I want your opinion!

[Blossom]

Why I love ebooks:

• They never get brown pages.
• The covers stay pristine.
• They never carry germs or get dusty.
• No spine creases!
• They take up no physical space.
• I can change the font size or even the font.
• I can highlight, make notes and not damage the book.
• I can search through a book by word or phrases.
• I can use a popup dictionary for word definitions.
• It's easier to hold as it weighs the weight of an eReader.
• Instant Gratification. (I want, I buy, I download and read.)
• Privacy: No one knows what racey book I am reading.
• Free books and free library books to check out right from home.
• The pages can't be torn out or go missing because my cat can't eat it.

Ebooks are addicting! There are so much free books out there. I've read more now in two years thank I ever did in paperback.

[sparklemotion]

Pretty much everything everyone has already said. The biggest pluses for me:

1) Saves space! (I hate clutter)

2) You can easily prop the reader it in any position. I can read on my side in bed and have no problem holding it open and turning pages.

3) You can carry your entire library with you. Great for trips.

4) No more gross "who knows what that is" stuck to the pages when reading library and used books.

5) Automatically saves your place in the book.

6) Highlighting doesn't cause permanent marks. (I highlight a lot so this is a big one for me)

6) Built in dictionary.

7) No more cracked spines and losing pages from old books.

8) Tons of free books available.

[DiapDealer]

I can haz ebok?

[4691mls]

Laziness! I hadn't read much in a long time. Then I got a chance to see a relative's ereader, and realized I could have new books without having to actually go to the store or library. I bought an ereader and now I read every day - mostly library books, which I can check out while sitting at my computer at home

[MrDoug]

I bought a Nook on a whim about a month ago.. I thought if I don't like it I will return or give to my daughter.. I always loved the smell, feel etc of a actual old fashioned book.. not anymore.. you could not pry my Nook away from me now.. It's like.. where have I been.. ? I have since bought Nook Color, and have Kindle Paperwhite on order.. oh, I bought a Nexus 7 a couple of days ago as well.. I'm addicted..
Doug

[xendula]

All my reasons have already been stated by others.
For your project, you may want to use all these answers and create poll.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

I got an ereader because I can adjust the font size to something that is comfortable for me to read. I don't clutter my apartment with books, I can carry my entire library with me everywhere I go.

This pretty much covers it for me.

Originally, the font size thing wasn't critical to me. I first started buying eBooks in 2003 to read on my PDA - mostly to avoid bringing any more paper books into my very small, packed-to-the-gills apartment. Plus, I loved that I could load up an SD card and have hundreds of books with me...I never had to know in the morning what I wanted to read on my lunch break. Don't like the book I started? I had tons to spare.

Back then, eBooks were almost universally less expensive that new print (no longer true, and often the opposite now), even though I ended up spending more on eBooks because 1) it was easier to impulse buy and 2) I bought fewer used books and more new eBooks.

In the last 2-3 years, though, my vision has really been affected by that "over-40" nearsightedness (which is darned confusing, given that I've always been farsighted!) Being able to change the font-size at will makes my reading life much simpler!

[Kumabjorn]

I just love the smell of burnt copper in the morning. Paper books just don't have that.

[shanghaichica]

1. Easier to carry around (multiple books)
2. Easier to store
3. Easier to catalogue/organise
4. Easier to decide which book to read next (100s to chose from on one device)
5. Can alter font size, style, line spacing etc
6. Can annotate and keep track of annotations within and across books
7. Easy to search across library/within books
8. Can have immediate access to a book (don't have to go to store, wait to come in the post)
9. Easier to keep your place in the book, particularly useful if you are reading a few books at a time, or start a book and would like to come back to it in the future


Those are the main points

[chantelbrenna]

Originally Posted by xendula

All my reasons have already been stated by others.
For your project, you may want to use all these answers and create poll.

Thanks, I think I will do that. I honestly was not expecting this much feedback!

Thanks everyone.

[BeccaPrice]

Originally Posted by chantelbrenna

I honestly was not expecting this much feedback!

Ha! I've seen threads go on for pages and pages covering the same ground (is copyright evil? is piracy ever justified?) that have been covered time and again in a zillion other threads... much heat, very little new stuff ever brought up.

[Joykins]

1. no clutter. I have an issue with clutter from hardcopy books I bought years ago.
2. instant gratification--can go from a purchase/lend to reading in seconds.
3. can carry thousands of books on one device--great for travel, convenience, and reading what I want when I want.
4. customizable display
5. easier to get promotional (free/very cheap) books and free public domain books.
6. keeps your place for you without dogearing.
7. searchability (this is minor compared to 1-6 though. Paging through ebooks is more difficult on a device if you don't know the string you're searching for)

[Blue2u]

Many reasons for me. One is that I have trouble with losing strength and having pain in my hands, so an ereader is a much lighter, trouble free way to read without straining my hands further, books can be heavy and awkward.

I love the convenience in many ways. No clutter/dust collecting in my house. As I'm a bit OCD it's thrilling to me that my books can be easily and quickly organized how I like and that I'm able to carry all of them with me. I also like to think of all the paper/energy it saves is good for the environment. I thoroughly enjoy the ability of shopping in the comfort of my home. I think it also must save time having whole libraries of books that you can sort quickly through search engines, preview, etc versus going to a book store and doing the same thing.

That's just off the top of my head, hope that helps!

[Marrella]

I got my Sony three years ago mainly to be able to read all the free stuff I had collected over the years (the free Hugo and Nebula stories which are posted every year, books from the Baen free library) as well as to be able to read fan fiction without printing it out (I never liked reading longer texts off a computer screen and it is becoming more difficult the older I get).

The ability to increase the font size has become more and more important over the course of those three years.

I have to admit that I only started buying books when I got my Kindle 18 months ago (before that, I think I had bought three or four books from Baen because they were DRM-free and easy to handle). Now I have to control my book buying very much in the same way I had to control it when I still bought paper books.

Do I have to mention that my small apartment is crowded with books? I still buy paper books from time to time though, but mainly nice hardcovers. My TBR is higher than ever now, but I don't bother to count any more.

[estelle58]

Originally Posted by silverraven

Three main reasons for me:
1. I can make the fonts as big as I can for my bad eyes!
2. Lightweight so it doesn't hurt my hand/wrist.
3. I can carry bunches and bunches of books with me!

Same reasons here