Your reason for buying an e-reader

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by Ea

I guess you never think about cracked spines and general wear and tear on your paper book? And perhaps you don't read long books either? (there's a significant difference between holding 200 g in your hands and 1 kg)

Wanted to ask a slightly off-topic question: Am I the only person who gets really freaked out if someone cracks my book spines?? I mean it really really bothers me. If I buy a brand new book (pb included), it takes 100+ reads before it starts to show any wear and tear. If I don't loan it out. And the construction was decent to begin with. So I stopped loaning books because people don't respect them. They return them to me with dog-eared pages, one or more spine cracks, and occasionally *shudder* cover destruction.

[bhartman36]

For me, the most important reason is portability.

I've been reading on Palm Pilots for years now. It's really nice to be able to carry a dozen (or many more) books with me at once, and not be weighed down. Plus, I've always disliked the physicality of paper books: the weight, the frailty of paper.

Most of all, though, I love the ability to search an e-book. If you've got a book that (in paper) is 800 pages, and you want to find a particular phrase, that can be a daunting task. With an e-book, it's trivial.

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by Enkidu of Abydos

Whatever you say pal. Anyway we can't change the poll now.
I've known for a long time some people use a phone or a PDA for reading, I can't imagine ever doing that, not even for a short while. That horrible bright screen and so tiny ! My eyes would drop out ! My 6" PRS-505 is the minimum size I can read...

This seems to be a typical attitude...

It must be easy to go Christmas gift shopping for you...

Back in the day, it was either computer (desktop/laptop) or PDA. (I'm talking before smartphones). Reading on a PDA/smartphone doesn't sound like a great idea now, but it was sure as hell better than dragging around a laptop. It was a way to engage in lots of casual reading. And for those of us used to Palms, reading on the screen wasn't a big deal.

I've got a Kindle 3 and a Palm Pre now. Because I've got the Kindle, you couldn't pay me to read an e-book on the Palm Pre. But I can certainly see someone with different financial priorities thinking to themselves, "well, I've got this really nice iPhone/iPod, so I can either read from that, or spend another $140 on a dedicated device... Nah. I'll stick with what I've got."

[Maggie Leung]

Originally Posted by bhartman36

Back in the day, it was either computer (desktop/laptop) or PDA. (I'm talking before smartphones). Reading on a PDA/smartphone doesn't sound like a great idea <i>now</i>, but it was sure as hell better than dragging around a laptop. It was a way to engage in lots of casual reading. And for those of us used to Palms, reading on the screen wasn't a big deal.

I've got a Kindle 3 and a Palm Pre now. Because I've got the Kindle, you couldn't <i>pay</i> me to read an e-book on the Palm Pre. But I can certainly see someone with different financial priorities thinking to themselves, "well, I've got this really nice iPhone/iPod, so I can either read from that, or spend another $140 on a dedicated device... Nah. I'll stick with what I've got."

Or maybe we have different preferences, even if we can afford a bunch of gadgets. I prefer reading on my Touch to my Kindle. If money were my concern, I could've saved by sticking with a Kindle.

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by Maggie Leung

Or maybe we have different preferences, even if we can afford a bunch of gadgets. I prefer reading on my Touch to my Kindle. If money were my concern, I could've saved by sticking with a Kindle.

Fair enough.

[Enkidu of Abydos]

Originally Posted by Ea

I think you just answered you own question/puzzlement about why people don't use their ebook reader for comics. Both hardware and software doesn't really support comic books in a satisfactory way yet.

Hey some e-readers support folders, I just wish Sony would finally implement it. That should be a basic function, long before dictionaries and touchscreens and all that other stuff...
BTW, how come you have a different avatar every time I see it ? But it's a lovely scantily clad babe each time... I think that ice cube is about to melt very rapidly...

Originally Posted by v1k1ng1001

I think it's safe to say that ereaders are not all that ecofriendly once the environmental impact of their production is taken into account.

Yeah I was just thinking about that when I put the ecology choice in the poll, but I didn't want to spoil it for everyone...
Though actually for some of these forest-killing book-maniacs here who read 100 books a year it might be worth it, a little scrap aluminum and plastic on the trash heap to save a whole forest...

[Enkidu of Abydos]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

If I buy a brand new book (pb included), it takes 100+ reads before it starts to show any wear and tear.

You've actually read the same book 100 times ???
I've read my favorite ever book series 2-3 times now (maybe one more time when I'm old and gray) and seen my favorite movie maybe 3-4 times. A friend of mine once told me he had seen at least 5-10 of his favorite movies more then 20 times, I thought he was completely off his rocker. And now you tell me you've read a book for 100 times ? For what, to put yourself to sleep ? Because you must know it by heart by now...
No offense to your personal tastes, it's just this is one of the more bizarre things I've heard of...

Originally Posted by bhartman36

Back in the day, it was either computer (desktop/laptop) or PDA. (I'm talking before smartphones). Reading on a PDA/smartphone doesn't sound like a great idea now, but it was sure as hell better than dragging around a laptop. It was a way to engage in lots of casual reading. And for those of us used to Palms, reading on the screen wasn't a big deal.

Before e-readers I read on my desktop computer. I'd never read on a screen as small as a PDA screen. The main motive for getting an e-reader was so I could change positions more then when sitting in a chair in front of the monitor.

Originally Posted by bhartman36

Most of all, though, I love the ability to search an e-book. If you've got a book that (in paper) is 800 pages, and you want to find a particular phrase, that can be a daunting task. With an e-book, it's trivial.

Why exactly do you search for phrases ? The only reason I've ever searched a book was to find where I left off...

Originally Posted by Maggie Leung

Or maybe we have different preferences, even if we can afford a bunch of gadgets. I prefer reading on my Touch to my Kindle. If money were my concern, I could've saved by sticking with a Kindle.

Doesn't the light in your eyes bother you when reading for long ?

[elcreative]

It's the forest myth again... guess what, the trees used to make paper are planted and grown to chopped down to make paper and then... they plant more so that they've got more to use for paper...

Now if you were talking hardwoods for furniture or rainforest for biofuel plantations, now they're really eco-friendly... not!

Originally Posted by Enkidu of Abydos

Yeah I was just thinking about that when I put the ecology choice in the poll, but I didn't want to spoil it for everyone...
Though actually for some of these forest-killing book-maniacs here who read 100 books a year it might be worth it, a little scrap aluminum and plastic on the trash heap to save a whole forest...

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by Enkidu of Abydos

Before e-readers I read on my desktop computer. I'd never read on a screen as small as a PDA screen. The main motive for getting an e-reader was so I could change positions more then when sitting in a chair in front of the monitor.

Reading on a PDA screen (especially before color screens became the norm) was really only for those with tip-top vision (which I used to have, back then), but it was serviceable, and it's hard to beat, from a portability standpoint. And just like a desktop screen, if you're used to looking at it for long periods anyway, it's no big deal.

I'm essentially always seated, so positioning wasn't much of a factor in my decision.

Originally Posted by Enkidu of Abydos

Why exactly do you search for phrases ? The only reason I've ever searched a book was to find where I left off...

Well, for example, I would use an epigram in a piece of writing I was doing. One of my favorite quotes is from The Fountainhead. Try searching that for a particular phrase in the paper version. I've done it, and man, does it suck.

It's also helpful for forum posting.

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by elcreative

It's the forest myth again... guess what, the trees used to make paper are planted and grown to chopped down to make paper and then... they plant more so that they've got more to use for paper...

Excuse me if this is a dumb question, but wouldn't it be even more eco-friendly to just leave the trees alone in the first place, rather than cutting them down and growing more?

[elcreative]

Yes... you're right about your question definition... the forests used for paper are plantation forests, planted and used for trees for paper... don't need the paper, no reason for those trees... This isn't some kind of ancient forest being destroyed, these are planted and maintained to produce paper... I'm sure there is a fortune waiting for you if you can come up with an instant substitute for paper and make everybody use it... we 're still waiting for the paperless office to become a reality...

Originally Posted by bhartman36

Excuse me if this is a dumb question, but wouldn't it be even more eco-friendly to just leave the trees alone in the first place, rather than cutting them down and growing more?

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by elcreative

Yes... you're right about your question definition... the forests used for paper are plantation forests, planted and used for trees for paper... don't need the paper, no reason for those trees... This isn't some kind of ancient forest being destroyed, these are planted and maintained to produce paper... I'm sure there is a fortune waiting for you if you can come up with an instant substitute for paper and make everybody use it... we 're still waiting for the paperless office to become a reality...

I think you missed what I was trying to say. At the very least, we could use those specially-planted forests more slowly, or, alternatively, we could stop using those trees for paper and just let them grow, if everyone got on board.

There are also numerous sources for non-wood paper (e.g., hemp, cotton).

The paperless office already exists in principle. There's no reason people need paper for office tasks. I worked for 7 years at a company where I routinely generated reports as Word documents that were 500 pages long, if you printed them. Any imbecile should know better than to print such a report, yet we still had people who insisted on printing them, even though they had perfectly good laptops, and could annotate the reports to their hearts' content. It's not a technology issue. Basically, it's a Luddite issue. It just takes a while for the old generation to die off, to put it bluntly.

[GA Russell]

My primary reason was the availability of free or inexpensive eBooks that I was interested in. My jetBook Lite paid for itself in three months.

Fortunately for me, I share similar tastes in books to two of the MR library's most prolific contributors, Patricia and Harry.

[elcreative]

I think you also missed my point... not used for paper then not needed, land used to produce something else, trees removed... less trees.

What is the point about your non-wood sources for paper... both your examples are plant products which can be used to produce high-quality paper but at a much lower quantity for the same land use together with a much smaller carbon uptake thus less efficient in all ways...

Originally Posted by bhartman36

I think you missed what I was trying to say. At the very least, we could use those specially-planted forests more slowly, or, alternatively, we could stop using those trees for paper and just let them grow, if everyone got on board.

There are also numerous sources for non-wood paper (e.g., hemp, cotton).

[Ea]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

Wanted to ask a slightly off-topic question: Am I the only person who gets really freaked out if someone cracks my book spines?? I mean it really really bothers me. If I buy a brand new book (pb included), it takes 100+ reads before it starts to show any wear and tear. If I don't loan it out. And the construction was decent to begin with. So I stopped loaning books because people don't respect them. They return them to me with dog-eared pages, one or more spine cracks, and occasionally *shudder* cover destruction.

I interpret that 100+ as exaggeration to aid understanding, but apart form that, no, you're not alone. My own p-books tends to look un-read even after several readings. Except perhaps my cookbooks, because at some point an accident is likely even if you are careful, so I accept that and don't fret about it.

Originally Posted by Enkidu of Abydos

...
BTW, how come you have a different avatar every time I see it ? But it's a lovely scantily clad babe each time... I think that ice cube is about to melt very rapidly...

Because you don't look often enough