Do you pick the book first or do you look for books available on your device?

[Bob Russell]

Radleyp made an interesting statement on another thread, "...it's the book and not the way it's made available that counts for me. I think we are going overboard with this gadgetism, and losing sight of what's important, namely the book we want to read. If I want to read a book, then I read it: that it's available as an ebook (or not) is not the issue. I do not decide to read a book because it's in ebook form."

Personally, if I'm reading for fun, I will probably look for e-books available on the device I want to read with. There are a lot of choices, so I want to pick the device first.

But many people will surely agree with Radleyp and pick the book first, and then read it in whatever form works best for them.

Which way do you do it?

[da_jane]

Hmm. what an interesting topic. I'll have to borrow it for my blog. I have a TBB list that I make up, independent of format. I then go and look for what is available in ebook format and buy those and then off to the bookstore. Books that are published in a particular month that are not on the TBB list are bought based on ebook selection or reader recommendation.

[NatCh]

I'm gonna read the books I want to read, regardless, but I suspect that the ones I can read on my Reader will get read before the ones I have to read on paper.

Edit:

Gah! I just figured out that one of the pbooks I have waiting to read (already bought) is available on the Connect Store, now what do I do? Maybe I'll make it one of my $50 credit books ....

[CommanderROR]

The poll didn't really offer the right kind of reply for my case...:-)

For me the situation is this:
I decide what I want to read. The decision is based on the book, nothing else. The I do whatever is necessary to get that book on my Iliad. This has worked so far. It has been a bit (sometimesa lot) of hassle, but I managed to get all but one of the books I wanted, either as official ebook or scanned version. I have a collection of books that has long outgrown the space I have to offer, so moving to ebooks is the only way for me. I tried to sell some of my old paper-books, those I'm not going to read again, but I would have got about 20€ for 30 books, which was really not worthwhile, so I decided to keep them for the time-being. That's the curse of actually owning physical books...:-)
The ebook model I envision is one where I can have an "online-library" with my ebook supplier where I can redownload the books I purchased if I ever lose them or delete them.

[da_jane]

Nat - you return the book. All books can be returned if they are in a saleable condition.

[VillageReader]

Originally Posted by da_jane

Nat - you return the book. All books can be returned if they are in a saleable condition.

Well, I normally buy HB remainders, which are uften cheaper than paperbacks, but normally can'y be returned.

[rlauzon]

As I said in another form here: The value of the book is in the words and the ideas created by those words. A "book" is simply a mechanism for transferring those words and ideas to other people.

For a long time pBooks were the most efficient way to do that.

Now, with more and more people having gadgets in one form or another, having those words and ideas in electronic form is a more efficient transport mechinism.

The "downside" to that is that eBooks make publishers irrelevant. The author can create the eBook and sell it themselves, or through an eBookstore (like Fictionwise). So publishers have a big interest in seeing eBooks die.

I completely agree that the gadget that's the main thing. It's how the gadget enhances the reading experience. If it's not better than a pBook, then the gadget is useless.

I've been reading eBooks ever since the screens on the Palms have gotten good enough to not mess my eyes up doing so. It's is just so convienent to have the 3-4 eBooks I want, on my person at all times, ready for me to read anytime. With the iLiad, it's a little less convienent, but I keep 5 books on it, swapping between them, making sure that I always have something interesting to read - on a screen that looks as good as paper and easy on my (getting older every day) eyes.

[mattimatt]

For me the issue is not the form but the content. The author is an issue if I’m looking for a sure read but I also like to experiment. Michael Conelly is always a sure bet, Terry Pratchett is simply the best and currently I’m also reading some books by Susanna Gregory (mystery in the middle ages).

Conelly is the only author of the three who is available for my iLiad so I read the others old style. For my iLiad I also collect some classical authors like F. H. Burnett (The Secret Garden) and a lot of Christie mysteries of the Poirot, Marple genre. I really enjoy collecting and reading books on my iLiad which I would normally not buy as pBooks.

For me the gadget only matters because I can get my hands on more stories / books to read and enjoy. If I find an interesting book in my favorite bookstore I sometimes check on the web for an eBook version because the e version is more portable. Also I sometimes simply like to browse the Web Bookstores and buy books that are inexpensive and seem interesting.

I even have some of the Icelandic sagas (written around 1200 CE) on my iLiad in the original language (stories I would normally not drag around with me but are now available when needed).

[Jadon]

I don't have a book to read, I have hundreds of possibilities, so it's just as easy to pick ones that I can convert to read on my device than to select a paper book that's not yet available.

[bruceathome]

I look for books I want to read, and then I see if they are available as ebooks (I find most of my books through amazon, and their "Customers who bought this item also bought"). If it isn't available as an ebook, I generally won't buy or read it.

Only occasionally will I buy and read a physical book.

[THJahar]

I will always go for books that I want to read. Whether in pBook form or not.
but since getting my eink device (V2) i've started to read pretty much exclusively on it as i find it far more enjoyable to use, hold and transport than a pBook.
And since the only way to get the ebooks that are new are via DRM'ed files, I've considered (ahem, of course I wouldn't do it because it's illegal right;-) using Photoshop, a looping alt tab keyboard macro program the PrintScreen key and a batch OCR job to get books onto my device.
My overwhelming desire is to read the book and the device doesn't prevent that only DRM does which forces this question to even exist.

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by rlauzon

The "downside" to that is that eBooks make publishers irrelevant. The author can create the eBook and sell it themselves, or through an eBookstore (like Fictionwise). So publishers have a big interest in seeing eBooks die.

Publishers (and editors, and copy-editors, and...) still add important value, at least in the world of Fiction. The publishers and editors build a brand based, in large part, on filtering for quality and preferred style of content. This is not a huge issue for established authors, but it's a great big hairy deal for new or unknown authors.

I'm one of the volunteers who has been pre-sifting the electronic slush-pile at Baen Books. You would not believe how bad the average manuscript in the slush-pile is -- "mental-floss" is routinely needed. Out of hundreds of submissions over the past couple of years, Baen has bought 2 (I think, it might be a few more). You really really do not want to be trying to find the very few needles in the very large haystack.

It's important to note that Baen is one of only two publishers in the SF/Fantasy world that still accepts unsolicited manuscripts -- the rest won't even look at them! The volunteer slush-readers are active fans who Jim Baen trusted to be "not-a-butthead." We read and rate the slush-pile to save time for the professional slush-reader: multiple "it's terrible" ratings mean the book gets a cursory look, multiple "this rocks!" mean the book gets a closer look. Jim also used to give each slush reader a single "Jim, you have to see this!" virtual token. A volunteer slush-reader could bring one book directly to his attention by email, by-passing the regular pro-reader channel. However, if the book wasn't "worth his time" you never got such a token ever again. After all, only a "butthead" would waste his time with a lousy book. I never used mine; others may or may not have.

Baen may be the only fiction publisher who really "gets it" about electronic books. Never any DRM, mulitple formats, reasonable prices, and the Baen Free Library to help get you hooked. "First hit's free, kid..."


Xenophon

[scotty1024]

One more perspective on the topic.

For some reading is a challenge due to some disability. Sometimes that disability is visual in nature, other times it has more to do with not being able to turn pages or grasp a book.

For these people the electronic book can be an important means of access to information. A valuable tool in helping improve their quality of life.

While Adobe, Amazon, Microsoft and Sony wage their DRM wars, these people are sometimes amongst its most regrettable victims.

[mdb139]

What I read, sadly, is not necessarily what I buy. I'm at the point now that I simply will not buy a paper book that I don't "have to" buy (such as technical books for work).

Reading (novels at least) in eBook format is so much more convenient for me that I'm only willing to buy them in eBook format. As already mentioned, I like having my entire library on my device (ppc) and I love having a dictionary at my fingertips so that I can look up words if I have to (I'm the person that always wrote down words I didn't know on my bookmark to look them up later).

The downside of this is that not all of the books/authors that I want to read are available in eBook format. So if I can't find the books I want by other means, I'll get it from the library or, as is probably more often the case, look for something else to read. I will not buy a paper book b/c it's the only format that's available.

Neither will I buy DRM'ed books that I can't crack, b/c I also like to reformat my books to suit my reading preferences. I've bought too many books that were poorly formatted and/or had errors in them that I won't do it again. Not to mention that I don't want my library married to a particular device/format.

Bottom line for me: I only buy for my device/format, but I read what I want to read one way or another. My preference is to buy (as opposed to all the other options available) b/c in the long run it's less hassle, and I guess I believe in paying for what I use.

Yes, I'm an NPR member.

...Just thought I'd address: the topic of the thread references "buy" but the poll says "read" -- not really the same thing, at least not for me.

[Jadon]

Originally Posted by mdb139

the topic of the thread references "buy" but the poll says "read" -- not really the same thing, at least not for me.

Which might lead to a new poll: How much of what you read (for yourself, not for work) do you buy? And possibly, what types of unbought material do you read on your device (Porject Gutenberg, Creative Commons works, blogs and websites, etc)?