The Great eBook debate...

[rh100]

I like to mostly read from paper - especially for leisure - because then it's portable, you can fold the corner down, it's tactile, they have their own smell, you don't have to concentrate as hard and some are nice to look at as an object let alone what it contains.

screen viewing is fine for technical reference and some training documents. But as an example, I have several study books which I read at my own pace before booking an IT exam, the books also come with a PDF version - I can read the PDF fine - which I do when at work, but I take in more when reading from the book, just seems less clinical somehow.

I haven't tried an actual modern e-reader - but when I first had a Palm PDA it had a great little screen and came with some ebooks - but I just couldn't get into it, I found my attention kept drifting away.

 

[rh100]

I like to mostly read from paper - especially for leisure - because then it's portable, you can fold the corner down, it's tactile, they have their own smell, you don't have to concentrate as hard and some are nice to look at as an object let alone what it contains.

screen viewing is fine for technical reference and some training documents. But as an example, I have several study books which I read at my own pace before booking an IT exam, the books also come with a PDF version - I can read the PDF fine - which I do when at work, but I take in more when reading from the book, just seems less clinical somehow.

I haven't tried an actual modern e-reader - but when I first had a Palm PDA it had a great little screen and came with some ebooks - but I just couldn't get into it, I found my attention kept drifting away.

 

[2Loose]

A friend has one of thoe Kindle things and when asked 'why?', he told me that it is the size of a thin paperbook, can carry over 60 books at once and therefore saved a lot of luggage space when he went aboad and his favourite advantage was - you can read it under the covers without a light due to it being backlit.

Not sure I am convinced as it cost over 200 quid + books.

 

[2Loose]

A friend has one of thoe Kindle things and when asked 'why?', he told me that it is the size of a thin paperbook, can carry over 60 books at once and therefore saved a lot of luggage space when he went aboad and his favourite advantage was - you can read it under the covers without a light due to it being backlit.

Not sure I am convinced as it cost over 200 quid + books.

 

[2Loose]

A friend has one of thoe Kindle things and when asked 'why?', he told me that it is the size of a thin paperbook, can carry over 60 books at once and therefore saved a lot of luggage space when he went aboad and his favourite advantage was - you can read it under the covers without a light due to it being backlit.

Not sure I am convinced as it cost over 200 quid + books.

 

[PBancroft]

A friend has one of thoe Kindle things and when asked 'why?', he told me that it is the size of a thin paperbook, can carry over 60 books at once and therefore saved a lot of luggage space when he went aboad and his favourite advantage was - you can read it under the covers without a light due to it being backlit.

Not sure I am convinced as it cost over 200 quid + books.

I'm tempted to buy one. Why? Same as above, really - the ability to carry a large variety of content easily (the Kindle 2 is supposed to hold well over 1000 books). Some people say that you'd never need to carry that much... but then many of us carry far more music than we could ever listen to in our pockets. I also like the idea of being able to purchase any book from wherever I happen to be and start reading it almost immediately. Sure I know the technology and availability isn't quite there but I like the prospect.

I haven't bought one yet partly because of the price. The cost will fall, but with it will be a lot of cheapo readers coming into the market that do the job badly. Sharing is difficult too. When I buy a book, I might lend it to a friend if I think they'll enjoy it - this is possible with the Kindle if you share an Amazon account, but its not ideal. I'm also not keen on the DRM. I may still get one, and I do think books are on the way out... but just not quite yet.

 

[PBancroft]

A friend has one of thoe Kindle things and when asked 'why?', he told me that it is the size of a thin paperbook, can carry over 60 books at once and therefore saved a lot of luggage space when he went aboad and his favourite advantage was - you can read it under the covers without a light due to it being backlit.

Not sure I am convinced as it cost over 200 quid + books.

I'm tempted to buy one. Why? Same as above, really - the ability to carry a large variety of content easily (the Kindle 2 is supposed to hold well over 1000 books). Some people say that you'd never need to carry that much... but then many of us carry far more music than we could ever listen to in our pockets. I also like the idea of being able to purchase any book from wherever I happen to be and start reading it almost immediately. Sure I know the technology and availability isn't quite there but I like the prospect.

I haven't bought one yet partly because of the price. The cost will fall, but with it will be a lot of cheapo readers coming into the market that do the job badly. Sharing is difficult too. When I buy a book, I might lend it to a friend if I think they'll enjoy it - this is possible with the Kindle if you share an Amazon account, but its not ideal. I'm also not keen on the DRM. I may still get one, and I do think books are on the way out... but just not quite yet.

 

[PBancroft]

A friend has one of thoe Kindle things and when asked 'why?', he told me that it is the size of a thin paperbook, can carry over 60 books at once and therefore saved a lot of luggage space when he went aboad and his favourite advantage was - you can read it under the covers without a light due to it being backlit.

Not sure I am convinced as it cost over 200 quid + books.

I'm tempted to buy one. Why? Same as above, really - the ability to carry a large variety of content easily (the Kindle 2 is supposed to hold well over 1000 books). Some people say that you'd never need to carry that much... but then many of us carry far more music than we could ever listen to in our pockets. I also like the idea of being able to purchase any book from wherever I happen to be and start reading it almost immediately. Sure I know the technology and availability isn't quite there but I like the prospect.

I haven't bought one yet partly because of the price. The cost will fall, but with it will be a lot of cheapo readers coming into the market that do the job badly. Sharing is difficult too. When I buy a book, I might lend it to a friend if I think they'll enjoy it - this is possible with the Kindle if you share an Amazon account, but its not ideal. I'm also not keen on the DRM. I may still get one, and I do think books are on the way out... but just not quite yet.

 

[chris667]

Do they have all have DRM? I'm even less sold on them if so. What would be the repercussions of books with DRM on libraries?

 

[chris667]

Do they have all have DRM? I'm even less sold on them if so. What would be the repercussions of books with DRM on libraries?

 

[chris667]

Do they have all have DRM? I'm even less sold on them if so. What would be the repercussions of books with DRM on libraries?

 

[just jim]

There's room for both formats, and I personally like the ebook interface though the page refresh rate is quite slow and clumsy. 2010 is supposed to be the ebook boom year, but we shall see. If they get cheaper and faster, I'd buy one.

 

[just jim]

There's room for both formats, and I personally like the ebook interface though the page refresh rate is quite slow and clumsy. 2010 is supposed to be the ebook boom year, but we shall see. If they get cheaper and faster, I'd buy one.

 

[just jim]

There's room for both formats, and I personally like the ebook interface though the page refresh rate is quite slow and clumsy. 2010 is supposed to be the ebook boom year, but we shall see. If they get cheaper and faster, I'd buy one.

 

[mr_cellophane]

Paper every time. You can flick back and forward and be able to look at 3 pages at once.