Bought my first ereader and I miss real books already!

[ypocaramel]

I don't have the luxury of storing all the physical books and magazines I want to read, I've mostly lived in apartments in dense cities. Worst was in college - constantly moving from dorm to dorm and not living within driving distance of home meant I could barely keep any physical books on me.

Plus, in China, even in Hong Kong, the bookstores selling English books are relatively small, their selection is limited and prices are high because people who read English tend to be wealthier. Much better not to have to order the physical copy from the US or wherever or use a favor on a friend to get it for me and have to wait.

[Russell Brooks]

It would've been cool having all my text books in college as ebooks. It would save so much trouble packing these heavy books away at the end of the semester.

[Namekuseijin]

nope, not at all. I'm actually glad I have less and less need for dead trees, besides having a library of considerable worth always with me, anytime.

What about cross-referencing the web? You read something in a book referring to some bit of historical trivia and you quickly open your web browser to look it up. You don't usually do that from your comfy reading seat so you just gotta believe the author there or imagine it...

wonderful, friggin' mindblowing device. Personal Computing to its literal sense.

[carpetmojo]

I hoped, and gratefully found, that despite having an ereader doesn't spoil my enjoyment of "real" books.

I found the Sony brilliant for reading in bed, travelling, keeping obscure things I'd never dream of buying, trying out other things I'd never dream of buying, and a few other things I can't remember.
I love books for my favourite authors, either at home, or elsewhere - I seem to have so many I'd bankrupt myself buying them all again in e-format, and for reference books that are not available in e-format.

I just think they are a very useful adjunct for the serious /not so serious reader.

AND......how do you get the smilies I want to use in a post to come up as, well............... smilies ?!

[elcreative]

If the smiley Menu doesn't show then there should be a button marked Go Advanced in Quick Reply section... click and there's your smilies, click in message at point you want a smiley and then click on smiley wanted...

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

AND......how do you get the smilies I want to use in a post to come up as, well............... smilies ?!

[carpetmojo]

Thanks for that but it didn't quite work !! https://www2.mobileread.com/i/smilies/confused.gif
I tried dragging that one......................

[digiSara]

I don't tend to keep my fiction books after I read them, so saving bookshelf space isn't a huge plus for me - although saving money is!

The one thing I do miss is brick & mortar stores - I find that the online stores aren't great for browsing and I tend to not remember author's names, but just approximately where they are in the alphabet so I go to that shelf and find them in a real store (although I can see that Calibre will help me remember what I've read in the future!). So I do go into stores still just to browse and flip through books, before going home and buying.

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by digiSara

I don't tend to keep my fiction books after I read them, so saving bookshelf space isn't a huge plus for me - although saving money is!

The one thing I do miss is brick & mortar stores - I find that the online stores aren't great for browsing and I tend to not remember author's names, but just approximately where they are in the alphabet so I go to that shelf and find them in a real store (although I can see that Calibre will help me remember what I've read in the future!). So I do go into stores still just to browse and flip through books, before going home and buying.

It took me a while, but now I select almost all my books in the digital world instead of visiting bookstores. There are very few bookstores anyway whose selection is worth a trip, because they actually select quality books and not just what sells. But now I mostly don't bother visiting them, and rely on informations I find on the Net: Amazon reviews, LibraryThing, MR, and rarely newspaper reviews.

[sakura-panda]

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

Thanks for that but it didn't quite work !! https://www2.mobileread.com/i/smilies/confused.gif
I tried dragging that one......................

You don't want to drag it -- you should only have to click on the image and its code will show up in your reply window.

Or, when you select [More] at the bottom of the smilie section, the new window will show you code you need to get the smilie to show up. For example, the smilie you linked in your post is simply the word blink, with a colon on either side:

:blink:

which looks like

I hope that helps!

[floridamom]

Originally Posted by stodge

Does anyone else feel the same way?

Not really. When I first got my Kindle I insisted it wouldn't replace physical books, but I confess that haven't bought any fiction that isn't an ebook since I got the ereader last October. The other day, a friend loaned me 3 hardcover fiction books that she thought I would enjoy. While they do look good and I want to read them, when I brought them home I kept thinking how much easier they'd be to store if they were on the Kindle.

[Clash]

Well, even with my Kindle 3, I still read both e-books and paper books. But I do love new paper books. Pbooks smell good too....

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by Clash

Well, even with my Kindle 3, I still read both e-books and paper books. But I do love new paper books. Pbooks smell good too....

smell of books/

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

smell of books/

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

smell of books/

Originally Posted by kennyc

And did you see this?

To whom it may concern:

The Authors Guild has recently been made aware of a new e-book related product called “Smell of Books”. This product has allegedly been designed to improve the e-book reading experience by simulating the smell of a real book.

While the Authors Guild supports efforts to improve the digital reading experience, we believe this product represents a significant threat to the development of aroma rights, and as such, will adversely impact the rights of our members.

It is important to note that in the digital era, books, and the smell of books, have been decoupled. In the future we expect authors to participate in the development of custom aromas for their books. These olfactory rights constitute a derivative right to be licensed separately. The preservation of these rights is essential as authors explore new markets and distribution channels.

Allowing unauthorized third parties to provide the “scent” for a book substantially changes the underlying work to a degree that infringes upon the author’s copyright, not to mention artistic vision.

Today the Authors Guild is calling on the DuroSport Corporation to remove the Smell of Books product line from the market. Furthermore, we are advising our members to refrain from licensing aroma rights until we have more clarity on this issue.

[HistoryWes]

I love books. I LOVE books. I imagine most people on this site do. There are some books-- paper books that I love the physical form of. It's usually something special-- a first edition, a remnant from my childhood, an autographed copy, and almost always hardbound. But for most books, the paper is just something on which to hold the story. I must have six or seven copies of Watership Down lying around. None of them really means anything to me, though the story does. I think there will always be books that are important as objects, but most of the books in our houses could easily be replaced with ebooks. Most of mine have.