Will e-book readers make your library obsolete?

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

I have digital versions of all the old ones. they used to sell a boxed set on CD's. Very nice set.

Dale

How is the resolution of photography compared to the pversion?

What have they taken out to bring down size?

Is it in pdf?

My favorite magazine (Fine Woodworking) has gone online. I can't say I like the result. For one, you need a connection and I can't bring the computer in a dusty shop. But the searching capability is top notch.

[Spartacus2112]

Originally Posted by mjh215

In addition to antiquarian and finely bound books I'll will also help you dispose of DVD's and CD's...

-MJ

I'll up the ante. If anyone has any paper with images of dead presidents and monetary denominations on them, I will gladly take them off your hands if not needed.

[TarheelJD]

Print materials will continue to exist, at least for a while, for several reasons:
1. Not all materials are digitized or have plans to be digitized.
2. Ebook readers and ebooks are expensive and there are a lot of people who cannot afford them, but can afford to go to the library or pick up some books for $0.50 from the flea market.
3. Do you really want a toddler learning to read on your ebook reader?
4. Not everyone will like reading on ebook readers
5. You can't lend people any book you want thanks to DRM.
6. If you drop your book in the bath, you are out a book, but if you drop your ebook reader, there goes your entire library and your device.

All that said, there is definitely a place for ebooks in the world, and I think it will grow until it reaches a balance with print materials.

[giddion]

Originally Posted by Spartacus2112

I'll up the ante. If anyone has any paper with images of dead presidents and monetary denominations on them, I will gladly take them off your hands if not needed.

Actually they are looking at ways e-liminate those too, some places in the US are starting to follow a trend that is prevalent in Japan and allowing you to make purchases with your cell phone. It's roughly the same as using a credit card with RFID. I also understand that over in Japan they are looking at ways to secure ID in/on cell phones so that the phone can be used as your legal ID in all situations including drivers license. The basic idea being the whole traveling light concept, if you have your cell phone (which everyone does over there from like 5 on) you have everything you need.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

My favorite magazine (Fine Woodworking) has gone online. I can't say I like the result. For one, you need a connection and I can't bring the computer in a dusty shop. But the searching capability is top notch.

Ivan, if you can swing the price - Panasonic's industrial TOUGHBOOK line of PCs can stand up to your shop environment. I will concede you kinda pay through the nose - even the UMPC is over three thousand American. But when nothing else will work...

[Jaie]

Not on a bet. I specialize in collecting certain works, like Victorian novels. While I'm happy to have e-formats for rarer ones, I like too much to handle some books.

What an e-reader DOES allow me to do (even though currently my reader is my Aspire One netbook) is to get new works, or, works that I enjoy reading to the point of disintegration. That allows me to concentrate on the books I REALLY want, getting rid of ones that I *like* but don't need on a shelf, and in general making space for bigger and better things. Some of my research books can't be replaced, aren't online and are simply too valuable in most cases to just donate. My entire spring will be spent going through my collection, weeding out, and finding the electronic alternative. If there is one, off to Paperbackswap they go!!

[giddion]

Originally Posted by Phogg

Ivan, if you can swing the price - Panasonic's industrial TOUGHBOOK line of PCs can stand up to your shop environment. I will concede you kinda pay through the nose - even the UMPC is over three thousand American. But when nothing else will work...

Actually if you are looking at full tablet PC's then you might want to look at Fujitsu. Fujitsu has been making their stylistic line of tablet PC since BEFORE Microsoft supported pen computing, they had their own custom mouse drivers and writing recognition. They have tablets under the 3 Thousand mark and the have an accessory called the OtterBox.

I worked for a company that provided medical note software for physicians and we sold the Fujitsu products OEM. I went to one of the stylistic sales presentation and they were selling tablets in OtterBoxes to utility companies. At that time they had a video of a Stylistic 1000 in the OtterBox falling from the top of a utility pole into a puddle, a wrench from the same line man falling from the top of the pole into the puddle on top of the stylistic and the stylistic coming out still functioning with the smiling Lineman finishing up his job entry on the table after coming down from the pole.

[rhadin]

To answer your question, no, but it has nothing to do with my liking newsprint. Rather, it has to do with my wanting to own certain books completely and permanently. Just yesterday I bought several hardbacks at my local B&N and today am waiting for delivery of Michael Burlingame's 2-volume biography Abraham Lincoln: A Life from B&N.com. I think both e and p books have a role to play, certainly for the foreseeable future. Maybe as ebook reading devices improve, DRM becomes a memory, and ebook pricing becomes more realistic the role of p books will diminish to the point of disappearance (or near disappearance), but until then I will be adding to my pbook library.

Of course, I assume we are discussing young adult and adult books. When it comes to books for young children, I think the pbook still has a long life. The sensory effects of pbooks are important to developing minds.

[giddion]

Originally Posted by rhadin

To answer your question, no, but it has nothing to do with my liking newsprint. Rather, it has to do with my wanting to own certain books completely and permanently. Just yesterday I bought several hardbacks at my local B&N and today am waiting for delivery of Michael Burlingame's 2-volume biography Abraham Lincoln: A Life from B&N.com. I think both e and p books have a role to play, certainly for the foreseeable future. Maybe as ebook reading devices improve, DRM becomes a memory, and ebook pricing becomes more realistic the role of p books will diminish to the point of disappearance (or near disappearance), but until then I will be adding to my pbook library.

Of course, I assume we are discussing young adult and adult books. When it comes to books for young children, I think the pbook still has a long life. The sensory effects of pbooks are important to developing minds.

Small world, it's interesting you mention Michael Burlingame, I work at the same college and had a hand in developing his new website. It is a very good biography and well worth owning in priint.

[WifeOfBath]

No, I'm very tactile and very much enjoy the sensation of cracking open a book and turning pages - however, e-books offer a convenience and technological advantage that guarantees a portion of my books will be electronic.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by WifeOfBath

No, I'm very tactile and very much enjoy the sensation of cracking open a book and turning pages - however, e-books offer a convenience and technological advantage that guarantees a portion of my books will be electronic.

asssuredly ....

[exvaxman]

Let's not forget that paper books make excellent insulation.

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by Phogg

Ivan, if you can swing the price - Panasonic's industrial TOUGHBOOK line of PCs can stand up to your shop environment. I will concede you kinda pay through the nose - even the UMPC is over three thousand American. But when nothing else will work...

Hey that's cute. I bet it costs more than a planer.

[mjh215]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Hey that's cute. I bet it costs more than a planer.

Depends on the model... More then an 18" Grizzly, less then a 25" Northfield...

-MJ

[SpiderMatt]

Originally Posted by Phogg

Ivan, if you can swing the price - Panasonic's industrial TOUGHBOOK line of PCs can stand up to your shop environment. I will concede you kinda pay through the nose - even the UMPC is over three thousand American. But when nothing else will work...

Haha... my department wants to get 5 or 6 toughbooks so we can do certain paperwork during deployments that would otherwise have to wait for our return. I thought it was ridiculous to get that many toughbooks simply for that purpose when the same price would get a normal laptop for everyone in our department. *sigh* U.S. tax dollars hard at work.