Kindle or actual books

[TheDoctor]

Don't get me wrong, I'm big into books, as my hall, living room, bedroom and landing will testify.
A kindle is more convenient for taking an adequate library travelling, and for getting a new book when you want one. I fancied re-reading 'Three Men in a Boat' last summer, so I downloaded it while on a TGV. That level of convenience is worth something to me.

 

[Beeankey]

Hardback Books.
I've just about accepted (but do not condone) the existence of paperbacks....... the e-reader is tool of Satan

Having said that, when I can buy the first edition hardback and get the e-version as well for a couple of quid I'll buy one. As it is I refuse to pay the full whack for digital copy as well.

A person I see who sticks to their principles ha ha ha ha ha

 

[Night Train]

I can appreciate the convenience of a Kindle for reading while away from home but many of the books I would choose to take to read are out of print and would also be illustrated with old B&W or colour images.

 

[Beeankey]

We are slaves to technology so I like to step away and bury my nose in a good book

So do you ride a steel framed bike? Just curious and not being a knob? Technology moves on in every genre now and pretty sure you have at least a bit of new technology on your bike/bikes in carbon etc as well as Milage counters, GPS etc

 

[Night Train]

Having said that, when I can buy the first edition hardback and get the e-version as well for a couple of quid I'll buy one. As it is I refuse to pay the full whack for digital copy as well.

Hasn't Amazon, or some other online seller, started giving free music downloads of an album when the CD is bought?

 

[Hip Priest]

I prefer books, but I find the iPhone Kindle app useful for reading in bed at night without waking my wife.

 

[Yellow Fang]

After my experience with iPods, I will stick with books.

 

[Moda]

Seems to polarise people this.

I have around 600 paid for books on my Kindle. The way I look at it is there are lots and lots of books that I'd like to read but don't want to own. Having the kindle stops the house becoming over run with books that have and will only be read once leaving room for those books that I really do want physical copies of.

Also being able to take all your books on holiday instead of having to pre-choose them is great as is being able to use the Kindle book store to buy books on the move.

 

[[Philip]]

Both.. I love my Kindle Paperwhite. Goes everywhere with me. Got through 6 books on holiday last month, used the hotel's free wifi to download a couple. If I'm at home though, I like reading a book. Or completely nonsensically if I have really enjoyed a book on Kindle, I'll buy the book for the bookshelf.

Some of the best books I've read on Kindle were free!

 

[ColinJ]

The only physical books that I buy these days are from charity shops. When I find myself being dragged into one of Hebden Bridge's numerous such shops, I usually check out the book shelves while the person who dragged me in is failing to choose between two blouses that would have looked drab even when they were new, some time before I was born!

Some bargains to be had that way, and eventually the books get redonated to the shops, or passed on to family or friends.

I use the Kindle app on my Galaxy Tab or laptop, neither of which is any good for reading outdoors.

Where ebooks really score is for ...

• Speed of delivery. If you want a book in a hurry, downloading it is the way to go. (Assuming that you are not standing in a bookshop which has the paper book in stock.)
• Price. Ok, there are exceptions, but you can often save a lot of money over the paper version. I got David Millar's autobiography for a bargain price recently - £1.40?
• Physical size. I have some programming reference books which are stupidly heavy. 1,500 pages is too big to hold comfortably.
• Searching through a book for information is much more efficient electronically, and so is note-taking, or quoting.

So ... both!

 

[byegad]

Hasn't Amazon, or some other online seller, started giving free music downloads of an album when the CD is bought?

Yes Amazon did this earlier this year and I now have a lot of really bad music bought as presents for younger relations on my Amazon Cloud Music drive!

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Kindle all the way - Mrs SD has one too.

We are big readers (Mrs SD easily romps through 3-4 books a week) and we love the ease of use of the whole Kindle experience - go online, find a book, download in seconds and away you go. No more trudging off to town, leafing through books in a bookshop, queuing up etc and then trudging home. Brilliant!

We also like the variable font sizing - I loathe large font (and have not bought books in the past because of this) and prefer small/dense whereas Mrs SD seems to prefer (despite having the better eyesight of the two of us) about three words to a page.

I also have a preference for longer reads and generally look for books of 4/500 pages and upwards. These tend to be 'heavy' and awkward to hold/balance for long periods of time esp' eg when reading in bed. The Kindle is small, light and tough enough to take the many bounces that occur when I nod off and it falls to the floor.

The Kindle is cheaper too (once you have defrayed the upfront purchase cost which is not much anyway) - Mrs SD reads more than a few Freebies and is a Daily Deals addict and these are cheap as chips too; and they are not rubbish clearance lines books either. Saves us lots of money,

Unless you need a coffee table book or something with heaps of lovely pictures in I cannot see what advantage a traditional book holds over a Kindle apart from the (slightly paranoid imo) less of a theft risk of the papyrus-thingy.

 

[s7ephanie]

i would love a kindle, maybe i will put it on my list

 

[Sara_H]

I resisted Kindle until last christmas. I was recovering from serious illness and getting bored at home. Me and my son decided to get a Kindle Fire as a joint present.
When I was unwell I was using it mainly for LoveFilm (we had a free trial), but have since been converted to the fact that I can download free or very cheap books quickly and easily, though I admit I do prefer paper books.We use it for iplayer quite often.

Son uses it mainly to watch youtube, play games (most of which are downloaded for free - he's banned from in app purchases!) and he uses it to do his homework on the internet.

 

[Spinney]

I will be purchasing a proper kindle for my holidays as the battery life on an ipad is pretty poor (kindle is 30 days) ...

I think that's based on reading for 30 mins a day - I read much more than that!

Both, in my case. Lots of free out-of-copyright books for the Kindle, plus often get cheap novels etc, But the feel of a real book, and being able to read it in the bath without worrying about dropping it in...