Heard my first evil ebook commercial today

[eGeezer]

When you come right down to it, ebook vs pbook sounds a lot like hand made vs factory-produced. Furniture comes to mind immediately. There are hand-crafted furniture makers still out there, but not in every town, and the difference in quality is notable both in the item and the price. A laminated pressboard table still keeps the food off the floor, and is sufficient for many or they wouldn't sell.

Where the comparison fails, atm, is there seems to be no noticeable difference in pricing, generally speaking. If ereading does take off as all we proponents firmly believe, perhaps the price differences won't be because ebooks are cheaper, but because tree books are more expensive.

For those who think this is a difference without a distinction, let me rephrase: Ebook prices will hold where they and pbook prices are now, and pbook prices will rise due to falling demand.

Of course, the furniture comparison isn't perfect, since mass-produced furniture put the hand-crafted furniture makers out of business by under-pricing them out of business.

Just a thot or two...

[GhostHawk]

Half an hour I've sat here trying to compose a really good reply. And then I realized that paper really doesn't deserve that much of my time. It was when all was said and done, just a way to get the words from the author to me.

Now there are other ways, better to some, perhaps not to others. Depending on personal taste, why you read, what you read, which device, etc.

But for me, well paper, it was good knowing you. You brought me a lot of good days when good days were hard to find. But I think I'd rather have the trees now.

[Lilly]

I'm one of the customers that they did lose. I have not bought a physical book since June of 2008. I did buy 3 paper books between Dec 2007 & June 2008, 2 of which I still have not read! So I stopped buying paper books and since have acquired both books in e-format (they were not available in early 2008). Reading is my #1 hobby and anyone who knows me know that I never go anywhere without a book. I discovered ebook readers by accident watching a morning show the Friday after Thanksgiving in 2007 while in Miami (hot gift for Christmas for book lovers); they featured the Sony PRS-505. I promptly pulled my laptop and Googled it. There was a link to Mobileread and then I discovered there were different brands and people have been using these gadgets for years (where the heck was I). Amazon had just released their Kindle and the PRS-505 was about a month into it's release. With the help of Mobileread, I decide to stick to the reader that drew me to the ebook phenomenon, the Sony PRS-505 and have not looked back since.

[barnacle]

Now I'm the other way around; I have bought paper books in the few weeks since I bought the ereader... I don't *like* downloads; they feel ephemeral. I don't download music either... though I'm happy to rip my own CDs and scan/OCR my own books.

[Sydney's Mom]

I haven't bought a pbook since I got my kindle - yesterday I bought a couple ebooks for which I have pbooks, untouched, in the bookcase. I know I will never get around to lugging that book back and forth on the train, so the only way I will read it is in electronic format.

I did continue to buy CDs for awhile after I got my ipod. Then I found I could buy individual songs instead, and buy entire CDs at 2am in my pjs. Haven't bought another physical CD since.

[barnacle]

Ah, well, I'm (a) an old fogey and (b) a very conservative[1] engineer. To me, apart from the tangibility of being able to hold onto the physical product, having that original object represents a backup. I don't want to find myself in a position where my primary storage fails, or where someone else's idea of DRM prevents me using the material on another server/player/viewer whatever... I also want uncompressed audio, in the case of CDs; not the compressed rubbish that is peddled by the emusic sites. So I'll still buy CDs and books.

Neil

[1] A writer friend reckons 'backup' is one on the machine, one on the server, one in the pocket on a thumbdrive, and one on a different continent.

At work, I've been involved in storage for radio programme material over the last few years - terabytes of the stuff. We use big raid arrays, with servers triplicated and using more than one OS to provide access. Then we duplicate the room somewhere else in the building, with different power supply and network accesses. After that, we duplicate the whole building elsewhere in the city... eventually, we duplicate the whole thing in a different city. Paranoid? Us? We've never lost anything...

[AprilHare]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I understand that because I like feeling and smelling paper books as much anybody. Why, some days I spend hours in libraries and bookstores just going around feeling one book after another. Whenever I find one of particular interest I pick it up and--after first looking around to make sure no one’s watching--give it a good long sniff.

"New book smell" - I just hope this isn't related to "New car smell" and the outgassing from newly formed plastics and glues..

[K-Thom]

Today I was in a bookstore and finally noticed what has happened to me.

I still like to look at books and hold them in my hands. I like the covers, I like the size and the weight, and I like the manufacturing act to produce them.

BUT - I couldn't get myself to open one and browse it or touch the paper. Holding a book is one thing. Reading it on a reading device something totally different. The next page is just one click away, and I can change to another title whenever I want.

Maybe I'll build a book dummy one of these days and store my reading device in it.

[astrodad]

A device doesn't necessarily need to have wires, circuitry, and a battery to be labeled "technology". The book IS technology, just very old technology. It's been one of the most successful forms of communication since the dawn of mankind. Does that make it the BEST technology? Maybe for a season. But its had its day, and now mankind is moving past the book technology. These guys need to get with it.

[devilsadvocate]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

The downside of the e-book revolution is how it has added to the increase in the number of neighborhood bookstores that are closing their doors. It is sad to see folks who have loved books all their lives and who have made their living selling books lose their livelihood. Some of the chains are hurting as well, but they are in a better position generally to deal with and profit from the increasing numbers of people who prefer to do their reading on dedicated readers, smart-phones, or other electronic devices.

Reopen as a coffee shop with Wi-Fi to facilitate downloading. It's not an original idea but with an emphasis on ebooks you will still have a collection of like minds and the business can keep going. I would hate to see local bookstores close as well, but those who can adapt will do so (and have already begun the process in many cases). In my experience many bookstore owners are simply ignorant of the technology and/or see no need to change; those are the businesses which will fail.