Paper Books vs E-Books

[Daggertooth]

Does anyone have any new opinions on this topic? I'm still in the "thinking about buying something" process. I know, I'm slow.


At the moment I've started considering various things i want out of an e-reader/tablet. I'd like to be able to download PDF's to it, mostly research papers, and be able to highlight various passages in it. I'd also like to organize things like I can with Microsoft onenote. But that last bit makes me think I'm leaning towards a tablet...which might be pricier?...haven't checked prices. Being able to organize the various PDF topics would be important to me though.

[Jon]

I prefer books because it gives me something to put on my BOOK shelves =p. I also think E books should cost the same as real books.

[Talexis]

After reading Game of Thrones, my hand is of the opinion that either they need to grow, or I need to stop reading for such long periods of time. Alternatively, I could get it on an e-reader and save myself the trouble to holding a fat book with one hand for hours on end.
Otherwise my opinion hasn't really changed, to be honest. I love both, but probably will stick with books if I can, because the whole physical business and all. Can't read an e-book during the post-apocalypse or aftermath of an emp blast!

[Daggertooth]

I also think E books should cost the same as real books.

Now this is an interesting view, why would you think that? Since there is no publishing, shipping, and handling costs i would think that an e-book should be several dollars cheaper. And that any e-book that costs the same as a regular book is just exploiting the reader. I suppose it would depend on where that extra money goes. Author vs publishing companies vs that organization that tries to regulate ownership of e-books.


I also like the feel of regular books, but am starting to be constrained for space. Plus with all the scientific literature I read it would be much better for an organized electronic copy of PDF's as opposed to several journal articles stapled together and thrown in a binder.

[Wolves]

I really like both, e books take up very little space and you can do tons of things on a table like a kindle, but I love the feel of a regular book. E books are great for text books, since you now longer have to lug around the monstrosity, but for recreational reading, I much prefer a traditional paper book. With a paper book, I don't only get the great feel of a book, but I can also read for however long I want, sure it's not backlit and it doesn't have apps, but I'm not at the mercy of a battery.

[Daggertooth]

I can see both options with text books. On the one hand, it is a pain to lug around the heavy things, but on the other hand it is nice to quickly leaf through the text book to get to the important stuff you need to reference. I was working on some statistics problems and had to flip from a chapter back to the back of the book to various tables several times. I'm not sure how easy that would be on a tablet.


My decision has been made!!! Or rather, it was made for me on Christmas. I am now an owner of a Kindle Paperlight. It has a backlight and claims to be able to run 8 weeks without needing a charge. I was skeptical, but so far so good. Holding the thin electronic device and tapping to turn the page isn't nearly as annoying as I thought it would be. So as far as tactile feels and enjoyment, I'm not sure I'm getting much of a difference. The backlight isn't even bad and actually much better than my original plan of having a headlamp. Buying and downloading books was surprisingly easy, a bit too easy. I just click "buy" once and its done...guess my card is on file. ...Don't trust that.

I decided to start Patricia Briggs' Alpha and Omega series, so those are the books I've started to buy. I still don't understand why digital books cost the same as paper books. I would think that without production and transportation costs a digital book would be cheaper. Even the Digital version of Briggs' newest book that's in hardcover has an elevated price. Amazon tries to tout that the digital price is cheaper so your saving money, but $12 for a digital book seems outrageous to me. Maybe I'm just old fashioned?


One thing I did notice that I don't like is that my kindle has advertisements on it. Everytime I load it up it tries to tell me a best seller or even that I need a new phone. A bit annoying...