Kindle/ipad/tablet or real book

[farmerbarleymow]

At the age of 52 I'm not unfamiliar with the sensation of reading real books. The "magic" of reading a paperback gets mythologised by you to a degree I don't relate to and I don't breathe in the aroma of a book while I read it. I find it far more depressing that with my failing eye sight I can't read most paperbacks without reading glasses anymore and that I often found myself wanting to read my book when I didn't bring it. With e books a can change the text size and now I always have my book on my iPhone. Unlike you I don't find anything depressing about reading from a screen, that's simply a matter of attitude, not some universal fact. Again, content matters to me far more than media.

Each unto their own of course, but I'll stick to printed books.

 

[Reno]

Each unto their own of course, but I'll stick to printed books.

..and I'll stick to both, it's nice to have the choice.

 

[Bungle73]

I also don't need to recharge them.

The power on e-readers lasts for months!

 

[farmerbarleymow]

The power on e-readers lasts for months!

It would be interesting to see the carbon footprint of books vs e-readers to see how they compare.

 

[Cid]

It would be interesting to see the carbon footprint of books vs e-readers to see how they compare.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/jan/06/should-i-buy-an-e-reader

I use a Kindle for most fiction and any non-fiction I'm reading without taking notes, it's just much more practical than actual books. I remember the positioning of thumbs to support a book in bed, the having to tilt yourself on page turns because bedroom light isn't consistent or, if outside, the sun is in the wrong place. Books are nice, and if I ever had a kid I'd stock their room with them, but they're also a bit shit in many ways. Still definitely ahead of ereaders for anything featuring pictures or anything you have to take notes on though.

 

[toggle]

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/jan/06/should-i-buy-an-e-reader

I use a Kindle for most fiction and any non-fiction I'm reading without taking notes, it's just much more practical than actual books. I remember the positioning of thumbs to support a book in bed, the having to tilt yourself on page turns because bedroom light isn't consistent or, if outside, the sun is in the wrong place. Books are nice, and if I ever had a kid I'd stock their room with them, but they're also a bit shit in many ways. Still definitely ahead of ereaders for anything featuring pictures or anything you have to take notes on though.

i've found the kindle pretty good for the sort of notetaking I do. Because I can read a book on the ereader, add 2-3 word notes at the places I see specific info. unlike the postits in books option, they won't fall out and i can open up a list of the notes i've made and go straight to the one I want. I can also do a keyword search on the book, so finding something in a poorly indexed book is an easy task. and if i'm working while travelling, or in the library, I've got everything with me.

I like books and i've got a lot of books. both for fun reading and study, but for at least 3/4 of what i do with books, the ereader is a lot easier.

as for kids, yeah, when they are on the gruffalo, then you can't beat the big paces with piccys, but once they are onto the kind of chapter books that don't have anything other than black and white line drawings occasionally, then a kindle can work. well, it seems to be working so far for the 7 year old. who got one for her birthday that's got a couple of hundred torrented books on it.

 

[Cid]

i've found the kindle pretty good for the sort of notetaking I do. Because I can read a book on the ereader, add 2-3 word notes at the places I see specific info. unlike the postits in books option, they won't fall out and i can open up a list of the notes i've made and go straight to the one I want. I can also do a keyword search on the book, so finding something in a poorly indexed book is an easy task. and if i'm working while travelling, or in the library, I've got everything with me.

Different technique; I do a quick read through with highlighters (4 different colours), then a second reading while taking notes. I like the visual aspect of colour cues. Also this tends to be larger format (A4) textbooks I have to work through, there's a physical sense of what's left and the layout is more easy to handle than pure text.

I like books and i've got a lot of books. both for fun reading and study, but for at least 3/4 of what i do with books, the ereader is a lot easier.

as for kids, yeah, when they are on the gruffalo, then you can't beat the big paces with piccys, but once they are onto the kind of chapter books that don't have anything other than black and white line drawings occasionally, then a kindle can work. well, it seems to be working so far for the 7 year old. who got one for her birthday that's got a couple of hundred torrented books on it.

I think (in my totally idealistic vision of how kids work) I view it more as a sort of visual reference. I liked just being able to pull a book off the shelves when I was young, after all I didn't really know what books might be interesting. You can sort of dip in, read the blurb or look at the cover. Then I'd buy (well, get my mum to buy) related books. Also the kid's section of a bookshop was quite a magical place. I expect there are workarounds for many of those aspects, my kindle's generation 3 I think (one with the keyboard), I imagine the touchscreen aspect changes things somewhat.

 

[Reno]

It would be interesting to see the carbon footprint of books vs e-readers to see how they compare.

It is thought that if you have more than 50 books on your e reader, it's more environmentally friendly than paper books. I've easily exceeded that.

 

[Reno]

...and you can add to that that loads of people don't even read e books on a dedicated e reader but on devices which are primarily for other stuff, like phones and tablet computers.

 

[DotCommunist]

netbook ereading does give you the square eye effect after a while but thats a minor grumble compared to its advantages which are many

 

[toggle]

netbook ereading does give you the square eye effect after a while but thats a minor grumble compared to its advantages which are many

much harder if you have visual stress syndrome though. white backgrounds, particularly backlit ones turn into flowing rivers of shimmer. kindle is really good cause it's a dark enough background to stay fucking still when i read it.

 

[Bungle73]

much harder if you have visual stress syndrome though. white backgrounds, particularly backlit ones turn into flowing rivers of shimmer. kindle is really good cause it's a dark enough background to stay fucking still when i read it.

On all the tablet book apps I've used it's possible to change the colour of the text and background, so you can invert the colours if you want, or change it to sepia which seems a lot better to me.

On an e-reader, it should exactly the same as reading a page of printed text.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Oh, the other thing with ebooks is DRM. Everyone says "oh I don't mind DRM" until they get burned by it when changing to a new system, or losing their account details, or Amazon/Apple/whoever fucks it up somehow. It also stops you lending them to people, giving them to charity etc. Part of the fun of having a book is being able to lend it to people.

I do buy ebooks which are DRM-free in situations where I'm not realistically going to be able to actually get a paper copy (e.g. something published by some small press in Canada).

 

[toggle]

On all the tablet book apps I've used it's possible to change the colour of the text and background, so you can invert the colours if you want, or change it to sepia which seems a lot better to me.

On an e-reader, it should exactly the same as reading a page of printed text.

it's still a backlit screen on a tablet. therefore it's shiny. colour change makes it bearable, but dosen't stop the problem. and inverted colour is worse than white for shiny streams of distaction.

and the kindle, as i said is better than new books. matte and grey. i'd prefer matte and teracotta, but grey is good enough

 

[Supine]

I use a computer screen enough already. A book is time away from it all and only paper can achieve this properly. I reckon.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I use a computer screen enough already. A book is time away from it all and only paper can achieve this properly. I reckon.

This is also true. One of the reasons I shoot film and write things with fountain pens too.

 

[Bungle73]

I use a computer screen enough already. A book is time away from it all and only paper can achieve this properly. I reckon.

E-readers don't have screens....at least not in the conventional sense. They use e-ink. Its like reading a page of printed text.

 

[PursuedByBears]

Oh, the other thing with ebooks is DRM. Everyone says "oh I don't mind DRM" until they get burned by it when changing to a new system, or losing their account details, or Amazon/Apple/whoever fucks it up somehow. It also stops you lending them to people, giving them to charity etc. Part of the fun of having a book is being able to lend it to people.

I do buy ebooks which are DRM-free in situations where I'm not realistically going to be able to actually get a paper copy (e.g. something published by some small press in Canada).

I put all my ebooks through a DRM-removal app on my Mac before I read them, I don't want them to mysteriously disappear.

 

[Roadkill]

Hard copy sales surging, Kindles selling so 'pitifully' that Waterstones are going to stop stocking them.

Good.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Hard copy sales surging, Kindles selling so 'pitifully' that Waterstones are going to stop stocking them.

Good.

I don't see that shows much tbh. Who's going to buy a kindle from Waterstones?

 

[Roadkill]

I don't see that shows much tbh. Who's going to buy a kindle from Waterstones?

Not many people. That said, I think those who've suggested that the specialist e-book reader might not be around for much longer have a point: why spend money on one when you can download apps that do the same job on a multi-purpose toy tablet or smartphone? The good bit is the rise in hard-copy sales.

 

[Bungle73]

Not many people. That said, I think those who've suggested that the specialist e-book reader might not be around for much longer have a point: why spend money on one when you can download apps that do the same job on a multi-purpose toy tablet or smartphone? The good bit is the rise in hard-copy sales.

Because e-readers are easier on the eyes.

 

[Roadkill]

Because e-readers are easier on the eyes.

True, but enough so to warrant spending the extra money on them?

I'm sticking to paper and ink, personally, with the exception of some out-of-copyright stuff I download as pdfs.

 

[Bungle73]

True, but enough so to warrant spending the extra money on them?

I'm sticking to paper and ink, personally, with the exception of some out-of-copyright stuff I download as pdfs.

Well I guess it depends on how much reading one does, and how much one dislikes reading from a screen. If I was doing a lot of digital reading, I'd properly invest in an e-reader myself tbh. There's also the other point that e-readers don't need charging every five minutes like tablets do.

E-readers aren't that expensive as well - you can pick up a Kindle for under £60.

 

[Roadkill]

E-readers aren't that expensive as well - you can pick up a Kindle for under £60.

Sixty quid?! I could get a decent armful of paperbacks for that!

 

[belboid]

I don't see that shows much tbh. Who's going to buy a kindle from Waterstones?

I did. Well, someone bought one for me. One of my bestest pressies

I read more than I did before I got it, and I have got way more than the equivalent cost in books on there for nothing. All round bargain.

 

[D'wards]

I had a Nook but it broke, so i'm back to analog and have such a backlog i won't need to spend money on books/ereaders for ages

 

[RubyBlue]

Because e-readers are easier on the eyes.

That's me - my kindle gave up a couple years ago but I prefer reading on my iPad anyway - all of my reading is done electronically - I'm a real convert, to begin with I read 'proper' books at home but now read electronically all the time. I intend to buy another kindle (fire?) soon specifically to read on holidays in the sun - 50 quid is worth it

 

[Cid]

Sixty quid?! I could get a decent armful of paperbacks for that!

Or you could get access to over 100,000 out of copyright.

 

[Roadkill]

Or you could get access to over 100,000 out of copyright.

I've dozens of files downloaded from there, archive.org and various other sites. It is a good source of old, rare and expensive texts. But I do and will always prefer hard copy.