iPad and Kindle: The demise of the Book

[Crankin]

I am an anachronism.
I have 6-7 magazine subscriptions (Time, The New Yorker, Bicycling, Momentum, plus magazines related to organizations I belong to). I look up words in the dictionary and I occasionally use the phone book, as I find the information on line is wrong many times. I also read the newspaper every single day and not on-line (although I have the on-line connection to the Boston Globe, I never use it).
I go to the library once a week to ten days and take out 2-4 books. I love the library. It's so much part of my life I would never give it up.
So, while I use the computer for research, work stuff, and communication, I will never use it for pleasure reading.

[SheFly]

My name is SheFly, and I have a book problem. No - seriously. I can only read brand new books - not books first read by someone else and then passed to me. Yes, it's strange, but I was taught great respect for books from a young age - no dog-eared corners, no bent spines, no high-lighting, no notations. And yes, this fetish DID include my college textbooks, and yes, that did cost me a lot of money.

I've thought about an e-reader due to the cost of my books (I read A LOT). Buying new books every couple of weeks adds up over time. I figured that the downloadable books might be cheaper.

I just can't get past not having a real book in my hands, though. Turning the pages is gratifying. Oh, and I have read (yes, online) that the backlighting on some of these devices could actually be keeping people awake at night...

I'll keep on with my books until I no longer have an option. That may come in my lifetime, but hopefully not for a few more years.

SheFly

[Crankin]

Come on, SheFly, I'll take you to the library...
I had to train myself to stop buying books. I got obsessed with using picture books to teach historical concepts to my middle schoolers about 15 years ago; they used to greet me by name at Barnes and Noble because I bought so many. Now I have a huge collection that I am saving for some grandchildren that I might never have!

[SheFly]

Come on, SheFly, I'll take you to the library...
I had to train myself to stop buying books. I got obsessed with using picture books to teach historical concepts to my middle schoolers about 15 years ago; they used to greet me by name at Barnes and Noble because I bought so many. Now I have a huge collection that I am saving for some grandchildren that I might never have!

Crankin' - I CAN NOT do the library. Trust me, I've tried. I just can't bear to read a book that someone before me has handled, and in some cases, mis-treated. I know it's weird, but I can't help it.

SheFly

[Selkie]

Crankin' - I CAN NOT do the library. Trust me, I've tried. I just can't bear to read a book that someone before me has handled, and in some cases, mis-treated. I know it's weird, but I can't help it.

SheFly

First and foremost, I sit in front of a computer at work. I'm not going to do it during it during my free time. I don't own an IPOD, BlackBerry, or any of these technical devices.

I'm old fashioned and will stick to paper books as long as they are available.

I'm also like SheFly. New books for me, but if a friend offers me a book that she/he has read, I will take it. When I was part of the working poor, libraries saved my life. This is why, after I finish a book, I donate it to the local library.

For those of us who spend a lot on books and are avid readers, we should consider having a TE book exchange.

[MomOnBike]

I can't imagine not going to the library. That's how I kept my kids in books. As poor as we were, if I'd had to pay for all the books they read. . .

My husband bought me a Kindle last week to take to chemo treatments, and for other on-the-go reading. I love it, but it won't replace my dead tree editions any time soon. Anything with pictures, for instance, is best on paper.

What I do like about the Kindle is being able to buy books from distant places and read them right away. That and the lack of mess. If only my local newspaper were distributed by Kindle (or whatever).

I don't think a Kindle is good for, say, textbooks, or any other reading where you want to keep a finger in one place while consulting a different page. A law student, for instance, would find e-readers highly unsuitable. OTOH, a bike tourer can have a bunch of guide books right there on the Kindle, with a minimal weight penalty.

IOW, there is room for both e-readers and dead tree books. I'm glad I have the option to use the one best suited to the purpose at hand.

[hebe]

My oh has a new Kindle and loves it, he does a lot of travelling and really appreciates the saving on luggage space. As for me, well I like to have a book in my hands, powered by my eyes and my imagination not batteries. I don't mind if it's new, borrowed, from the library or whatever. I do find the light on the Kindle slightly anti-social.

I use hard copies of phone directories too, and have a real fondness for hard-back atlases. I love the tactile qualities of books, the way the pages feel and flick, the shinyness of the photos, the smell of some of them. I'm a lost cause. oh didn't even need to ask me if I wanted his old e-reader before putting it on ebay.

[Dannielle]

Guilty. I haven't bought an actual book since I got my iphone (over a year ago). I read constantly but always on my phone now.

[stella2]

I didn't think that I'd like ereading. My partner persuaded me to get a kindle and I quickly came to love it. I then became convinced that I would never want an Ipad and would definitely never read books on one because the computer type screen would make my eyes ache. Well, you've guessed it, I now have an iPad. It is with me virtually all the time and I read books on it voraciously, I read much more than I ever did. I admit I prefer ereading to reading paper books. It's difficult to say why. I never put the book down and forget where, I never lose my place, I can have any book available within seconds wherever I am, but it's more than that, an intangible something. Apparantly, sales of electronic books are going through the roof. Hopefully, all of this won't mean the demise of the publishing houses since there will be an ever increasing market for ebooks. It will just mean some changes in the industry.

[OakLeaf]

Oh, and I have read (yes, online) that the backlighting on some of these devices could actually be keeping people awake at night...

True of computers and game consoles, but ereaders aren't backlit. That's why they're so much more readable than ordinary screens. (It's also why I find it a real PITA to have to have a second device, aka a book light, to read in the dark.)

[Catrin]

I have had several digital readers, but always wind up selling it and returning to books. There just isn't any comparison. It is nice that they have the e-ink technology and that they are not back-lit, but I enjoy actual books more. If they DO go away, it won't be in our lifetime.

[Mr. Bloom]

My name is SheFly, and I have a book problem. No - seriously. I can only read brand new books - not books first read by someone else and then passed to me. Yes, it's strange, but I was taught great respect for books from a young age - no dog-eared corners, no bent spines, no high-lighting, no notations. And yes, this fetish DID include my college textbooks, and yes, that did cost me a lot of money.

SheFly

Like shefly, I can only read new books...but mine have to be hardback too! There's something about the smell of a paperback that bothers my allergies. I buy hardbacks and then donate them when I'm done.

I'm typing this on an iPad...but haven't taken to reading books on here...the light of the screen has a tendency to keep me awake when I'm ready to sleep, I can't risk dropping it from an exercise bike at the Y, and i can't dog ear the page as my bookmark

[OakLeaf]

Survey says: e-reader owners read more. A lot more. They switch off their other devices (TV and internet) and read...

[Catrin]

Survey says: e-reader owners read more. A lot more. They switch off their other devices (TV and internet) and read...

Interesting results, even though the companies sponsoring the study certainly had a vested interested in the results. I find it especially interesting that apparently iPad users spend more time reading newspapers than books. I wonder why?

Eventually I am going to replace the Sony digital reader I gave to my sister with either another Sony, a Kindle, or an iPad - so I would be interested in knowing why the significant difference in the use of the iPad. Of course the latter is the most expensive option - and it really isn't comparing apples and apples. To me, the iPad is a really large Touch...

I don't really trust Amazon not to abandon their Kindle users like they did their earlier eReader audience - but I don't really care for the glossy screen of the touchscreen Sony Digital Reader (it is pretty much perfect outside of that).

[ridebikeme]

I love to read like many of you here, but do NOT see myself buying either an Ipad or kindle. I will only read books that I can have in my hands simple as that. I have 8-9 magazine subscriptions, and love to look back through them months after I read them. And, like many of you, I do go to the library every week and bring a couple of books home that way as well, in addition to buying books(hardback)from time to time. I also send cards for special occasions and letters... not always email. I like to have the interaction that they generate, emails for me are simply a connection that generally give information without any personal contact. You may know my usename, but do you truly "know" me? AS you can see, I am very much old school.

With that said, I would NOT read more if I had either a kindle or Ipad... I already shut the tv off and read to relax or recover from a hard ride.

Computers are great for many things, but they also have been great at eliminating jobs everywhere and will continue to do so. Personally I like the fact that I can walk into a shop, DRs office and people know me and know background information as well. I enjoy the one on one contact and the conversation that it generates.