Bought my first ereader and I miss real books already!

[stodge]

I bought a PRS-650 the other day. It's my first ereader and it's already loaded with numerous free books and a few I bought yesterday. I love the device so far and the fact that I have 50 books on one small portable device. I realized while looking at my pile of new, unread books on the floor that there is something intrinsically beautiful about a new, unread paperback and I felt pangs of guilt and regret. Does anyone else feel the same way?

[abookreader]

not around here - no.
eBooks are real books. To me, there is something intrinsically beautiful about not having stacks of paperback books littering the floor.

Welcome to mobile read Stodge. Stick around so we can put some more kool aid into your system, yes?

[SensualPoet]

Yah, certainly no regrets from me and I'm coming up on the first anniversary of my first device. You can always return your purchase or put it on ebay and take the proceeds to buy more paperbacks. Or continue to buy some paperback and some ebooks and enjoy the experience of both in their own ways.

[weatherwax]

Not really. But if you don't open the books in Sony, they are also shown on a "unread" list, so you may get your pangs of guilt there.
I find this even worse, because the number makes it more obvious that I don't really need to get new books.

[lilac_jive]

Occasionally. But then yesterday I read a fat paperback and got an arm cramp (true story).

[Sweetpea]

Absolutely not. Same problem as Lilac above, I only get cramp (not in my arm, but in my hands, from trying to keep the book open...)

[Worldwalker]

I don't miss real books. Real books are the ones on my Sony 505.

[khalleron]

Nah. After I'd had mine about 2 months, I was forced to read a paper hardcover book, and it was really frustrating. I had to actually *turn the pages*. It was too big and heavy and the print was too small.

Amazing how quickly I got spoiled - welcome to the world of e - you'll get spoiled in time, too.

[hgwlackey]

No, I don't miss print books. Recently I've been daydreaming about how much more spacious my living room will be when I figure out the least onerus way to get rid of most of the print books I do have.

[markuskane]

Yesterday I was at a coffee shop reading on my Kindle. I decided I didn't like the book I started reading, so I started another one from my library. Then a girl sat down next to me and we started talking about the kindle. She took out a copy of the book I had been reading (but didn't like) and I asked her how she liked it. She said it wasn't very good, but she didn't have another book with her and couldn't read something else.

No. I don't miss them.

[pendragginp]

For me it isn't an either/or. For about a year I've felt that my ereaders were lovely for books without color photographs, but I would also borrow non-fiction books from the library to supplement, so that I could see the pictures of my books in color.

Now with the addition of the Pocket Edge to my reader collection I can open photographs in color, so the ebook experience is just about perfect. But because I just love books, I still love them in any form at all.

[Ken Irving]

Originally Posted by stodge

I bought a PRS-650 the other day. It's my first ereader and it's already loaded with numerous free books and a few I bought yesterday. I love the device so far and the fact that I have 50 books on one small portable device. I realized while looking at my pile of new, unread books on the floor that there is something intrinsically beautiful about a new, unread paperback and I felt pangs of guilt and regret. Does anyone else feel the same way?

I thought I might feel that way, but I don't.

I really appreciate the books I already have that would never work well on an ereader due to graphics and special layout but where a straight read, whether fiction or nonfiction, is concerned, I just hadn't been doing much of this for years now. For some reason using an ereader makes me more involved in what the author is saying, and because of that I've probably read more books of this type in the past month since I bought a Nook than I have in the last decade.

I'm doing pretty well so far just with the freebies, so have only bought one or two, but I did subscribe to The New Yorker to see how that went, and I'm currently working through my fourth library checkout (More Money than God by Sebastian Mallaby, which follows The Bedwetter by Sara Silverman, The Day After Tomorrow by Allan Folsom, and The Bourne Objective by Eric Van Lustbader). I've probably read twice that much from among B&N's stock of freebies and the stuff they've released on free Fridays.

In my case I guess there's not much to miss, since between myself and my wife there are already so many books in the house (mine are mostly textbooks and reference) that with anything new that shows up it's a matter of which dust bunny to store it next to in which corner after we're through with it. The shelves are full and the floors are creaking (or at least I imagine they are). So other than the fact the ereader seems to allow me to get closer to what the author is saying, it also relieves me of the responsibility of having to concern myself with storage. A definite plus.

[mr ploppy]

I don't think having an ebook reader precludes people from buying/reading real books. For me, ebooks are like the difference between vinyl and an mp3. Vinyl is better to listen to and handle, but if you can't find it or can't afford it when you do find it, mp3 will do instead. I bought an ebook reader primarily to read books that don't exist in paper form.

Now, I tend to alternate between reading an ebook and reading a real book, mainly because I have plenty of both that I haven't got around to reading yet, and some of the real books cost more than the ebook reader did.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by stodge

I bought a PRS-650 the other day. It's my first ereader and it's already loaded with numerous free books and a few I bought yesterday. I love the device so far and the fact that I have 50 books on one small portable device. I realized while looking at my pile of new, unread books on the floor that there is something intrinsically beautiful about a new, unread paperback and I felt pangs of guilt and regret. Does anyone else feel the same way?

Yes and no. I think there are still certain advantages to paper books and I still read them (when they are cheaper, more useful -- e.g. flipping through and finding some section to read) etc.

[FlorenceArt]

E-books are wonderful, but having an e-reader doesn't mean that you can't read/buy paper books when you want to. It will be even more pleasurable when you do!