"but i love real books" Why??

[troykm]

After my recent kindle 2 purchase, and owning another brand e reader for a few months, i think they are just the best thing since the iPhone! (i realize that e readers are older than iPhone, but not here in Australia)

the one thing i don't understand is when people say they like having a 'real book' with them, rather than an eBook.

when i first heard about the kindle being released in Australia, i immediately researched what it was, and then e readers in general and eBooks. I was sold on the spot. What a great idea, having all my books in one small device that replicates a real book page, is easy to read, no eye strain, files are tiny in size and the books are mostly cheaper than the paper version.

i must have one. upon getting my first reader (hanlin v3) i thought im never going back! indeed 3 months later i wanted to upgrade to the kindle 2, and so i did.

a friend of mine has told me the same things we have all heard, i like the feel of a real book, the way it smells (this one really makes me ill, books can smell really bad!) bla bla bla

surely, its not the container that the story is in, but the story its self that matters! it makes me laugh that she cant part with a real book, yet was happy to digitize her cd collections and dispose of the cd's. same thing different medium.

oh well, i think e readers will take over books as the main way of reading in the same way the ipod has changed music. (for most books anyway, i cant see looking at an atlas on a kindle)

just my thoughts

troykm

[fugazied]

I think the more you use an e-reader, the less important the tactile feedback of a paper book. I found that for the first week I enjoyed my Kindle but did 'kinda' miss a paper book in my hands.

By week 2 I didn't care about paper hehe.

[PennyPie]

As I write, my 700 is propped on the desk, next to the monitor. I don't have to pin or otherwise use anything to keep the page open to the correct one. Turning the page is a snap, and when I finish this story (only have 15 more pages to read) I can start another one right away, as my entire library is always with me, wherever I am. Also, I don't sniff books too often (by the way...that odor is result of mildew or decomposition...nice, eh)
Those who poo-poo ebooks haven't had the opportunity to try them, I would guess.

I LOVE MY READER AND WILL NEVER GO BACK TO PBOOKS AGAIN!!!

[Latinandgreek]

I like reading from my reader rather then from a p-book not only because of the portability and the ability to enlarge my fonts, but also because I like the feeling of it in my hand. When I go to bed in the evening my husband makes a big kafuffle over getting into the right position to read his big old hardcover book, fumbles to find his place after his bookmark has fallen out and complains that his hand hurts from holding his book up, whereas I can hold my reader with one hand and am comfortable reading in pretty much any position. Recently I picked up a p-book and I found myself instinctively pushing down with my thumb where the button would be on my prs-505 when it came time to turn the page! Also, I was totally OCD with my p-books and keeping them looking new and clean, it's a lot less trouble to be OCD with my reader!

It's too bad my husband doesn't read much in English, I'd love to buy him a reader but currently there aren't many e-books available in Croatian.

Cheers!

[BigWaffles]

I think both have their place. After using my Kindle 2 exclusively for the past 10 months I find it to be a great device and can't imagine being without some sort of reader from here on out. On the other hand, I love the feel of a paperback in my hand and will on occasion want to read from paper (I also have many large reference books in color that I enjoy and it will be a while before E-ink catches up with those).

Bottom line: I will have bookcases in my house for the forseeable future but I plan on purchasing a second E-reader as well.


C.P.T.

[Lirael]

I like the convenience of an ebook reader. I used to have three or four books with me at a time and it was really hard on my back - now I can have hundreds with me in something even smaller than a pbook. I also like how much more comfortable it is to read. I could never read in bed with pbooks, because it was impossible for me to find a comfortable position, but an ebook reader is small and light enough to make reading in bed easy. I also tend to only buy books that I like enough to re-read, and I re-read them dozens of times - which means that pbooks usually end up falling apart. I don't have to worry about that with ebooks.

I used to wax romantic about the smell of old books, I really did - I still do kind of like the smell of libraries - but after getting a library job and working with decomposing, foul-smelling, bug-infested, nasty old books, the romance is rather dead. I completely prefer ebooks now.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by troykm

a friend of mine has told me the same things we have all heard, i like the feel of a real book, the way it smells (this one really makes me ill, books can smell really bad!) bla bla bla


troykm

Let her borrow yours long enough to read an entire book.......'course, you may not ever get it back, but we'll have another convert!

Actually.....I felt the same way.......until I saw the original Kindle video online one day as I was on Amazon.

Being older, and used to paper books, (and yes the smell is GOOOD!) I thought ebook readers were just another "gotta have" for the younger generation.

Figured I'd have nothing to lose, and it too me about 1 day to realize you'd have to pry it out of my cold dead hands.......

[Nathan Campos]

The future is coming. In some years, ebooks will be more popular than paper books.

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by fugazied

I think the more you use an e-reader, the less important the tactile feedback of a paper book. I found that for the first week I enjoyed my Kindle but did 'kinda' miss a paper book in my hands.

By week 2 I didn't care about paper hehe.

The only initial feeling I lost with my ereader was being able to feel how far through the book you were. When reading a paperback you can sense how much longer you have until the end, on the ereader you don't have that feeling only page numbers to go by. By the end of my second reading session I was over it though - so part of me understands missing the feel of a paperback.

BUT on the huge upside, no more trying to struggle holding large/thick/heavy novels. Every book, whether it be 200 pages or 1000 pages all weight and feel the same with an ereader.

[realracer2]

When I was young my back hurt from lugging around a stone tablet. Then came hardback books, which were harder to read with the smaller print. Then came paperback books, easy to carry,easy to lose your page, and still harder to read. Finally the Kindle came along easy to carry, easy to make the print larger, alas now I am so old I fall asleep before I have read very many pages.

[netseeker]

Originally Posted by troykm

a friend of mine has told me the same things we have all heard, i like the feel of a real book, the way it smells (this one really makes me ill, books can smell really bad!) bla bla bla

I love real books.
I love the feel of a 'real' book.
I love the way it smells.
I love the way it tastes. ... wait ... nevermind!
I love 'the look' of a well-filled bookshelf (or two or three).
I love how it awakes memories, when holding the *same* old book in my hands that i've loved to read when i was kid.

And of course, i love eBooks and and eBook reading devices.

[Elfwreck]

Things I miss from paper books:

• An instant sense of how far into the book I am, and how much there is left to read,
• High-quality pictures, esp. ones with metallic ink,
• Covers with raised letters or tooled leather,
• Extra-thin, gilt-edged pages on bibles other fancy books,
• The sound of paper riffling,
• Being able to flip to the index, look at something, and flip back without losing my place,
• Shelf of titles to look at & offer to friends,
• Stack of "finished reading" and "to be read;" easy to tell which is which.

What I don't miss:

• Cracking the spine to be able to hold it open far enough to read into the center margins,
• Needing two hands to read,
• Heavy weight on my wrists,
• Tiny text that's hard to read in dim light,
• Trade & hardcover sized books that I have to keep shifting to be looking at the right place on the page,
• Bookmarks that fall out so I forget what page I was on,
• Bookmarks that damage the spine,
• Pages that tear if I turn them too fast/roughly,
• Papercuts,
• Old cheap books with irregularly-cut pages,
• Only able to carry one or two with me at a time,
• Figuring out what to do with the cheap, damaged paperback when I'm done with it--keep? Trash? Give away? Bookcrossing?

[Falbe Publishing]

I think some people have a knee jerk reaction against ebooks because they think they are just about reading on a screen. When I tell people that I sell ebooks, sometimes they say "OH, I wouldn't want to read a novel on a computer." Hey, I understand that, but then I explain that most people read ebooks on smaller devices, except for some people trapped at boring jobs in cubicles. (I receive the occasional grateful email from such cubicle inmates.)

More seriously, people can generally develop psychological attachments to concrete objects. Enjoying a book for a long time meant holding a book. So, for many people, breaking that connection seems too much like shattering the experience.

The same people have happily converted CDs and records to digital forms because that media was inserted in players, so holding the media was not the majority of the experience.

The smell of books thing, I'll never get. To me books either have no distinctive smell or they have the odor of being in a box in a musty basement.

Most people will change in time. In the early 1990s I use to say things like "What do I need a computer for?" I certainly changed my opinion about that.

[drofgnal]

Elfwreck had several of my reasons save one.

Every time I read a real book, my cat will come sit on it where ever I am. He instinctively wants to get in the way. With the Kindle its a little easier to position and keep him happy at the same time. (He likes being the center of attention!)

Also most importantly it seems easier on the eyes. I don't need reading glasses (unless I'm wearing contacts), and the text at mid level is about the right size for me.

[tompe]

The typography is still much better in a paper book. I am just finishing Sethra Lavode by Steven Brust and noticed how the typographical details enhanced the experience.