Buying Books in Paper Versus Digital or Web

[kfander]

Someone made a comment in one of the other threads to the effect that no book is worth $20 since you can find whatever you need on the web. This led me to thinking about my own buying/reading habits.

I have a Kindle and I love it, but when I come across something on Kindle that I think will have continuing value beyond one read through, I often buy a printed paper copy of the book. Anything that I am looking at as a reference book, I like to have in a printed book format.

Even setting aside considerations that there may come a time when accessing my Kindle may not be possible, still I prefer a real book to a digital copy of a book.

Kindle is much easier to read than web-based formats, but still I find that it is most useful for novels that I plan on reading once and never going back to, or for reviewing a book prior to buying it in printed format. This is particularly true when it includes essential diagrams or illustrations.

Plus, there is the fact that Amazon.com can remove or modify anything that I have purchased for my Kindle. Although they have not yet done so for anything that I have bought, they have done so.

As for reading anything lengthy on the web, perhaps it's my age, but I can't do it. Although I largely earn my living reviewing web sites and putting web directories together, I find web-based text to be useful for small bits of information only. I've tried reading books online, and it's not something I'll make a habit of. If it's worth reading, I'll buy it in paper format.

What do the rest of you think? Are you concerned that printed books are on the way out?

[Teg]

I prefer paper for leisure reading personally, I think books will be around in paper format for the immediate future, I see magazines and perhaps newspapers going fully electronic first. But, sometime down the road I can see books finally going away and becoming electronic, but I'm not really looking forward to that day myself. :)

[Laura]

Yes.

I can see colleges in the next 10 years eliminating books.
Ditto on public schools.

I love books. I cannot read things online....maybe it's just me. I can't imagine a world, without books.

[Teg]

Agreed, I can see it coming with college text books at a quicker pace, I was thinking on a leisure basis. :)

[MissouriFree]

I have never had or used kindle or such. In fact since I got laid off and had to get a phone this is the first smart phone I have ever had. So in the phone store I played around with a e book device. I read a lot of historical stuff and the ability to look up definition or pronunciation immediately is great
but like was said there are some books you read once and others that are keepers. E books seem ideal for school. Instead of lugging around 30 pounds of engineering text ......wow.


I suspect both will find thier niche.

[kfander]

I review web sites as a part of my living so I'm looking at school web sites frequently, and have come across a couple of school districts that have already announced a switch from printed books to digital. As children learn to read through a Kindle, Sony or another electronic device, the demand for printed books will be less, which will make them more expensive - which in turn will lead to fewer sales. Yes, I see an end to them, but hopefully we'll still have many years of book availability.

[Teg]

but hopefully we'll still have many years of book availability.

I hope so, my Wife wants to pick up the Nook for us as it allows you to share books across the family, so we could share with our Daughters, I'll probably give in soon enough. :)

[maritimemama]

I hope paper books will be around a long time. I love the feel of the real thing for liesure and digital for research, newspapers etc. i work on a computer alot at work and get tired of the screen. What do you think of the kindle/nook/kobo debate? which is best? I heard with nook you can access most library collections which is fine by me. i am an avid reader and have over 1000 books that I love, would hate to give them up. Digital makes sense for school though.

[Nancymw]

I much prefer reading a real book to reading on-line. I guess the trend is going to e-books. (Note the demise of Borders) Schools are using more and more on-line resources and less paper textbooks. I will read on-line but it is much more difficult for me and can only do in short spurts. I love reading and want my paper not electronic! I will never get a Kindle or similar.

[DKR]

Paper books are 80s technology -m 1780s that is.

Last year Amazon sold more ebooks than paper books. E-readers are here to stay. Publishers will be forced into the e-world due to the cost of unsold paper books, if nothing else.

I have paper books, but with my Kindle, I can carry a dozen books - or a ton more...

[Teg]

I have a Nook Color now (the wife had to get fancy and get herself the Nook Tablet) and we purchased the simple touch nooks for our daughters, which we share on a family account so we can all share books and magazines, works very well for us. Tons of free books out there as well, Barnes & Noble and other sites, even the ITunes Store, have quite a collection of free classics for download. I am happy with the e-reader experience myself, reading is reading, and it will keep my magazine piles down to manageable size, I still plan on keeping the occasional autographed copy of my favorite books, but that is about it.

Nevertheless, I have to say to each there own though, there is nothing wrong with sticking with paper books.

Teg

[Laura]

I personally buy books. I do not own an electronic reader.

I have my own 'conspiracy theory' about the 'kindles' and other readers....

I also push "O" to speak to a person. Nothing Automated. I pay my bills with a paper check, and go inside to the lady at the counter at the post office to buy my stamps......

Yeah, I'm old school and like the human touch.

[Teg]

I personally buy books. I do not own an electronic reader.

I have my own 'conspiracy theory' about the 'kindles' and other readers....

I also push "O" to speak to a person. Nothing Automated. I pay my bills with a paper check, and go inside to the lady at the counter at the post office to buy my stamps......

Yeah, I'm old school and like the human touch.

Nothing wrong with that at all. :)

Teg

[momma_to_seven_chi]

Someone made a comment in one of the other threads to the effect that no book is worth $20 since you can find whatever you need on the web. This led me to thinking about my own buying/reading habits.

I have a Kindle and I love it, but when I come across something on Kindle that I think will have continuing value beyond one read through, I often buy a printed paper copy of the book.

We ebay. My daughter even buys her college text books on ebay or another used site. I wouldn't pay twenty dollars for a book be it digital or printed. If you wait a few months it is available for five dollars or less.
I do admit that our bibles cost more than that though because we bought them new. I bought a scofield and a dakes forty years ago for around a hundred each.

[kfander]

As mentioned earlier, I far prefer real books to digital. I use my Kindle a lot, but mostly for books that I would otherwise buy in paperback. When I come across something on Kindle that I find might make a good resource, I often look for it in printed form.

I used to sell a lot of books on Ebay. A few years ago, I could buy the books that the library was getting rid of for five cents apiece, or sometimes for free, and sell them on Ebay. For some reason, books quit selling very well there and it didn't seem worth the bother and cost of putting them up anymore. I have also bought books on Ebay.

There was also a time when I would generally buy used books from third-party sellers on Amazon rather than buying the books new. With Amazon Prime's free shipping plan though, it is most often cheaper, or almost as cheap, to buy them new.

I also have several Bible translations because I find it helpful to check different translations when something is unclear in one. At other times, of course, that just makes things more confusing.

[hdb90]

I like the personal touch also. I also like the feel of a book in my hands. Usually the books I buy are my reference type books that I may want to look things up on later. I have purchased three books through Amazon recently to read on my laptop. They were novels that most likely I will never read again. The laptops a little cumbersom so I will probably buy a kindle. Maybe I will make it to the 21st century.

[kfander]

The Kindle is nice, and well worth the money. There are a lot of good books that can be had for 99 cents or for free, and seldom does a book cost more than nine dollars.

[DavidOH]

I like the Now and Later approach.
Get all the books I can for free now, and add to the list the ones I want to get later when I can afford them, or when the project arises.

Still the best info is what you can store in your head.
Going through books that I don't own at the library (or even the book store)
and gleaning knowledge has been done many times.

[fizzle7033]

I was a long time hold out on the kindle. I too like the feel of books in my hand and was afraid staring at the screen would hurt my head. Franny I'm not sure why I waited so long. The screen uses a different technology than computer monitors, and as a result the screen doesn't blink. It is really like looking at a printed page, plus I can adjust the font so if the font is very small I can enlarge it. I simply love it. Right now I have about 1500 books stored, and I haven't paid for very many of them. With sites like netgalley.com you can get review copies of books for free. Amazon is also working out an arrangement with overdrive which will allow users to borrow books from the library, and if you are an Amazon Prime user you can download one free book per month from the Amazon Lending Library. One of the main reasons I ended up with the Kindle is our local library ended up with bedbugs and I know some people who brought them home in books. No more used books for me!!!

[Teg]

I tear the B&N free download up with my nook, also keep backups on my emergency drive. There are a few other free resources out there for classics, I can also watch netflix on my nook color with the new software patch, if I have a wi-fi signal. :D

[grumble]

Have you rooted your Nook to Android yet? Opens a lot more options than you can get from B&N.

[Teg]

Have you rooted your Nook to Android yet? Opens a lot more options than you can get from B&N.

I have it hooked to my IPhone. :)

[grumble]

Oh, well then, you just don't like lots of options, do ya? <GGG>

Call you "Mr Connected" from now on!

[Teg]

lol, My wife wanted the IPhone, thus we have IPhones, I was happy with my Razer. :) However, if you go to the ITunes store, they have a huge selection of free books that you can download to read on either your phone, nook or kindle. :)

[grumble]

As much as I've been spending on Kindle books for the last six months, I need something cheaper. Those 99c books aren't worth what they cost.

I'll take a gander at the iTunes store.

[fizzle7033]

Please check out netgalley.com all of the books are free there and they have tons!

[grumble]

I sugned up and am giving them a try right now!

[fizzle7033]

It is an awesome site hope you enjoy it. :)

[kfander]

I haven't seen a Nook yet but have a couple of Kindles. The thing I like about the Kindle, as opposed to reading books on my computer, is that the text has the look and feel of ink on paper, sort of an etch-a-sketch look, which is much easier on my eyes than reading on a back-lit computer.

I review web sites for a living and am generally on a computer from the time I get up in the morning until I go to bed at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning, but I have never enjoyed reading long bits of text online. I can do that with a Kindle. I prefer paper, but the Kindle is easy enough on my eyes.

[Teg]

I haven't seen a Nook yet but have a couple of Kindles. The thing I like about the Kindle, as opposed to reading books on my computer, is that the text has the look and feel of ink on paper, sort of an etch-a-sketch look, which is much easier on my eyes than reading on a back-lit computer.

The Nook simple touch has that look more than the color out of the box, we gave my daughters the simple touch models and they love them, but the color and tablet are alright as well and you can adjust your reader to mimic the simple touch screen as well.

As I said I like the fact that i can carry my magazines with me, now I just need BWH to do a B&N version and need some of my gun magazines to get on the ball and offer e-subscriptions over there.

Teg
:yes4:

[kfander]

Yeah, the new Kindle Fire has a back-lit computer feel to it, as well. The Fire has a bunch of other features, but nothing that I can't already get on one of my computers or on my Droid, for that matter. I don't think I'd enjoy reading books on the Kindle Fire, and that's what I buy a Kindle for.

[belect]

do not own an electronic reader. don't plan on getting one either. the closest i'll come to a reader is the audio books i listen to since i'm always on the road between service calls(average day is about 250 miles). you can listen to a lot of books in a week. think i'll always be a paper person. yup, sitting down, next to the pond in the backyard with a book, under the buckeye tree. boy, its a quiet place to read(when i get a chance).

[Teg]

I do the audible books as well, audible.com and itunes, very nice for long trips.

Teg

[kfander]

I do the audible books as well, audible.com and itunes, very nice for long trips.

I do Audible too. Not cheap but it's a nice alternative. I used to actually read books on long drives, but they tell me that's not considered safe anymore...

[grumble]

I got my first two books from netgalley.com. Will start reading them this evening.

I had a heckuva time getting them, not because of any problems with netgalley, but just because I couldn't figure out all the other stuff I had to do to get the download. I think I now have a handle on how the Amazon Kindle process works, but the Adobe Digital format is still a mystery. I think the book downloads to my computer, but I can't find it on my HDD.

[paqcrewmama]

Well, I have a Kindle but it wasn't what I was reaching for when we were out of power for 6+ days after our freaky October snow storm and subsequent power loss.

I had us well-prepared after being without power for 3+ days with Irene this summer. I hit one snag: I bought more lamp oil but didn't realize that paraffin oil is NOT the same as lamp oil. My lamps weren't burning and my modern-day, 21st century, plugged-in to the net brain had me reaching for the internet-WHICH I COULD NOT ACCESS to find the answer. I reached for my cell phone to call a homesteading friend to get the answer, but cell service was horrific to say the least. I managed to finally get through and get the answer but I learned a lesson. When push comes to shove, I can't and shouldn't count on the internet to keep my family safe in a crisis. I have two cold-blast lanterns http://www.lanternnet.com/lanterncare.htm but didn't know how to get them working and cleaned properly either! I wanted to go to the internet but again, I had failed to take into account that the internet is NOT always available (the feds now have authority to take down the net in a national emergency which doesn't reassure me either).

I'm actually increasing the size of my physically available, PAPER book collection that focuses on surviving, homesteading, etc. Mind you, I DO have a Kindle but what will be available to me if/when TSHF in terms of electricity, internet access and such gives me little hope for my Kindle.

[Teg]

I have an extensive paper collection that isn't going anywhere and I backup anything I download to multiple sources so that I have them available, but you are correct about not putting all your eggs in one basket.

Teg

[fizzle7033]

You will need the Adobe Digital Editions software installed to read the gallery items. Then click on the program and you should be able to go into the library from there and read the books. :)

[grumble]

Thanks, fiz. That's what I did, and I just get a blank screen in the Adobe DE. When I try to download the book, I don't know where it goes on my hard drive. I did a search on the title, but that came up empty.

Sigh. Everything is a new learning curve, it seems. I think that to be able to use anything new, you have to be a 15 yo so it seems intuitive. I used to be a wiz at DOS, but I can't understand how to use any of the new stuff.

[kfander]

Yeah, I long for the olden days, when computers were simple... on second thought, I had to write my own programs for the first couple of computers I had.

[grumble]

Egg-zactly. When I had to do everything myself in DOS or Basic, I knew what the computer was doing and where things were going. Now they just do things, and don't tell you what they did, you're just supposed to know. And if "like" and "whatever" aren't part of your common vocabulary, you don't know what's going on.

[Teg]

A nice free tool that I have found is Calibre, it will allow you to manage your books on your PC and also allow you to convert some of those troublesome ebook formats to more compatible versions.

http://download.cnet.com/Calibre/3000-20412_4-10910277.html

[grumble]

I'll sure keep that in mind, Teg. So far, I haven't put many books on the PC or laptop, most go to kindle and nook. I was trying to get the netgalley book on the PC because... well, I really don't know. Just because. <G>

[Teg]

Understood, as I said earlier I keep mine all backed up on my PC, laptop and a few external drives so this helps, also the conversion is nice for those books you can't find in your ebooks format. :)

Teg

[grumble]

The kindle is the fly in the digital ointment. It doesn't like to link up with anything except Amazon. And Amazon says that since they offer the online storage of all the books I buy for it, that I don't have a need to export from the kindle to my own storage.

I'll take a gander at the Calibre program to see it will talk to the kindle. Since I rooted the nook, it seems pretty easy to deal with, so long as I don't try to talk to B&N.

[Teg]

The kindle is the fly in the digital ointment. It doesn't like to link up with anything except Amazon. And Amazon says that since they offer the online storage of all the books I buy for it, that I don't have a need to export from the kindle to my own storage.

I'll take a gander at the Calibre program to see it will talk to the kindle. Since I rooted the nook, it seems pretty easy to deal with, so long as I don't try to talk to B&N.

Yah, I like the B&N and Baen E-Book model, you buy it then the book is yours to download, I don't like the idea that something I purchased is sitting on someone else's server subject to their whims. Calibre should work on the Kindle, it is compatible with dang near everything, I believe.

Teg

[grumble]

Well, I just finished d-loading it, so will find out when I have time (and inclination to fight another learning curve) to play with it.

We'll see what happens!

[Faith123]

I prefer paper. I go through 50 or more books a year. I also havent bought a book in years. I swap books through the mail on www.bookmooch.com (http://www.bookmooch.com) and www.paperbackswap.com (http://www.paperbackswap.com) for the cost of shipping (usually less than $3 a book). Works pretty well if you don't like to keep the books you read, and I can never seem to get to the library.

[Teg]

I prefer paper. I go through 50 or more books a year. I also havent bought a book in years. I swap books through the mail on www.bookmooch.com (http://www.bookmooch.com) and www.paperbackswap.com (http://www.paperbackswap.com) for the cost of shipping (usually less than $3 a book). Works pretty well if you don't like to keep the books you read, and I can never seem to get to the library.

That's a good idea as well, we used to send our paperbacks to our daughters, when we were finished with them, to save them the cost since they have the same basic taste.

Teg

[Teg]

Well, I just finished d-loading it, so will find out when I have time (and inclination to fight another learning curve) to play with it.

We'll see what happens!

I like that I can download the free old books on carpentry gardening and masonry, etc. then convert them to PDF, for my homestead files. :)

Teg

[grumble]

That's a good idea.

I got Calibre installed and all the kindle books transferred to it. Now I guess the next step is to learn how to remove the digital protection so I can use them. Sigh. There's always something else to learn, install, or buy.

[Teg]

lol, yup.

Teg
:yes4: