Cover switching

[gmw]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

[...] The cover was always on the opposite side of everything I was interested in anyway..

It may be that I look upon covers as important because physical books have always had such a prominent and important position in my home. As a child it was always "make sure you wash your hands first", and "be careful with that book", through to now and what amounts to a library that takes up a sizeable part of our home - book covers are effectively part of the decor. So I've gotten used to looking at book covers and appreciating the work that went into them.

Which brings up another bugbear of mine: the cheap clip-art covers being put on so many books these days - the fall of civilisation as I knew it!

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by gmw

It may be that I look upon covers as important because physical books have always had such a prominent and important position in my home. As a child it was always "make sure you wash your hands first", and "be careful with that book", through to now and what amounts to a library that takes up a sizeable part of our home - book covers are effectively part of the decor. So I've gotten used to looking at book covers and appreciating the work that went into them.

Which brings up another bugbear of mine: the cheap clip-art covers being put on so many books these days - the fall of civilisation as I knew it!

For me covers were at one time what drew my attention to a new book or author. It's art. It's not all that uncommon for my older hardcover books, especially the non fiction ones, to simply be a cover with the name of the book and author, no art work at all.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

For me covers were at one time what drew my attention to a new book or author. It's art. It's not all that uncommon for my older hardcover books, especially the non fiction ones, to simply be a cover with the name of the book and author, no art work at all.

Sure, I've got many of those old hard-covers too, but some of those are an artwork in their own right (the embossing and printing stamped into the covers).

And I'm not putting on the sackcloth yet. You noted earlier that you see it mostly with older books, and I think you may be right. Perhaps this cover switching thing is a problem that will fade away.

[DiapDealer]

I know there's many who view the covers of books as independent art (and I can feel for those who believe ebooks don't cater very well to that aspect), but I'm glad I was never really bitten by that particular bug.

From an artistic standpoint, my physical books were little but 3/4'' - 4" spines when shelved. Not much to look at, really. I always took care to make sure my books were well taken care of (no creased spines, no dog-eared or torn pages, etc...), but that was to appease my OCD rather than being born out of any deep "respect" for the objects themselves.

So ebooks liberated me from all that nonsense (nonsense in my opinion, of course). There was nothing to "take care of" or clean—I could even "throw away" the ones I knew I'd never want to re-read without any guilt!

I've always thought of ebooks as books freed of all unnecessary baggage.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by gmw

With what other products would we accept such low quality standards?

Phone call audio quality.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by gmw

Which brings up another bugbear of mine: the cheap clip-art covers being put on so many books these days - the fall of civilisation as I knew it!

VHS tape (I owned a LaserDisc long before I bit the bullet to get VHS for films not available on the Big Shiny).

Compact Cassette. Even 8-track had better (frequency response) sound.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by theducks

VHS tape (I owned a LaserDisc long before I bit the bullet to get VHS for films not available on the Big Shiny).

Compact Cassette. Even 8-track had better (frequency response) sound.

To me it depends on when you compared 8 track vs compact cassette.

Early 70's: 8 track had slightly better high frequency. It also had the thunk in the middle of a song as you switched tracks. Sonicus interruptus as my then girlfriend referred to it.

Late 70's on: Compact cassette was the hands down winner. The improved tape formulations and Dolby NR made it no contest.

Given that I listened to both in the early 70's in cars where the ambient noise made any claims to fidelity risible while I listened to compact cassettes from the late 70's on at home and in the car.

Then there is the memory of shopping for a portable compact cassette player at J. C. Penney's that was considered one the best for use with the Tarbell tape interface.

[CRussel]

I never even think about the cover substitution, since the first thing I do with ANY ebook I buy is to edit the metadata and update the cover using Calibre. It's just part of my normal workflow. Buy book, import into Calibre, removing DRM, edit metadata, update cover, and finally convert as required. I've not found a single book that the automatic mechanisms couldn't find a cover for.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I never even think about the cover substitution, since the first thing I do with ANY ebook I buy is to edit the metadata and update the cover using Calibre. It's just part of my normal workflow. Buy book, import into Calibre, removing DRM, edit metadata, update cover, and finally convert as required. I've not found a single book that the automatic mechanisms couldn't find a cover for.

I do this too. I can always find a cover, but sometimes they are not as large as I would like.
Apache

[CRussel]

There's a plugin for that.

I can usually find a cover of a reasonable size - it helped to add Google Images to the list of metadata sources - but if I can't find a big enough one, I resize my preferred one to at least 600x800.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Apache

I do this too. I can always find a cover, but sometimes they are not as large as I would like.
Apache

Are you using the Kindle(G) and the Kobo Books plugins? I find those two give me decent covers for most books.

[Apache]

I realized after I posted that I do not have a problem with larger size book covers anymore. That was a few years back. Old age is a pitiful thing.
Apache

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Apache

That was a few years back. Old age is a pitiful thing.
Apache

When you consider the alternative?

[Apache]

Originally Posted by DNSB

When you consider the alternative?

aPACHE

[Pulpmeister]

I mourn the end of the illustrative covers by such cover artists as "Peff" (Sam Peffer) which make a reasonable effort to portray part of the action or theme of the book. Now we get endless covers with a stock silhouette pic of a man in a long coat, or running, against a generic landscape.

I like to have what I think of as the best covers on my ebooks, and do fossick extensively on the web for them. Even ancient books such as Edgar Wallace have a wide choice available.

But I agree: you sell a product with an illustration, you should get the product illustrated. I do think it's a low act, and misleading to the point of bait and switch.

I am a fan of book covers. years ago I began scanning my old paperback covers before pitching the books out or selling them off, not knowing that decades later I would be slowly replacing those dead tree books with digital editions, and putting back on my old familiar covers.

Many covers are so good that you can't really improve on them, and look great in your Calibre gallery for browsing purposes. Think of that Agatha Christie "Death in the Clouds" paperback cover with the giant wasp above a 1930s airliner (it even featured in an episode of Dr Who!) If I shelled out to buy the ebook, I would swap out whatever cover they stuck me with for that one.