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To add to these: - Even in a walled garden like Kindle, arbitrary fragmentation of the platform. Books that my Kindle device is technically capable of displayi
by aschampion 11y ago
To add to these:
- Even in a walled garden like Kindle, arbitrary fragmentation of the platform. Books that my Kindle device is technically capable of displaying are locked to iOS/Android Kindle app only, etc. Publishers meddling in spaces they don't understand.
- Stagnation of the eInk device market. Since the Kindle DX 5 years ago, I can "upgrade" to a much smaller device to get a backlight or snappier refresh, but my only choice for a similar or larger device lacks both, costs $800, and because it's from Sony can't do Kindle books and may already be a dead platform.
- Difficult if not impossible to lend books. This isn't just about saving money; the chances of a friend reading a book based solely upon a recommendation are much lower than the chances of them reading a book that you place in their hands, simply because of the lower initiative barrier.
That said I prefer ebooks for the majority (by volume) of my reading, more so for fiction than non-fiction. Or, factoring that a bit, I prefer ebooks for light or recreational reading and physical books for more focused or technical reading. This may be related to the limitations of eInk devices, though, since larger displays, faster refresh/annotation, and meta-reading features are more important for technical reading than for linear fiction.