What is it with people and their paper books?

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by polbit

I remember my first "real" book - three musketeers, in a 1920s, leather-bound cover. An experience that made me appreciate books as a kid. I really don't see that happening with Kindle's edition of three musketeers

Often when I hear people wax poetic about the glories of the paper book, they are painting an image of some glorious wood-paneled library with walls full of leather-bound volumes. Cushy wing-back chair, fireplace, retriever at your feet. Basically the sort of thing you would expect to find in a stately home a hundred years ago. Let's face it. While some of us may have a handful of artisanal books gracing our shelves, the vast majority of the books we own are purely utilitarian vessels for text. Maybe they have an interesting cover, but very few books these days have decent paper or bindings. Even a $30 hardback is fuzzy printing on low-grade paper with a cloth binding. I've seen the book collections of my ephemeraphilic friends and they're full of mass market junk. They seem to be sentimental for the library they wish they had rather than the library they do have. The magic in their books is in the stories they contain, not the wood pulp and cheap ink.

[JohnHileman]

The answer is inextricably tied to the reason someone will pay $24.99 for a hardback, when they could buy the mass paperback for $2.99.



Regards,
John Michael Hileman

[ellimak]

Originally Posted by Alisa

Often when I hear people wax poetic about the glories of the paper book, they are painting an image of some glorious wood-paneled library with walls full of leather-bound volumes. Cushy wing-back chair, fireplace, retriever at your feet. Basically the sort of thing you would expect to find in a stately home a hundred years ago. Let's face it. While some of us may have a handful of artisanal books gracing our shelves, the vast majority of the books we own are purely utilitarian vessels for text. Maybe they have an interesting cover, but very few books these days have decent paper or bindings. Even a $30 hardback is fuzzy printing on low-grade paper with a cloth binding. I've seen the book collections of my ephemeraphilic friends and they're full of mass market junk. They seem to be sentimental for the library they wish they had rather than the library they do have. The magic in their books is in the stories they contain, not the wood pulp and cheap ink.

There's definitely truth to that. However, for those that have experienced the wonders of a paper book, aged to perfection, with that distinctive smell and feel... there's nothing better. I went to a school with one of the most extensive libraries anywhere -- they have a Gutenberg Bible, for goodness sake. Cracking open any book from that library really felt like magic. As much as I love my ereader (and trust me, I do), that is a role that ebooks simply cannot fill. Practically speaking, however, I would say that ebooks have the clear advantage.

[ChaoZ]

I think there's several good reasons to prefer paper over kindle:

1. You can't sell Kindle books (do you technically even own a Kindle book or is it on license or something?)
2. You can't lend Kindle books without breaking DRM (it's not technically lending even then)
3. You can't easily jump from part to part in a book (although this point is balanced by the ability to search for things and add bookmarks)
4. Typography on the Kindle is passable at best, not great.
5. Kindle books aren't as cheap as they should be, considering how much production cost it saves publishers.
6. Kindle books are still regionally locked due to publisher's rights. Not a big deal for a U.S. region reader, but international readers aren't so lucky. Yes, you can bypass this, but it still sucks it is necessary. Not really Amazon's fault though. With a physical book, you can have it imported, though at a cost.
7. Despite being user friendly, there is still a bit of a technological hurdle for some.

[Juliette]

Luddism is a good answer. General wariness toward gadgets too. Or innovations (T9 and similar systems spring too mind!).

As for the paper poetry, yes, I love some paper, but a lot of paperbacks in recycled paper give me asthma (that's lovely when you have to work on them...) and it goes away when awful books are given the most charmingly perfumed paper. You learn instantly (on the spot, I swear) about dividing the two pleasures

[Exer]

Originally Posted by Alisa

Often when I hear people wax poetic about the glories of the paper book, they are painting an image of some glorious wood-paneled library with walls full of leather-bound volumes.

Funny you mention that. When I finally started using a Kindle full time I ended up donating most of my books to a local organization (sort of like the Boys & Girls club). The only books I kept were my few dozen leather bound collectors editions, and it is amazing how beautiful they look displayed together without the couple hundred rather trashy looking paperback novels that had been mixed between them for years.

Originally Posted by Andrew Kaufman

Why is it, do you suppose, that people refuse to go with e-readers?

There are still so many small town bookstores that offer the kind of deals that you honestly can't find while shopping for ebooks. There is a used bookstore that I used to shop at here in Anchorage that sold books for 25 cents a piece. Going there with a few bucks and walking out with an armful of books was a great feeling.

Also there are the stores that give you credit for your old books, another thing you can't really do with ebooks. A store here in town that I used to shop at all the time will give you a free book for every two you bring back to them, which is a good deal no matter how you slice it. Imagine doing that on Amazon? "Yeah, just gonna email you back these two ebooks now that I'm done with 'em, and I'll take a new one in return. Thanks!"

[duckbill]

You cannot show off how great you are for reading all those interesting books filling shelves covering many walls. “Gosh, how intellectual you are with all those clever books - ladiladila”.
Or what about, “I shall never switch to digital photography because it is poor quality/soulless/expensive/only a fashion etc etc.”
Perhaps dead-tree books will make a niche comeback along the line of vinyl.

[bevdeforges]

I was pretty much dead set against getting an e-reader at first, in large part because one of my favorite activities when I'm back in the US is browsing my way through book stores (usually running up a big bill for myself and adding weight to my suitcase for the trip back).

But now that I'm in the situation where I won't be going back to the US on such a regular basis, an e-reader has a whole lot more appeal for a whole variety of reasons. I've got the groaning bookshelves, too, and no easy way to get rid of my read books, short of throwing them away (which I don't like doing because of my respect for printed books), so that's another factor.

I think each individual just comes to a point where the features of an e-reader start to make sense for them - or not. For some folks, it will be the ability to adjust the print size. For others, it may just be the time and interest in reading. But other people don't read anything but magazines (if those) and may never be particularly interested in an e-reader.
Cheers,
Bev

[FlorenceArt]

What is it with people trying to convince one another that their way is the best? I love e-books, and have never had much use for books as objects. One of my sisters seems to really loathe the idea of a non-physical, non-paper book. My mother loves the idea of taking a whole library with her when she travels, but she still feels an attachment to paper books.

So what? I think the world is big enough for all of those tastes. As long as no-one is trying to make me feel bad about e-books, I won't try to make them feel bad about paper.

[DMB]

I'm hoping to get my Kindle 3 very soon and so I decided not to buy paper books for now. But yesterday I looked at the Kindle UK store and the books I wanted weren't available, so I ended up ordering cheap paperbacks. Grrr...

I have so many paper books taking up so much space that I have to do something about it.

[Cosmo Spring]

I think that for a lot of people, what they read and how they read it isn't a meaningful experience. MP3 players were taken up by music geeks for years before they went mainstream, and the same thing has happened with the ereader. The more-casual music listener was rarely the early adopter for MP3 hardware. Once the ipod took the device to the tipping point, there was mass adoption.

I don't know that quite the same pattern will apply to ereaders. I don't see casual readers buying into the device en masse; that is, I don't see "I can carry around all of my ten books I've had since high school" being a strong market force. I do think there are book geeks who are traditionalists, but they'll mostly die off, convert, or become the vinyl music "collectors" of the book industry.

What is ironic, though: Technophile book-geeks making smoochie smoochie noises at their Kindles while mocking the irrational Luddism of paperback geeks who argue the affordances and enchantments of paper-based books... and then bemoaning DRM issues, PDF display features, collection management failures and so on, between exchanging blows in the neverending iPad-eReader war that never really happened.

[Ben Thornton]

I think that the main points are not luddism(?) or love of book-smell or whatever, but:
1: (perceived) ease of use, and
2: access to content at a (perceived) reasonable price

In the UK, Amazon are doing a lot for both of these with the creation of a Kindle store for the UK, so I predict a massive increase in take-up here.

(2) is still a problem, of course - many of the books that I look for are not available as ebooks, but hopefully this will improve as the market expands and the publishers see money in it.

[Cosmo Spring]

Originally Posted by Ben Thornton

I think that the main points are not luddism(?) or love of book-smell or whatever, but:
1: (perceived) ease of use, and
2: access to content at a (perceived) reasonable price

Ease-of-use is a myth, perceived or otherwise. Sure, a technology has to meet some basic threshold of ergonomics and comfort, but the rest is irrational, emotional, and affective. We buy what we like, and appeal to more rational elements when we have to justify it. Some of us do this more than others, of course.

The Luddism argument - for any technology, not just e-readers - is different than (1) and (2) because Luddism is a philosophy, of sort, that rejects technology qua technology. There are individuals who "swear by vinyl" and there will be those who "swear by paperback." These people will not be converted.

</editorial>

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Cosmo Spring

Ease-of-use is a myth, perceived or otherwise. Sure, a technology has to meet some basic threshold of ergonomics and comfort, but the rest is irrational, emotional, and affective. We buy what we like, and appeal to more rational elements when we have to justify it. Some of us do this more than others, of course.

Well, a paper book is much easier to use than an ebook. It is easier looking in the index, it is easier browsing, it is easier finding a apecific place in the book and so on. Ebook will get there but currently a paper book is still much better in so many ways.

[Ben Thornton]

Originally Posted by Cosmo Spring

Ease-of-use is a myth, perceived or otherwise. Sure, a technology has to meet some basic threshold of ergonomics and comfort, but the rest is irrational, emotional, and affective. We buy what we like, and appeal to more rational elements when we have to justify it. Some of us do this more than others, of course.

I don't agree that ease of use is a myth. A lot of people are wary of technology, without being anti-technology, because they have encountered such awful user interfaces before (video recorders, PCs, mobile phones etc. etc.) Some readers would be very difficult for my Mum to use, for example, where they require software installation, side loading content etc., but the Kindle might well be a practical option. Ease of use matters, and it's the reason that a good number of products have been successful.

Before a lot of people swap the "pick it up and read it" interface that they're used to with DTBs for a reader, they will want to know that it will reliably work without requiring them to faff about with technology.