3 ms·

I went digital for a while, but switched back to print. What I found was, ebooks aren't that much less expensive. Possibly more expensive, in that I don't beli

I went digital for a while, but switched back to print. What I found was, ebooks aren't that much less expensive. Possibly more expensive, in that I don't believe the amount of money I have spent on e-readers, amortized over all the ebooks I have bought, works out to a lower price than what I'd have spent on print copies of the same set of books. And, even if I dis save some money, the fact remains that I just don't enjoy the e-reader experience as much. I love browsing books at a physical bookstore, I love reading the staff recommendation cards, looking at what the book clubs are reading, etc. I love the physical experience of turning the page, I love how much crisper and more readable the paper is, I love the smell of the paper, etc. The only bit I hated was how much space the books take up, and how annoying they are to deal with when I'm moving. And at some point I hit on the solution to that problem: Pass 'em on. By the time I get to the last page of a book, I already know if there's a good chance I'll want to read it again. If there isn't, why hold on to it? That one realization reduced the size of my book collection by maybe 90%. Thanks to the magic of used bookstores, I was even able to turn them into more books I hadn't read yet. I've still got the e-reader, but nowadays it's mostly fed by Humble Bundles.

tzs 8y ago
Another win for physical books, at least for me, is that I generally find vague searching to be faster in physical books. By vague searching I mean searching for something where I don't remember enough exact phrases or low frequency words from it to use an electronic search. With a physical book I often remember the approximate physical location within the book of what I'm looking for, and often nearby things to further help with the search. For instance, I might remember that the equation I'm trying to find was on a left hand page around 40% into the book, with the right hand page having a plot of some function that was growing logarithmically. I can then quickly flip through the book and find it. I don't get that physical sense of location within the book when reading e-book.
mmt 8y ago
> Thanks to the magic of used bookstores, I was even able to turn them into more books I hadn't read yet. For me, that's the primary reason ebooks don't appeal to me: they always cost much more, despite the fact that I don't mind reading on devices I already own (e.g. smartphone). I almost never buy new, never buy hardback, and I (re-)sell on the used market frequently enough that the average net cost of a physical book is significantly lower.
- ahartmetz 8y ago
  It's funny how you buy a physical copy, but license very limited rights with an electronic copy.
Mediterraneo10 8y ago
> What I found was, ebooks aren't that much less expensive. Ebooks are that less expensive, because they are mostly free now: ebook filesharing communities like LibGen (part of the Sci-Hub universe) have had 95% of what I want to read. I own a Kindle and read voraciously, but I have never had to actually pay for an ebook. With cost savings like that, it is hard to go back to paper except for a very few genres (such as poetry, for me at least) where the physical artifact is an important part of the experience.

tzs 8y ago

Another win for physical books, at least for me, is that I generally find vague searching to be faster in physical books. By vague searching I mean searching for something where I don't remember enough exact phrases or low frequency words from it to use an electronic search. With a physical book I often remember the approximate physical location within the book of what I'm looking for, and often nearby things to further help with the search. For instance, I might remember that the equation I'm trying to find was on a left hand page around 40% into the book, with the right hand page having a plot of some function that was growing logarithmically. I can then quickly flip through the book and find it. I don't get that physical sense of location within the book when reading e-book.

mmt 8y ago

> Thanks to the magic of used bookstores, I was even able to turn them into more books I hadn't read yet. For me, that's the primary reason ebooks don't appeal to me: they always cost much more, despite the fact that I don't mind reading on devices I already own (e.g. smartphone). I almost never buy new, never buy hardback, and I (re-)sell on the used market frequently enough that the average net cost of a physical book is significantly lower.

ahartmetz 8y ago
It's funny how you buy a physical copy, but license very limited rights with an electronic copy.

Mediterraneo10 8y ago

> What I found was, ebooks aren't that much less expensive. Ebooks are that less expensive, because they are mostly free now: ebook filesharing communities like LibGen (part of the Sci-Hub universe) have had 95% of what I want to read. I own a Kindle and read voraciously, but I have never had to actually pay for an ebook. With cost savings like that, it is hard to go back to paper except for a very few genres (such as poetry, for me at least) where the physical artifact is an important part of the experience.