn't just a case of ebooks being easier, but that I actually didn't like reading paper books any more!

[GraceKrispy]

Uh-oh, this is where I get on and say that I read way more ebooks than pbooks, but when I do read a pbook, it's like a special treat. It's like an old friend in my hands again. Yes, when I brush my teeth or put in my contacts, it's a pain to put the lotion on top of the pages to keep it open whilst I read, and yes it takes up more room to carry, and yes sometimes it smells weird.... but it's like an old friend that I missed.

But, like an old friend, one visit every once in a while is more than enough for me for a time.

[Kevin2960]

You STILL believe in pBooks and Santa Claus too ???

I really don't know why I ever believed in fairytales like pBooks !

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by JeremyZ

dazcox - For me, the trick was that I prefer reading things that are new to me electronically via my Kindle. I tried an iPad, and I didn't find it to be in the same league for reading more than 15 minutes at a time.

Maybe I'm just arrogant, but a book on the shelf that I read is like a little trophy. Whenever I look at it on the shelf, I have a bit of pride and some fond memories of the book. That just doesn't happen with an electronic book. Electronic books don't start conversations with my guests the way paper books do. A literary classic that will be read more than once really deserves a bit of physical space and a nice hard binding, IMO. Books that I would rather have in hardcover, for instance:

- Sherlock Holmes
- Edgar Allen Poe
- Dictionary
- The Lord of the Rings

Despite this, I read a lot more eBooks now than paper books. But some of them just seem to deserve to be printed on paper.

I won't ever get rid of my pbook library and I'll probably add to it as well, once it's set up again. But only books that I adore or simply look too good to pass by. I'd love to have one shelf full of fairy tale books, for instance. I already have a nice collection, but I want more!

But for general reading, I still try to get the ebook version and won't read the pbook version...

[Ea]

Yes, you get spoiled so quickly You suddenly realise how uncomfortable it can be to sit with a p-book. And there's no inbuilt dictionary or pageturn buttons either...

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

Uh, people? You realize that publishers are reading this thread and thinking, "Hm...maybe we should charge MORE for ebooks than hardbacks, since people like them better!"

So, for the record, ebooks suck and paper books are much, much, MUCH better and should cost a lot more than ebooks, like ten times as much.

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

I won't ever get rid of my pbook library and I'll probably add to it as well, once it's set up again. But only books that I adore or simply look too good to pass by. I'd love to have one shelf full of fairy tale books, for instance. I already have a nice collection, but I want more!

I agree with you. When I moved recently I purged quite a bit, but there's books I still want to keep in p-version. Books that has special meaning for me in some way or other. A living room without books feels a little empty. And of course there's an element of display of myself as well. Just like all the other things we choose to surround ourselves with - they "tell" other people something about us.