Books: Digital or physical?

[MarkH]

Call me old fashioned but I much prefer the old fashion physical paper book!

[Dan]

Call me old fashioned but I much prefer the old fashion physical paper book!

What's your experience of digital books?

[Ash8]

its better to hav physical books

[Ace001]

I definitely see the benefit of digital books.  It's lighter, and you can store everything you want to read on it no problem. Quite frankly though, I don't like reading things electronically that much since I stare at computer screens all day anyway. It seems unnecessary to make all parts of my life digital, especially if I don't see it suffering by not being digital. Having a digital copy of a book offers the same core benefit of owning a physical copy of a book- I get to read the information I want. It's not like I'm carrying 6 books at once. I have a little book that I read on my commute to work.

The cost really is a non issue since since with the internet you can actually getting a lo of physical copies of books for quite cheap. With sites like Amazon and ebay, if you're willing to wait you can get books dirt cheap. Then there is a company who's basic model is to only print a book when it's been requested. So instead of paying extra for a book because they're trying to return a profit from production costs and whatnot, you pay way less since it basically just prints straight when ordered.

Digital is nice, but I'll keep my regular books now

[King Pizza]

I prefer printed rather than digital books because digital books require a device which I don't have and don't want to get due to the fact that I have an eReader on my palm phone; if it's compatible with that, I'm more likely to get it.

Check out Calibre. It converts pretty much from any format to any other.

First off, I want to  thank Dan for recommending Calibre; the program is excellent and works wonderfully.  My views on e-books have changed somewhat since I last wrote on this topic, although I still prefer my paper books. My views have changed because today my county library system launched an e-library which would allow me to search for books and then download them and convert them using Calibre. I don't use my e-reader on my phone to do much reading other than my Bible nightly because the screen is so small and I refuse to spend money to purchase an e-reader just so I can read the few e-books that I have. Most of the books that I purchase I've read at least twice; with e-books, I'd be forced to purchase them sight unseen. I'd rather borrow the book from the library and then purchase the book instead of using an buying an e book because the screen is too small.

[Dan]

Calibre is under very active development, there are new versions coming often with neat new features.

And remember book/ebook it's not a mutually exclusive choice. You can use both in parallel. For instance, ebooks are easier to search and annotate. Many people love them because they love the outdoor; they want to go to the beach / forest / wherever and not put water or mud on the book so they use the ebook to print off a few pages to read in dirtier environment.

Neither format will make the other disappear, embrace both!

[Blu Bunny]

Let's face it, digital is how it's going to be in the future. Can't really go against it.

That being said, while I still live in the age of the paperback, I will always opt for it. While it may not have much practical value anymore, it still smells nice and gives you a pleasant, nostalgic feeling when you curl up with tea, a blanket, and a book rather than a tablet. Soon books will be like art. They're pretty things to enjoy for the sake of their existence. I'll start now.

Anyway, I try not to disregard paper too much despite the whole digital age that's pretty much here. My math teacher (well, several of them) always told me that it's important to know how to do the work because if your calculator dies in the middle of an exam and you don't have any batteries, well you're on your own. I'm all for the digital age, but I don't want to be stuck on an 18 hour flight and my kindle being the only thing I brought for entertainment just died on me...well...at that point I would draw or write my own stories, but my point is still made dammit! XD

[Dan]

I'm all for the digital age, but I don't want to be stuck on an 18 hour flight and my kindle being the only thing I brought for entertainment just died on me...

That's not much of a problem, a Kindle's battery can last a good month if you don't activate wifi/3G. Plus, you could always just plug it in in the plane.

[NickUMA10]

digital for new books (cheaper, more mobile). but i do have a fetish for out of print older books that requires shelf space.

[Blu Bunny]

That's not much of a problem, a Kindle's battery can last a good month if you don't activate wifi/3G. Plus, you could always just plug it in in the plane.

Can you? I've never seen an outlet on a plane. Could be I'm just not looking hard enough though. Plus, I haven't been on a huge plane for a long time. Last 18 hour flight I took was when I was 15. XD Well, if that's the case, then I think my point is moot. lol Just don't forget your charger. =u=

[bunnyema]

I like when I can feel the pages under my fingers.. Like the smell of it, the sound when you turn the page, the way you can hug a book.. so no digital for me..

[Dan]

Can you? I've never seen an outlet on a plane. Could be I'm just not looking hard enough though. Plus, I haven't been on a huge plane for a long time. Last 18 hour flight I took was when I was 15. XD Well, if that's the case, then I think my point is moot. lol Just don't forget your charger. =u=

I remember so but I haven't been on a plane for a long time too.

Might vary per model.

[NickUMA10]

I like when I can feel the pages under my fingers.. Like the smell of it, the sound when you turn the page, the way you can hug a book.. so no digital for me..

I like the smell of out-of-print books. the mustiness. i also like to see what other people underlined.
/used book geek

[JayJay]

still like a real book but im coming round to the idea of the gadets

[ginopino]

I'm... 50%-50%! :)
Working on the book industry, maybe my experience goes a little further than the "like/dislike/prefer/hate" (by the way, as a reader I use both with no preference. If I'm around and see a book I'm interested in, I go and buy it - if it's not too expensive. 22€ for a hardcover fiction book is WAY TOO much! And if I want to read something in English, the American online stores have "piles" of books to choose from, and the best thing is that you canstart reading in minutes)

"Professionally" speaking... God bless the e-readers! :)
Consider this: you're not American/English and a big part of your job is reading foreign books to decide if translating in your home language (Italian, in my case). Before the e-readers were reality, you had to read everything on a monitor or print pages and pages of text (and consider what happened if a book had to be read by more than one person). You could also request to agencies or foreign publishers some reading-copies of the printed book but:
- 8 times out of 10 they replied to the mail just attaching the PDF
- 2 times out of 10 you had to wait for them to prepare and send the book(s) and for the postal service to do its job (oversea shipping takes a loooooooooooong time, and nobody wanted to pay for express delivery, which was - and still is, I suppose! - expensive as hell)
Now, you can just have the PDF or DOC or whatever it is in few minutes - it's just an email - convert it if necessary and read it on your ereader, without killing your eyes in front of a monitor or printing piles of sheets of paper.
So... as a "job instrument" it's not just handy, it's a lot more.

Again, as a "regular book reader", I don't have a preference on p-books ("printed" or "paper", you choose!) or e-books. What is important is having something good to read.

Last thing: I'd kill (I joke, of course! :P ) whoever says "I love the smell of the printed paper and can't live without it"! :) It's true, it's a particular smell, but try to go and pick up a 10-years-old book from a public library, better if it is a bestseller which has been read by many people and got a lot of dust staying in the shelf for such a long time. The "lovely smell" becomes a "rancid stink"! :-P
... and, talking about ebooks, it's not all "good news": a failure of the internal memory of the e-reader and/or a bad backup can destroy your library!

That's why both formats will survive, in my opinion! :)

(as usual, sorry for any small/medium/bad/horrible mistake with the English language. I do my best!)