Books: Digital or physical?

[Dan]

... 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!

Backups, backups, backups.

There's no reason no to make them.

And if you didn't, you can just pirate the book back.

[ginopino]

There's no reason no to make them.

Lazyness. And I'm talking on behalf of 98% of mankind! 

And if you didn't, you can just pirate the book back.

Well, most stores I have bought books from also give you the opportunity to download the purchased files without having to get a pirate one. I should just verify for how long it can be downloaded after buying it, I never really cared about that (because I'm quite geek and I love having all my data regularly backed up!)

[Daft]

It's not about books, but I'm gonna give digital comics a try now in a few days, when DC Comics begin their relaunch (The New 52). The titles will be available at the same day in both formats (printed and online).

[ginopino]

Which format will they use? Hyper-protected-and-DRMed-stuff or something more human-usable?

[aepplerqueen]

I prefer paper - I'm a little old fashioned with this, but I need paper in my hand ...

[Daft]

Which format will they use? Hyper-protected-and-DRMed-stuff or something more human-usable?

I've purchased some DRM'ed MP3s in the past, it's so annoying...

[blu333y3s]

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!)

Gino, picking up those old books (like from a second hand book shop) is one of those smells I really love... it is like history in your hand...  to me that smell is some what romantic. - Don't kill me!

[blu333y3s]

Has any one heard about the book crossing movement?

Basically it is a social experiment where by people love a book and want it to be shared, so after they are done reading it, the register the book on a website, put a lable on the inside cover and then leave it in a public place for someone else to pick up and hopefully enjoy.

The donater then can track the books movement around the world...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookCrossing

Official site:  http://www.bookcrossing.com/

I think that people would be less likely to do this with their e- reader...

Another vote for paper.... 

[Dan]

I think that people would be less likely to do this with their e- reader...

I assure you digital books are shared much much more than paper books.

[Daft]

Has any one heard about the book crossing movement?

Basically it is a social experiment where by people love a book and want it to be shared, so after they are done reading it, the register the book on a website, put a lable on the inside cover and then leave it in a public place for someone else to pick up and hopefully enjoy.

The donater then can track the books movement around the world...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookCrossing

Official site:  http://www.bookcrossing.com/

I think that people would be less likely to do this with their e- reader...

Another vote for paper.... 

I've done it, it's a great initiative. I got "Body Snatchers" from a friend, read, and give it to another friend, who's now in Germany.  :)

[NakedKiwi]

I have not used an e-reader but I read alot of PDFs on my laptop. It's not ideal but some of the books I read are very difficult to get in physical form now.

[nudist18]

Nothing will ever beat the smell, feel, and physical page turning of an actual book. Not to mention, it is awesome to see a collection of books you read, stack up on your bookshelf. Yeah, an e-book can hold my attention a bit better, and is for some reason easier on my eyes, but nothing will ever beat having a real book. It is like dating sims vs. a real person. Nothing could ever beat the one you can have that full experience with.

[Cabding]

Asthetics aside, the fact that you could have pounds of books fit into something that you can easily carry with you can't be ignored and that's the full appeal of it. Mass amounts of information without breaking your back. Project Gutenburg is a major contributor to that as well.

[Cabding]

Technology is a bit like naturism in a way. It has it's place in today's world. We love it and can't live without it. Every now and again its great to strip back to basics and reject technology.

[Daft]

Well, since September I started buying some comics books from Comixology, specially when there's some kind of sale, with selected titles por .99 cents each.