I love books, but the last three dozen I’ve read have either been on my Kindle or my phone.
This is sometimes true, mostly for public domain works, i.e. those published before Jan. 1, 1923.
That leaves a gigantic number of books published between 1923 and today which are not available at all electronically or available only for a high price in incredibly shoddy transfers. Used books beat electronic ones for several million of these in-betweeners, and probably will for the next generation or two.
But you can’t reproduce the original font and leading and page size and layout and all the other things that book designers learned to do over decades to improve the reading experience and customize a book to its content.
I don’t understand how people can be so indifferent to that, even totally ignorant that it exists. Ebooks are much too young and immature to be good technology. Their faults are so obvious to book lovers that I’m genuinely puzzled by the denial. It’s as if people suddenly started carrying transistor radios around, proclaiming that their convenience makes the 90% loss of fidelity worth it.
Books. I volunteer at a resale that allows us to take the books, read them, then return them for free. So, I can have a gazillion out at one time and it doesn’t matter. And since my reading abilities have slowed considerably, keeping up with just a few at a time is preferable anyway. No need for forty options at one time anymore.
You left a choice out: Smartphone, although I guess it and a tablet are pretty closely related. I have the Kindle app installed on my phone and love the convenience of pulling it out of my pocket anand reading something when I have a little downtime.
Reading on a tablet has many advantages - less weight, travel convenience, enlarging text, searching for definitions - while books have only one major pro for me, aka “mouthfeel”. Logically, tablets win . . . but I’m a very sentimental person, so I still have a slight preference for books.
And I can’t imagine reading a whole novel on a phone. Maybe you guys have bigger phones than me (or better vision), but wouldn’t you only see a fraction of a page at a time?
Tablet is much…much nicer. But I still read books due to lack of option.
I hate reading on a tablet. Real books for me.
I’m also a bit of a book hoarder. Every few years I run out of room and need to build a new bookshelf. I’m starting to run out of places to put bookshelves.
No, I see whole pages. You can adjust size and font settings, so the number of words on a page will vary, but the page size is the same as the screen size. I don’t have to scroll, I just tap the page to move on to the next one.
Ask yourself: Do I *really *need food and dishes? 
I don’t have any e-reader at the moment (not even a smartphone), but I’ll probably get one eventually.
I’m uneasy about the fact that Amazon can delete books from your Kindle without at least notifying you. http://io9.gizmodo.com/5317703/amazon-secretly-removes-1984-from-the-kindle
Granted, in the cases mentioned, there was a legal problem with the rights. Even so, it’s a bit unsettling.
This. I really don’t want to carry two devices if at all possible. I’ve already “lost” two cellphones, as well as a camera (left them someplace accidentally, then when I went back to get them, they were gone).
Any books I get from Amazon get downloaded to the computer(no Wifi) then loaded on the Kindle.
That way, I have a backup where Amazon can’t get at it.
I am assuming e-book readers = tablet for this poll? My Kindle is really the ONLY way I read books anymore (btw, the other main benefit of ebook readers being that I don’t have to desperately try to find space for more physical books). I mostly read on my train ride to and from work and carrying a Kindle is far easier than the massive books I tried to read one handed (I’m esp thinking of the Song of Ice and Fire books) while holding a pole.
In addition, it’s a fantastic reading experience on e-ink, and really easy to start reading a new book when I’ve finished a previous one. The front-lit light also allows for comfy reading without a separate light (it doesn’t tire your eyes like backlit screens).
The benefits just completely outweigh any downsides for me (the only one that comes to mind is that it is more difficult to go and forth in a book those times you want to check something from a few chapters back). All of my friends know that if they get me a paper book, I’m not going to read it. It’s Kindle version or nothing for me these days.
No, the pricing situation is more complex. I’ve certainly seen examples where kindle editions are cheaper than used book because the used is so rare. In general I find this is more likely to be true of academic works, where the publisher will have an interest in kindle and the original book is out of print.
There is no one perfect font and layout for a book. Every edition will have its own quirks and layout, determined mostly by what’s cost effective, not what’s most appealing. Otherwise every book would be leather bound with ribbon place marks.
This remark is like asking how people can bear to read paperbacks because they don’t have the nice hardback layout. Different editions have different layouts that are adapted to the different presentation.
It’s simply incorrect to claim that the original layout is always the best for all readers. This is doubly true because kindles let the reader adjust font size, kerning, margins and line spacing to a personal choice. No it won’t look precisely identical to any specific text version - but it may well be more legible.
I always use books, but I do own a tablet.
I only carry one device, my phone. And in nearly 20 years of owning cell phones, I’ve never lost one. I’ve managed to hold on to each one long enough for it to become obsolete.
I’m considering my smartphone equivalent to a tablet for purposes of this conversation.
Both have their place in my life. E-books are much easier to deal with while out and around, filling travel or wait time. However, I don’t like the prospect of risking damaging my phone while soaking in the tub, so hard-copy books are good for that. Also, something with a lot of illustrations, such as how-to materials, doesn’t do well on a screen that small (neither does sheet music) for my vision, so I need print for that.
I only use books. I don’t like tablets or e-books.
If only. One of my favorite books, maybe my all-time favorite, is Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge. I’ve got a first edition, a Pocket Library, and a Penguin copy. By far the best layout is the Pocket Library version. The original is nothing special, the Penguin saves pages by removing most breaks so each page is a wall of text. Yes, some of my Kindle books have poor layouts or formatting, but so do some of my print books; it’s a crap shoot nowadays.
I prefer books but mostly use a tablet, as I do a lot of my reading on the go. I read my books safe at home, the e-books everywhere else.
I don’t think this has been brought up yet.
I like owning books. I like putting them on the shelf or taking one off the shelf. I like what it does to a room. I like organizing them in my own little fashion. I like to see all my biographies lined up by subject, likewise the novels sorted by author surname. I like how the string of John Irving books look together, and how I have a sub-group of rock and roll biographies. I like how that skinny book is squeezed between two behemoths. I like how it looks to create a horizontal stack here and there.
I like owning books.
mmm
Tablet, 100%. Now and then I buy a dead-tree book, and it’s such a pain to deal with them that they usually end up unread. I love having my full library at all times. I love being able to buy books instantly. I love not having piles of books in the house.