E-Readers or Paperbacks?

About ten years ago I moved interstate. At the time I couldn't fit everything I owned on board our transport, so one of the things that was sacrificed was my rather large book collection, somewhere in the realm of 300 - 400 novels. Sold them off, donated them, gave them away, long story short they were gone.

Each house I have lived in since hasn't really had the room for an extensive library of books, and wanting to get with the times, about a year ago I bought an E-Reader. Nothing flash, just enough to store a few novels and something to read. What I liked about it was the fact you could have a digital library, and swap in and out books of your choosing without the need for all the space. It was also easier to track down hard to find titles online than it was endlessly searching book stalls and garage sales on the weekend.

Having moved recently into a new house though, one of the rooms is what I call a "through room." It has two doors, right in the middle of the house, and is really too small to be used as a bedroom. I think the previous owners used it as a pantry, but as the kitchen has one, and I'm not at the mass food stockpiling stage just yet, I decided this would be my library room. A week and a lot of wood later, I set out to the garage sales, and have been slowly growing my collection of books since.

I got to sit down with a book recently, and I have to say, having the paper in your hands has a kind of warmth you don't get with an E-Reader. Sure, it has mass benefits as I said, but at the end of the day, sitting in front of the fire reading a well-worn paperback is something I really have missed.

So what do you prefer? The endless pages and easy storage of an E-Reader, or the worn, sometimes musty pages of a paperback?

reply to post by 74Templar


Paper if it's cheaper to buy paper than the e-book.
Paper if it's a reference book. If TSHF I would need the physical books, right?
Paper if I love it.

If it's free, chunk it on the Kindle.
Never heard of the author, chunk it on the Kindle.

That's the way I'm working it. But, I own something like 700-1000 physical books. It's a trial to house them, and I've given away literally thousands. E-books can be a blessing!

Man I just love books and I have a closet full & many more in boxes in storage & about a ton of comic books. I have a Nook tablet (which im useing now to surf the net) and I have yet to read one book on here. I have nothing against e readers what so ever, I just like to have a book in hand. Pity you had to sell all your books, I bet you had some gems in your collection.

reply to post by 74Templar


I'm still undecided.

We travel a lot therefore our space is limited. I got the Kindle for Christmas and really do enjoy it [black/white being as I use it outdoors].

However, that being said, I still have a few of my favorites in regular book form, and I do miss the feel of a good book.

So I figure, why not have both? It's cool being able to look up books on the kindle where as I might not other wise. Plus, they do have some hell of a deal for $1-$3 per book. Can't beat that!!!

Ive used various devices to read books since some of the first Windows Ce devices, I still remember an Ipaq I had fondly.

Mainly because it was filled to the brim with books, I read at a ridiculous rate, and if I had to carry all those paper backs around Id never get anywhere.

once I went digital I never went back.

Currently using an Ipad 3 as my current reader, I have a kindle for when I travel, (dont want to damage or lose the ipad) but the ipad is my main reader.

I'm reading books on my tablet now for accesseabilty reasons. I only have one hand and can't turn pages or hold the book open. It's just easier for me or I would prefer paperbacks or a good hard cover book.

I like them both.

But I must say that I do value books (paper) that give a educational content. The FireFox series are my favorites.

Novels rotate through my house on a regular basis.

Most are now in Iraq or Afghanistan.

reply to post by Ameilia


I was always thinking that, same as if the electricity goes out, I still have something to read. Alright the Kindle will run, but only as long as the battery lasts. In addition, you can't get the files off the computer if there is no power to retrieve them...

At the moment I have about 150, the room will hopefully hold close to a thousand when full. Plus it looks really cool.

reply to post by TopherWayne

It has always been something I regretted, but I have replaced most of them in e-format. At one stage I had everything by Clive Cussler and Tom Clancy, a ton of reference books on aircraft from the 80s, and almost all of the Forgotten Realms/Dragonlance TSR series. It's the reference books I miss the most, ok they're like 20 years out of date, but they were always good to read.

reply to post by snarky412


I tend to agree, it's really the best of both worlds. I just hadn't read a proper paperback in quite a few years, and there's a warmth you can't describe holding paper.

I don't think there's any loss to the actual reading experience with digital. If it's a good read, then it works. You soon forget the physical form of the delivery.
Personally, I love the printed form, especially older books. But since I've owned a Kindle I've discovered a whole heap of excellent reads that I just wouldn't have found in traditional book stores. It's a catch 22 I'm afraid.
As an author, the scariest part is that now books are heading the same way music is. However, also having been a metal musician for over ten years previously, it's one thing to be able to reach a new audience and thus drive up live sales to compensate for lack of record/cd sales, but as an author if you reach the wider audience there's nothing in return. Financially speaking anyway.
Philosophically speaking a writer can enjoy his or her work being read across the globe with today's technology, but then the percentage of people that actually paid for the work is minute.
I know for a fact you can download a library in less than five minutes that would be worth close to $100 000 dollars in print form completely free. So my concern is... what will drive future authors to create masterpieces that help shape the psyche of the world in years to come?
That's where things get tricky I reckon....

Paper back all the way. I can read them anywhere and the battery doesn't run out. And I simply despise some ebook formats.

I recently had the option of paying $9.99 for an ebook, or $30 for the same book in paperback. Went out and got the book. I tend to lose files a lot, god knows how but time and time again I either wipe windows and forget something, or just forget where it is and it's gone.. lost some precious photos that way

Book book book. Although I am partial to audio books. If they're read by a good enough speaker. The dexter books were spoken by someone who I am positive had seen the tv show before it aired. Or the writer just has the knack of relaying personality traits in such detail, that it comes across no matter what.

Plus, I just hate holding the 10" tablet to read. Browsing is ok.. but books are different.

reply to post by Cyberdaz


Have a gander at the DNL format. It's disgusting in how hard it tries to protect it's content.

I actually used a ram hex editor to extract the entire content of an ebook from that format. Lost all thye formatting, images.. so I wrote a small application to scan the ram and detect jpeg format images.

After all that mucking around, I realised specific headers in the text were missing...

I ended up buying the book. lol. I don't see it really going as all out as music did. With music if you can hear it, you can copy it. With a book, sometimes the text alone does not give you the full experience.

Especially one with diagrams and references to tables etc...

I just like to read so I'll grab whatever is handy. I tend to like my iPad when I'm reading big books. It's easier to carry around. Paper is good when I'm winding down for the night and want to rest my eyes.

Our local library now loans out e-books, you log onto their "new" website, and using your already valid library card, you can download any book in their collection. It "expires" after the 2 week limit, so they have found a unique way around piracy. I haven't tried it out yet, but will soon.

I love reading "e-books", both on my laptop or smart phone. (No tablet yet )

I love reading "real" books as well.

But, for example, when the new John Carter movie came out recently, I wanted to go back and re-read the series before going to see the movie. My library was severely lacking in the complete series, and it would've taken me weeks to get them all through inter-library loans. However, there are two Edgar Rice Burroughs fansites that I found "e-copies" at. I'd forgotten how classic Burroughs was. I was tempted to snatch the whole Tarzan series as well, but refrained, bookmarking the links for future use.

There's NOTHING like curling up with a book, a good paper book. However, this is the digital age, so it's only natural to archive everything published into electronic format.

I also solved the storage problems by dropping off huge boxes of books at my parent's house for storage, and also at my brother's. I also have taken several to the second hand bookstore for credit. I have books stashed everywhere, that I've already read. The ones I haven't read yet are stocked on the living room shelves, and I'll pull one out every now and then and devour it in one night.

Book storage was the only problem I've run into, not enough space to shelf them all. The e-format seems to take care of that. I have about 7-9 books I dumped onto my smartphone, read a couple of them, and will wait until later to read the others. There are times when I'm stuck in a line or waiting at the doctor's office that I pull it out and read a few chapters. E-books save space.

There's nothing like a real book to curl up with! I buy most of them at second hand stores or yard sales for cheap. I donate a lot of them to the poor. I trade some with others.

I prefer a book - and I agree with those of you who said there is a feeling of warmth and comfort you get from it. The kindle seems so "clinical".

Although, the instant gratification of being able to download something new to read at any time is a big plus.

reply to post by Maluhia


It's become a convenience. You can elect to download, or not.

To know I can search a database for a book I want to read, one I've heard about here on ATS, one that other members recommend, and to be able to read it after a trivial pause during the download, well, that just makes sense.

Often there ARE links given to the e-book version, so kudos for that.

I could start a used book store out of my home with 1200+ books. I love the feel of my actual books. I love being surrounded by books. I have a kindle and never use it.

Reference books, cookbooks, how-to and the classics I have are all hardbound. My wife and I donated all of our paperbacks and use the kindle fire. I love the fact that I can be on ATS and have someone comment on a book and with a couple of finger taps I'm reading that book. I agree with the person who said reading on a 10" tablet is a pain I love my 7" kindle fire except when I outside in the sun I'll be purchasing an e-ink kindle soon.

Thanks everyone for the replies.

It would seem there is no clear winner here, and given the benefits of both, there is no real reason why you can't have both.

I guess at the end of the day too, it is so good to see, in an age of Playstation Vs. XBox Vs. Cable TV Vs. The Internet, that people still read regardless of the format.

I will continue to collect paperbacks and e-novels, and continue to read as always. Any less than four books a month is a waste IMO.