Why e-books?

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

There's just as much rubbish printed in books as is broadcast on TV. I certainly wouldn't assume that switching from watching soap operas to reading would automatically equate to an increase in intellectual stimulation (and reading doesn't necessarily have to be intellectual, of course - nothing wrong with reading trashy books for fun if that's what you enjoy).

And also one man's trashy book may be another man's great literature.

[LadyKate]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

I started in the PDA era. So: a library in my pocket.

Me to! Plus Gutenberg. I started reading "text ebooks" back when I had to clean up the basic Gutenberg text and fix the hard line feed problems in the late 90s.

[LadyKate]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Actually, eBooks do take physical storage space. A flash drive, a hard drive, a CD, a DVD, blu-ray, Reader, phone, tablet, etc are all physical. You have to have someplace to store your eBooks. And that place is physical.

LOL I'll switch back to paper books when my ebook devices and storage units fill even one 7 shelf bookcase.

[LadyKate]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

What Causes the Smell of New & Old Books?

They didn't mention the dust mites, the mold, mildew and the dust itself that is a part of the "old book smell.

I read an article about library books being one of the most common place for bed bug infestations. Another article indicated that the most common pests are roaches, silverfish, and various types of beetles. Spiders also are not uncommon. Book Lice or Liposcelis bostrychophila, will also graze on paper of books.

After over 16 years of reading ebooks primarily, (strange but I prefer programming references in paper format) I picked up an old book that a friend had brought to the house. The paper felt strange and "crackly" or dried and I found it uncomfortable to read. The "old book smell" had my allergies kick up.

That had me wondering what kind of mold and mildew I inhaled as a child reading books that had been stored in a building that had heat (via wood stove) only during the day on weekdays and no heat at all on weekend and during the summer (I went to a 1 room school for five years). I do know many of the books were very old and did have a certain smell.

I love the "no smell" of my tablet and the fact that I am not limited to any particular store and can use apps to use overdrive books as well.

[LadyKate]

Originally Posted by PurpleStar

Everything everyone else has said, plus books don't go out of stock. For example I don't have to rush to the store and buy all the Harlequin books before they get taken off the shelves. They're always there for me at the Kobo store.

I hate to say that occasionally ebooks are taken off the shelf. It depends on the length of the contract the author has for that particular book as the publisher can't continue selling the book after the contract expires.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by LadyKate

I hate to say that occasionally ebooks are taken off the shelf. It depends on the length of the contract the author has for that particular book as the publisher can't continue selling the book after the contract expires.

Happens quite often. Probably around 10% of the ebooks I've bought over the years from Baen are no longer available to new purchasers, although most are still available for me to download. As you say, it's due to contracts changing. One such author is Charles Sheffield. 17 of his books that I've bought from Baen over the years can no longer be bought.

[Conan46]

Originally Posted by LadyKate

They didn't mention the dust mites, the mold, mildew and the dust itself that is a part of the "old book smell.

I read an article about library books being one of the most common place for bed bug infestations. Another article indicated that the most common pests are roaches, silverfish, and various types of beetles. Spiders also are not uncommon. Book Lice or Liposcelis bostrychophila, will also graze on paper of books.

After over 16 years of reading ebooks primarily, (strange but I prefer programming references in paper format) I picked up an old book that a friend had brought to the house. The paper felt strange and "crackly" or dried and I found it uncomfortable to read. The "old book smell" had my allergies kick up.

That had me wondering what kind of mold and mildew I inhaled as a child reading books that had been stored in a building that had heat (via wood stove) only during the day on weekdays and no heat at all on weekend and during the summer (I went to a 1 room school for five years). I do know many of the books were very old and did have a certain smell.

I love the "no smell" of my tablet and the fact that I am not limited to any particular store and can use apps to use overdrive books as well.

You may have just ruined print books for me forever lol!

[LadyKate]

Originally Posted by Conan46

You may have just ruined print books for me forever lol!

I'm sorry about that but do some searches on it. I was looking for the name of the mite and came across the bedbug reference. I cringed. Made me glad no one in the house borrows books (except ebooks) anymore.

From the dust and general condition of most used book stores it makes you think they are even more likely to have unpleasant things about them. (makes you wonder if you should put them in a garbage bag with some kind of bug killer before bringing them home)

[Conan46]

Originally Posted by LadyKate

I'm sorry about that but do some searches on it. I was looking for the name of the mite and came across the bedbug reference. I cringed. Made me glad no one in the house borrows books (except ebooks) anymore.

From the dust and general condition of most used book stores it makes you think they are even more likely to have unpleasant things about them. (makes you wonder if you should put them in a garbage bag with some kind of bug killer before bringing them home)

I have lots of allergies and I have bought used books in the past that I had to get rid of. Maybe the previous owner had several pets or mold problems, but no such issues with digital ebooks

[empyrking]

Faster dictionary access and glo light!

[william z]

Originally Posted by Curiousstudents

Hey, what was your reason to switch to e-books from the original paper books?

Because to me it is a lot more convenient to have a huge library of books on a tiny memory card that I can easily access anytime rather than hunt around in bookstores, used bookstores or borrowing books from a library. I read a lot and had no problems adjusting to reading books on an e-reader.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What sort of TV shows does your mom watch? maybe we can recommend something based on what she watches.

She watches Indian series on TV. I don't think that info will help here.

[leebase]

Tried to read a book on my phone the firs time "just to try it". Became instantly hooked.

Same things everyone else is saying. They take up no space. I always have them with me. I can set the font size. Easy to acquire new books (no trip to the book store/library).

Easier on the eyes (yes...I think so, even though I read on phones and tablets). Self lit so I don't bother my wife with a lamp on in the bedroom at night.

[ZodWallop]

While it's not what got me into reading e-books, one benefit has been the resurrection of lots of old, out-of-print less-than-classics.

I've been curious about a group of British western authors whose long out of print paperbacks were never released in the States and expensive to buy today at any rate. Many of these books have had e-versions released at $2.00 or so.

Same goes for lots of schlocky paperbacks published during the eighties horror boom.

[barryem]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

While it's not what got me into reading e-books, one benefit has been the resurrection of lots of old, out-of-print less-than-classics.

While none of us likes high prices for books this is one of the potential advantages of keeping prices high. I remember when I got my first CD player and started shopping for CDs they were ridiculously expensive in their earlier days even though they cost practically nothing to make. The result was that albums I hadn't been able to find for decades were suddenly available again. I was in heaven.

If ebooks prices go up a lot more of that might happen, too. And no, I'm not wishing for higher prices since it seems to be happening anyway, at least more than I would have expected. But there are still a lot of older books unavailable as ebooks. Maybe if the rest of you paid high prices...

Frank Yerby is a good example. In the 1940's and 50's he was one of the best selling of writers in America. His books were everywhere. A lot of his were forerunners of romance novels today but some were more serious historical novels and those were excellent. But you just can't find those today in ebooks.

This is just one example of many unavailable ebooks. Still there are a lot more now than just a few years ago.

Barry