3 ms·

I'm holding off because it's just not the same thing. I read a few fiction books a month, I enjoy going to a bookstore, picking out books, carrying them home, r

I'm holding off because it's just not the same thing. I read a few fiction books a month, I enjoy going to a bookstore, picking out books, carrying them home, reading them, and putting them on a shelf. I enjoy having friends over, and discussing books while standing in front of the shelves. I can lend out my books or give them away. Good books get worn and loved and scratched and used and thumbed. I can place good books in better spots than bad books. And they're all gonna last a lot longer than any electronic books and always be accessible. A book has no bootup-time, no interface, no buttons, no electricity, no charger, no bit-rot, no broken files, no virtual cloud-based shelves tied to an arbitrary account, no uptime, no downtime, no batteries, no keyboards, no nothing. For fiction, having my entire library with me all the time is useless, because that's just not how I read. I travel a lot, but only carry one or two books with me. That's enough. It's been a long while since I was in school or university and read textbooks, but the value of having actual paper books that you can write your own notes and drawings in is very high. For reference books, when I need them, I'm usually at a computer anyway, and why look in a single reference book when I can use the entire internet instead? DRM? That's at the bottom of the list of drawbacks with e-books for me.

frossie 16y ago
And they're all gonna last a lot longer than any electronic books and always be accessible. [...] DRM? That's at the bottom of the list of drawbacks with e-books for me. "Always be accessible" is part of the umbrella of DRM-related concerns. This is exactly what I mean - people have adoption concerns related to issues fundamental to e-books (at least right now), rather than their formatting.
JustinSeriously 16y ago
This is the issue for most people I know as well. Everyone I know who reads a lot also enjoys the experience around reading, from browsing bookstores to the care and feeding of a good bookshelf. When it comes to DRM, I don't think it's a big issue, because, - Non-tech people don't care about it. - Tech people care deeply about it, but know how to get a pirated copy in case the DRM crashes on them.
sanderjd 16y ago
I have a Kindle, and while I think it's a great device and that E-ink is a big win over back-lit monitors for prolonged reading, I use it a minuscule amount compared with dead-tree reading. It just doesn't feel right, especially for fiction. I would note that you can make notes and copying quotes is actually practical (although an argument can be made for hand-copying sections that you really want to sink in). All in all I think it will be awhile before I trade in the bookshelves.

frossie 16y ago

And they're all gonna last a lot longer than any electronic books and always be accessible. [...] DRM? That's at the bottom of the list of drawbacks with e-books for me. "Always be accessible" is part of the umbrella of DRM-related concerns. This is exactly what I mean - people have adoption concerns related to issues fundamental to e-books (at least right now), rather than their formatting.

JustinSeriously 16y ago

This is the issue for most people I know as well. Everyone I know who reads a lot also enjoys the experience around reading, from browsing bookstores to the care and feeding of a good bookshelf. When it comes to DRM, I don't think it's a big issue, because, - Non-tech people don't care about it. - Tech people care deeply about it, but know how to get a pirated copy in case the DRM crashes on them.

sanderjd 16y ago

I have a Kindle, and while I think it's a great device and that E-ink is a big win over back-lit monitors for prolonged reading, I use it a minuscule amount compared with dead-tree reading. It just doesn't feel right, especially for fiction. I would note that you can make notes and copying quotes is actually practical (although an argument can be made for hand-copying sections that you really want to sink in). All in all I think it will be awhile before I trade in the bookshelves.