Digital ink vs paper - your current thoughts

[pip]

My Daughter had a Galaxy tab & an i pad & I'm sure she could read books on those as well as all the other apps there are on it.

Its one App among many where as e readers are primarily for electronic books. You buy a tablet for different reasons than you buy an e reader such as a kindle is my point

[Antiq]

I don't think there should be a "versus" at all, there's a place for both. If Kindles encourage anyone people to read, I'm all for it, but my personal feeling is that they can't give me this experience -

http://www.curiousexpeditions.org/TRINI ... %28%29.jpg

Like great music and great art, there's a sense of the sacred (for want of a better word - magic maybe?) in the physical thing. It's like the difference between listening to music on your iPod and being at the actual concert, ya know? Besides, books look a lot better on my shelves than a Kindle They also smell nicer.

[Catch-up]

I agree with Antiq, it doesn't need to be one or the other. So far, I just haven't had any interest in buying an e-reader. I don't see myself getting one because reading a lot on a screen bugs me. Of course, maybe then I wouldn't stay up so late reading.

[MerlinPowered]

One thing I will say to those with a tablet/computer using e-Reader software to judge reading books electronically, is that; the digital e-ink screen in the Kindle is a million times easier to read on (and much better for your eyes) than a backlit LCD.

I have both a 9.7" Android tablet with an IPS screen and a Kindle. Besides the obvious battery life difference the screens are not comparable for reading. The next time you are near an electronics store do your self a favour and go and have a look at a Kindle, and then a tablet, and you will see what I am talking about. I am not advocating electronic over paper, but you shouldn't judge the electronic side without at least taking a look at something that specialises in it.

One thing this thread has done is inspire me to take a look around second hand book stores for pTerry books when I am travelling around. As sad as this sounds, other than a few phone calls to check stock; I have never really been in one. And now, I shall shut down my PC and go into hiding.

[serendipnick]

Personally, I'm pretty much pro-ebooks all the way. I used to be very much against them but a few things have changed my thinking. Firstly, when I was in uni we had to read copious numbers of journal articles. There were two choices. One was to go to the library and 1) pray that some jackass hadn't stolen/ misplaced the journal and then b) spend hours photocopying hundreds of pages. The other choice was to download the journal article from the university's virtual library portal. Although I hated studying off a screen at first, I got used to it pretty quickly. So that was strike one for reading stuff off a computer.

Then I moved to Japan. At first it was only going to be one year, so I didn't want to acquire too many books because shipping them back would be a pain. That was four years ago, but I still intend to leave (eventually... probably), so there's still that sense that having too many books would be a liability. And as I have a job which leaves me with a fair bit of having-to-sit-in-the-office-with-nothing-to-do for hours on end, it's easier to read discreetly on my laptop in the office than it would be to whip out a four-hundred-page novel. So that of course is strike two.

Strike three, dorky as this may seem, is the environment. I've become a lot more conscious of paper waste (I cannot believe the volume of paper that is needlessly produced in my office every single day), and I guess I just can't bring myself to encourage the production of books when there are ebooks.

I do love old books with annotations and mysterious underlinings, and there are definitely negative aspects to e-readers/ laptops - books never run out of battery! - but at the end of the day... I guess ebooks just work for me.

[chris.ph]

ebooks are actually cutting our electric bill as ive got a tiny lcd on my kindle instead of turning my bedside lamp on and disturbing rosanna so its good in two ways as she doesnt moan at me to turn my light out when im engrossed

[Who's Wee Dug]

[quote="Merlin"There has been some good natured discussion about digital vs paper over in this thread, which I appear to inadvertently stirred up.

Nope. Take no blame Merlin my dear.... its been raging in almost every thread for some time now but some people bite so easily.....

Oh Pip you should have grabbed the free tablet.... there are some amazing fun games for babies to interact with in apps on tablets.... chasing bugs and making pretty colours with hand movements. It promotes fine motor movement too.

For me .... both. Not even going to argue the point anymore.

And seriously.... you Brits get books SO much cheaper than we Aussies. Rare to find a Terry Pratchett in a second hand store too... the charities are as savvy with their knowledge of books as they are with their china.

Then again... we DO have the Lifeline bookfests at least twice a year for charity in most cities.

bookfest.jpg

[/quote]
Look at all those books.

[The Mad Collector]

And seriously.... you Brits get books SO much cheaper than we Aussies. Rare to find a Terry Pratchett in a second hand store too... the charities are as savvy with their knowledge of books as they are with their china

The second hand book shop next to me has at least a hundred copies of Terrys books at a pound or so each

[pip]

Del - buy your Terry second hand from here
http://www.awesomebooks.com/

They deliver free to Oz if you get two books and the second hand hardbacks and paperbacks are all around two pound

[Del]

And seriously.... you Brits get books SO much cheaper than we Aussies. Rare to find a Terry Pratchett in a second hand store too... the charities are as savvy with their knowledge of books as they are with their china

The second hand book shop next to me has at least a hundred copies of Terrys books at a pound or so each

Lat time I brought a second hand TP book it was $25. Then again it was in a hippy snooty cafe-society part of town But I wanted it so much! I had been all over the net looking for it for months and hadn't found it so I paid.

[Del]

Del - buy your Terry second hand from here
http://www.awesomebooks.com/

They deliver free to Oz if you get two books and the second hand hardbacks and paperbacks are all around two pound

WOW! Passing this one on to the daughter.... where does it say it delivers free to Oz?

[Tonyblack]

Look here, Del.

[Tonyblack]

Del - buy your Terry second hand from here
http://www.awesomebooks.com/

They deliver free to Oz if you get two books and the second hand hardbacks and paperbacks are all around two pound

Thanks for the tip, Pip. I have just ordered a book from them.

[Del]

Look here, Del.

Aus/NZ 5-15 Days £2.99 FREE

Will go look when I have more time and a LIST!

Thanks Pip!

[Del]

booksvkindle.jpg