# Would you rather turn a page or press a button when reading a book? Poll **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 19, 2007, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-turn-a-page-or-press-a-button-when-reading-a-book-poll/427039 "2007-11-19T15:34:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-turn-a-page-or-press-a-button-when-reading-a-book-poll/427039/41 "2007-11-21T05:57:40Z")
For recreational reading and dictionaries, I think e-books are far superior. I can’t carry around a dictionary all the time, let alone several. Even a single paperback is thicker and bulkier than a decent e-book. For textbooks, academic articles and other technical writing, I find it helpful to be able to mark it up and write in the margins. I don’t think any e-book reader currently offers that option (unless you use Acrobat on a tablet PC), but once that’s possible, I can see myself switching to e-books for all types of books. If the Kindle were under $200 I’d have bought it yesterday. At $400 I’m hesitating - especially since I already have a new tablet PC on order. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-turn-a-page-or-press-a-button-when-reading-a-book-poll/427039/42 "2007-11-21T11:38:09Z")
I’d do a bit of both - I like paper books, but I can see that there would be times when it would be convenient to have a decent ebook reader (I think Sony’s offering is better than the Amazon one, but I’m not sure either are actually good enough for me yet) - It would be fantastic not to have to keep paper manuals and documentation for all my stuff, and it would be great for reference works like dictionaries - I’d even use it for recreational reading on journeys and so on. I’d like voice-activated page turning and searching too - I wouldn’t use it very often, but there are times when you’re trying to assemble something with both hands and leaf through the manual at the same time - being able to leave the manual on the desk and talk to it would be interesting. But I won’t be investing in one of these until a more open solution comes out - I like the idea of being able to buy my eBooks online with no fuss, I just don’t see why I should be tied to one vendor. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-turn-a-page-or-press-a-button-when-reading-a-book-poll/427039/43 "2007-11-21T12:07:06Z")
I like real dead tree books but am slavering for a good e-reader. However I expect major savings on any e-book over the retail price. I can buy a £10 novel in dead tree format for £6.99 from Amazon and I would not expect to pay more than a fiver for the e-version. Otherwise it’s no deal, particularly if the reader costs a giant wedge. ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-turn-a-page-or-press-a-button-when-reading-a-book-poll/427039/44 "2007-11-21T12:20:22Z")
[QUOTE=scr4] For textbooks, academic articles and other technical writing, I find it helpful to be able to mark it up and write in the margins. I don’t think any e-book reader currently offers that option (unless you use Acrobat on a tablet PC), but once that’s possible, I can see myself switching to e-books for all types of books. . [/QUOTE] The Rocket ebook I described allows annotation, bookmarking and has a built-in dictionary. You simply select your word and query for definition. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-turn-a-page-or-press-a-button-when-reading-a-book-poll/427039/45 "2007-11-21T13:02:35Z")
[QUOTE=Dante] I have thousands of ebooks on my computer at home and I read them from my PDA. I’d love to have something slightly larger, but I’m not going to spend +$300 for it. Make a sub $100 ebook reader and I’m on board. [/QUOTE] I dont have that extensive a E library yet [if I had unlimited time, a scanner and good OCR software I could slap my 5000 or so books into mobipocket, but at this point in time I get my books offline. yay webscriptions, fictionwise, project gutenberg etc!] I read previously on a series of palm platforms [hm, palm 500, palm 3 and treo 600 and 650] but now have a new moto 9m, and it is da bomb. I can go online, i have music, books a couple rock videos and a movie on my micro sd chip, and am thinking of getting a couple more micro sd chips so i can have a small stockpile of movies for it! Now if only they could make a moto 9m play world of warcraft… although if they just had a chat program that would let me log into guild chat I would be thrilled! ---
**Author:** ![Lunar\_Saltlick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@Lunar\_Saltlick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lunar_Saltlick)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-turn-a-page-or-press-a-button-when-reading-a-book-poll/427039/46 "2007-11-21T13:28:45Z")
Give me a real book every time, for the reasons everyone listed above. I’m currently reading \*Dracula \* in e-book format, and I’d much rather have it in print. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-turn-a-page-or-press-a-button-when-reading-a-book-poll/427039/47 "2007-11-21T13:45:39Z")
I prefer real books. I have a couple of first edition collections that I enjoy, so I’m already biased in favor of page and cloth. I really don’t like reading off a screen for too long. At my job, when I have to edit a document, I’ll print it off and work on it hard copy. Later I might type in the edits, but it’s easier for me to process reading off a page. I also read the daily paper rather than get my news off the computer. I can’t see myself resorting to e-books. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-turn-a-page-or-press-a-button-when-reading-a-book-poll/427039.md?page=2)