kelbro
Alfred Spatchcock
100,000 + air miles a year converted me first to the Kindle then the Kindle app on the iPad Air.
Kindle/ebook vs Paper
- Thread starter Andy
- Start date
I am completely addicted to reading. I come from an extremely bookish family and I was very reluctant to buy a kindle because I thought the idea of reading an electronic gizmo would break the spell. A few years ago I was faced with the prospect of an extended period of travel. I can never find anything I really want to read in an airport or train station bookshop, so I bought a kindle. I now have many dozen titles loaded on it (a large percentage free titles) and I am now a convert. I can take whole bookcases along with me in a slim tablet, with excellent battery life. Also, most modern library systems offer ebooks in kindle format, so the options for reading are many, including many newspapers and magazines.
I couldn't be happier with my kindle, and I cannot imagine a life without one now. My wife has the free kindle reading app on her smartphone, so she also now never risks being caught without something to read. If you read every day, and you don't have an e reader, you are really missing out!
I couldn't be happier with my kindle, and I cannot imagine a life without one now. My wife has the free kindle reading app on her smartphone, so she also now never risks being caught without something to read. If you read every day, and you don't have an e reader, you are really missing out!
I tend to prefer physical books, but I do have a growing collection of ebooks (Kindle and iBooks on my iPad). For reference/text books, if I can get both a paper copy and the ebook I am happiest. 
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Kindle Paperwhite all the way! 
Paper for me.. One thing I like to do when traveling is take a batch of freebie paperbacks from the library give-away table. I read them on the plane or in the hotel or wherever and leave them behind when I go.
Hopefully, someone will pick them up, read them and pass them on.. but I'm an optimist.
Hopefully, someone will pick them up, read them and pass them on.. but I'm an optimist.
Same here, paper all the way. There's books and magazines everywhere, every room except the bathroom.
My entire book collection is paper.
My daughter just graduated from university and it was mostly hauling paper textbooks throughout the four years.
dave
I love and prefer physical books, but I have to admit to having Kindle and that I think it's great, especially when travelling. For really unwinding there's nothing like holding a real book and glass of wine but what the Kindle loses in character it makes up for in storage, portability and instant delivery.
I'd never again use an ereader that is not backlit. Under low light conditions they are a real pain to read. Once I switched over to the (backlit) Kobo Aura HD, I've never turned back to hard books (unless there is no digital version available). The benefits of e-readers far outweigh the drawbacks imo.
Our local library isn't able to send their e-books to Kindles. Something to do with Amazons T&C's. They can, however send to non-Amazon e-readers...such a shame! I look forward to when I can borrow their collection instantly!
I have no plans to replace my 3 year old kindle (ancient) but if I did, I'd be looking pretty hard at the kindle VOYAGE and the OASIS right now. The one I bought in 2013 is still working very well, however.
Mine is not a touchscreen -- it has actual buttons. I dropped it once about two years ago and the WiFi seemed to stop working. I synched it via cable a time or two, and soon, I was ready to buy a new VOYAGE. But then I did a hard reboot and voilà, suddenly the WiFi works just fine! Another cool thing about the kindle; if it gets lost or broken, all my ebooks are safe in the cloud.
- Thread starter
- #32
I have the exact same model kindle, and its still going great, except the buttons on one side are slightly worn and you occasionally have to press them again as it didn't register the fist time.
Physical books will always have plenty of utility but if you love reading, then the medium through which the text is delivered shouldn't matter so much. E-book reader screens reflect light rather than emitting it, so they look just as natural as a paper book and therefore they shouldn't induce any eye strain. Plus it's great that you can adjust the text size and easily look up any word in seconds.
I've met plenty of physical book snobs in real life and I just don't understand them, even though I sort of used to be one. There's nothing wrong with preferring physical books, but there's no reason to vehemently detest e-readers. I also think that part of the hatred stems from some people not understanding the difference between a backlit tablet and an e-reader. It certainly doesn't help that Amazon uses the umbrella name of "Kindle" to refer to both their tablet lineup and their basic e-book readers.
I've met plenty of physical book snobs in real life and I just don't understand them, even though I sort of used to be one. There's nothing wrong with preferring physical books, but there's no reason to vehemently detest e-readers. I also think that part of the hatred stems from some people not understanding the difference between a backlit tablet and an e-reader. It certainly doesn't help that Amazon uses the umbrella name of "Kindle" to refer to both their tablet lineup and their basic e-book readers.
My problems with e-readers vs physical books are:
1 - I never know how far along in the book I am, especially if I'm reading a book that I haven't read before. % read means nothing to me.
2 - Page numbers may correspond to a real book or a kindle page. I'm reading one now that may require 3-4 kindle page turns before the page # changes.
3 - It's a PITA to look someone or something up a few pages or chapters back.
4 - I never know how far to the next chapter break if my time is limited. Can't count how many times I've quit reading with only a page or two to go.
On the plus side I can read the kindle version of The Count of Monte Cristo from gutenberg with the wonderful 1887 illustrations for free, rather than spending $700-800 for a reproduction hardcover.
1 - I never know how far along in the book I am, especially if I'm reading a book that I haven't read before. % read means nothing to me.
2 - Page numbers may correspond to a real book or a kindle page. I'm reading one now that may require 3-4 kindle page turns before the page # changes.
3 - It's a PITA to look someone or something up a few pages or chapters back.
4 - I never know how far to the next chapter break if my time is limited. Can't count how many times I've quit reading with only a page or two to go.
On the plus side I can read the kindle version of The Count of Monte Cristo from gutenberg with the wonderful 1887 illustrations for free, rather than spending $700-800 for a reproduction hardcover.
I agree with your list. The experience could probably be improved somewhat with regard to the % read/page numbers. There should be an option to toggle page numbers so that they correspond to the physical book vs. actual e-reader page turns. It's still important to have the option to mirror physical copies so that e-reader users can follow along with physical book users.
E-readers definitely haven't replaced physical books in my eyes, but they complement the reading experience. There are certain books that I would never read in digital format, especially something like a textbook, but it's still a pretty neat piece of technology overall. I'm looking forward to e-ink color since they've apparently made great strides in that department. Hopefully we'll see it in e-readers fairly soon.
E-readers definitely haven't replaced physical books in my eyes, but they complement the reading experience. There are certain books that I would never read in digital format, especially something like a textbook, but it's still a pretty neat piece of technology overall. I'm looking forward to e-ink color since they've apparently made great strides in that department. Hopefully we'll see it in e-readers fairly soon.
My books are in both formats. If I could scan them into my Kindle, I would. Would clear up a lot of space in the house.
At my age (70+) most of my collection is in physical books, circa 4000 with 3000+ being science fiction. The rest in multiple subjects, mostly non-fiction. Due to liking the large format page for e-book reading I have multiple copies of the old 9.7" screen Kindle DX and have just ordered the new 7" screen Kindle Oasis which was announced last week and ships the end of October. 3 of my 4 Kindle DX readers are in virtually new condition. The 7" Oasis is the first Kindle e-reader with more than 4 GB of memory so it should hold a lot of books. Maximum memory size is 32 GB, still not expandable. At least Amazon has cloud storage for books purchased from them and items emailed through them to a Kindle device. I have also downloaded .mobi format books and used a USB cable to move them to a Kindle and also back them up on a flash drive.
I am now old enough so the first computer systems I worked on were vacuum tube and discrete transistor, courtesy of the US Navy. I then worked in Silicon Valley, starting during the development of the Micro Computer, back when 64 KBytes of static memory cost circa $3000, more than many new cars at the time (mid 1970s). Now 1 Terabyte of non volatile memory in the form of a solid state drive is available at retail for under $400.
Any razor hunters out there use a small tablet computer with the PDF version of the "Safety Razor Compendium" loaded on it as a ready reference when out on the hunt? It seems like it would be a interesting use of current technology.
I am now old enough so the first computer systems I worked on were vacuum tube and discrete transistor, courtesy of the US Navy. I then worked in Silicon Valley, starting during the development of the Micro Computer, back when 64 KBytes of static memory cost circa $3000, more than many new cars at the time (mid 1970s). Now 1 Terabyte of non volatile memory in the form of a solid state drive is available at retail for under $400.
Any razor hunters out there use a small tablet computer with the PDF version of the "Safety Razor Compendium" loaded on it as a ready reference when out on the hunt? It seems like it would be a interesting use of current technology.
I've found that the Kindle's ability to enlarge the fonts on the books that I read has become a must now that my eyesight isn't what it used to be. The storage capacity of books has also swayed me over to the ebook format.
I have a Kobo Aura ONE which is a 7.8” HD Carta E Ink touchscreen, 1872 x 1404 resolution 300 dpi, 8 GB on-board memory, holds up to 6,000 eBooks
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