4 ms·

I agree that they overpriced, although they are of really nice quality. I personally use Muji notebooks, which have a nice paper and sturdy cover/binding while

by GuiA 13y ago

I agree that they overpriced, although they are of really nice quality. I personally use Muji notebooks, which have a nice paper and sturdy cover/binding while being really cheap.

kyro 13y ago
Curious: what does overpriced mean?
- pallandt 13y ago
  I think he's most likely considering the worth of the material that goes into it. For ex. you can buy approx 5 pounds of HP multipurpose paper from Amazon for $6.78 with free shipping (http://www.amazon.com/HP-Multipurpose-Inkjet-Brightness-11200-0/dp/B00005UKAX/ http://www.amazon.com/HP-Multipurpose-Inkjet-Brightness-1120...), while a Moleskine weighs probably under 0.2 pounds, including the covers.
  - phaus 13y ago
    He's probably considering the fact that there are other high-end notebooks that cost the same or less, filled with paper of a much higher quality. Keep in mind that a person's personal preference will play a large role in how that person judges a paper's quality. There's Clairefontaine, Black and Red, Rhodia, Leuchttern, and probably a dozen or so others that I'm not aware of. Some might be a little more expensive than Moleskines, but some of them are much cheaper depending on the size and model you prefer.
- GuiA 13y ago
  My Muji notebooks are $3.5 a piece for 80 white A5 pages, with a solid cardboard cover and a ring binding (which I personally like better than the "traditional" binding). A 192 page Moleskine is $13 - 50% more expensive per page, and they don't have a ring binding. Also Muji is a Japanese brand - the paper works really well with fountain pens, which are common there. Moleskine paper does not fare as well (as fountain pens are rare in the US). Being French (one of the few remaining fountain pen heavy cultures, with Japan and Germany), I still write daily with a fountain pen and deeply enjoy it. Oh and also I'm left handed, and thus write in my notebooks from last to first page (in western order) - since Muji is a Japanese brand, the notebooks are designed to be used in that way. That's a little detail, but I'm a little obsessive :-)
  - kyro 13y ago
    I'm left-handed too, so I'm intrigued by your note taking. So you flip through notebooks 'backwards'? How does that help with any of the problems left-handed people have with writing (eg smudges)?
    - GuiA 13y ago
      It helps in that I don't have the metallic ring spine digging into my hand (I only write on the recto of the pages. I guess I could write from left to right and write on the verso, but that feels weirder). So this is what my notebook looks like: http://i.imgur.com/SSc29KLl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/SSc29KLl.jpg the page flipped over to the right being the previous page, and the page under the one visibly written on being the next page. Sadly, I still have to be careful when I write, otherwise it is a smudge fest (especially with a fountain pen; fortunately, I had a few grade school teachers who taught me how to write with my hand positioned in a way that minimizes smudges)
      - kyro 13y ago
        Update: Just came back from Muji with quite a bit of stationery!
  - kabdib 13y ago
    Agreed; Moleskins are a disaster with a fountain pen.
  - unwind 13y ago
    Your argument about which kind of writing instrument is popular in which country is very interesting, but you seem to think Moleskine is a US company? In fact they're from Italy. Not sure if that changes your reasoning, but it might be worth mentioning since you seem to not be aware of it.
    - GuiA 13y ago
      Hah, TIL. Well, the fact remains that Moleskine paper fares poorly with fountain pens.
hangonhn 13y ago
On Amazon they're $23. Am I looking at the wrong ones? Moleskine $17.
- GuiA 13y ago
  At the store in SF they're a few bucks. Not sure why they're so expensive on Amazon. http://www.muji.us/store/stationery/notebooks/recycled-paper-note-double-ring-a5-plain-80.html http://www.muji.us/store/stationery/notebooks/recycled-paper...
  - keithpeter 13y ago
    I used the B5 stapled recycled paper notebooks (UK store) for some work I did in the year 2000. The paper is a nicely aged light brown with a gradient towards the edge now. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8403291/muji-b5-2000-crop.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8403291/muji-b5-2000-cro... Snap does not show the full gradient but you get the idea. Pages flexible, no cracking or anything. Oddly enough, the pages in the squared version of the notebook are still bright white, no sign of ageing at all.

by GuiA 13y ago

I agree that they overpriced, although they are of really nice quality. I personally use Muji notebooks, which have a nice paper and sturdy cover/binding while being really cheap.

kyro 13y ago

Curious: what does overpriced mean?

pallandt 13y ago
I think he's most likely considering the worth of the material that goes into it. For ex. you can buy approx 5 pounds of HP multipurpose paper from Amazon for $6.78 with free shipping (http://www.amazon.com/HP-Multipurpose-Inkjet-Brightness-11200-0/dp/B00005UKAX/ http://www.amazon.com/HP-Multipurpose-Inkjet-Brightness-1120...), while a Moleskine weighs probably under 0.2 pounds, including the covers.
- phaus 13y ago
  He's probably considering the fact that there are other high-end notebooks that cost the same or less, filled with paper of a much higher quality. Keep in mind that a person's personal preference will play a large role in how that person judges a paper's quality. There's Clairefontaine, Black and Red, Rhodia, Leuchttern, and probably a dozen or so others that I'm not aware of. Some might be a little more expensive than Moleskines, but some of them are much cheaper depending on the size and model you prefer.
GuiA 13y ago
My Muji notebooks are $3.5 a piece for 80 white A5 pages, with a solid cardboard cover and a ring binding (which I personally like better than the "traditional" binding). A 192 page Moleskine is $13 - 50% more expensive per page, and they don't have a ring binding. Also Muji is a Japanese brand - the paper works really well with fountain pens, which are common there. Moleskine paper does not fare as well (as fountain pens are rare in the US). Being French (one of the few remaining fountain pen heavy cultures, with Japan and Germany), I still write daily with a fountain pen and deeply enjoy it. Oh and also I'm left handed, and thus write in my notebooks from last to first page (in western order) - since Muji is a Japanese brand, the notebooks are designed to be used in that way. That's a little detail, but I'm a little obsessive :-)
- kyro 13y ago
  I'm left-handed too, so I'm intrigued by your note taking. So you flip through notebooks 'backwards'? How does that help with any of the problems left-handed people have with writing (eg smudges)?
  - GuiA 13y ago
    It helps in that I don't have the metallic ring spine digging into my hand (I only write on the recto of the pages. I guess I could write from left to right and write on the verso, but that feels weirder). So this is what my notebook looks like: http://i.imgur.com/SSc29KLl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/SSc29KLl.jpg the page flipped over to the right being the previous page, and the page under the one visibly written on being the next page. Sadly, I still have to be careful when I write, otherwise it is a smudge fest (especially with a fountain pen; fortunately, I had a few grade school teachers who taught me how to write with my hand positioned in a way that minimizes smudges)
    - kyro 13y ago
      Update: Just came back from Muji with quite a bit of stationery!
- kabdib 13y ago
  Agreed; Moleskins are a disaster with a fountain pen.
- unwind 13y ago
  Your argument about which kind of writing instrument is popular in which country is very interesting, but you seem to think Moleskine is a US company? In fact they're from Italy. Not sure if that changes your reasoning, but it might be worth mentioning since you seem to not be aware of it.
  - GuiA 13y ago
    Hah, TIL. Well, the fact remains that Moleskine paper fares poorly with fountain pens.

hangonhn 13y ago

On Amazon they're $23. Am I looking at the wrong ones? Moleskine $17.

GuiA 13y ago
At the store in SF they're a few bucks. Not sure why they're so expensive on Amazon. http://www.muji.us/store/stationery/notebooks/recycled-paper-note-double-ring-a5-plain-80.html http://www.muji.us/store/stationery/notebooks/recycled-paper...
- keithpeter 13y ago
  I used the B5 stapled recycled paper notebooks (UK store) for some work I did in the year 2000. The paper is a nicely aged light brown with a gradient towards the edge now. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8403291/muji-b5-2000-crop.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8403291/muji-b5-2000-cro... Snap does not show the full gradient but you get the idea. Pages flexible, no cracking or anything. Oddly enough, the pages in the squared version of the notebook are still bright white, no sign of ageing at all.