Electronic books, YECH!

[Newtonium]

OK, I confess it now, I am not addicted to having the latest technology. I have a 2-year-old computer, no cell phone, no Blackberry, no iPod. The basic reason is that I also have no money, but also I am just not that impressed or excited by the latest technology. I can see where having a cell phone can be a convenience, but how is a BlackBerry better than a date book? I seem to lack the gene that makes everyone else immediately get addicted to whatever the newest gizmo is.

But I really dislike electronic books. My uncle's wife has one and thinks it's the best thing since Jesus invented sliced bread. She was showing it to me and thought it was awful! The screen had no contrast so it was really tiring on my eyes, the thing was uncomfortable to hold and if you turned it the wrong way you couldn't see anything but glare, and I just kept thinking, what happens when the batteries wear out? And how do you mark your page?

So of course today I'm reading a magazine that declares that electronic books have already won the battle against printed ones. I think that's a bit hyped, but I can see the younger generation glomming onto the e-gizmo, and I hate the thought. I do not want a "book" that can run out of juice, that I can't see half the time, that I can't walk to my study and lay hands on immediately, without searching through acres of folders. So my reaction was, BLECH! Is it just me, or is anyone with me on this?

[bluelikejazz]

apparently princeton university does. I've never tried one.

[r2mnot]

I prefer a trashy paperbacks to ebooks. You can fold down pages, leave them open and set them anywhere, you can spill coffee on them they will usually dry out, and best of all, if you forget/lose them it's no big deal.

[olga]

Another vote for books. I like the feel of paper and the musty smell of old books, and finding bits of paper and movie stubs in old books. During this recession, our library has been busier than ever before. People do take out DVDs and audio books, but real books still rule.

olga

[nalgas]

I like books a lot and have plenty of shelves covered with and boxes full of them (and would never be as mean to them as r2 is), but I have no problem with reading stuff in electronic form. I've read entire books on my computer as long ago as probably 1995 and never minded a bit. Depending on the specific gadget, I have no problem with handheld devices, either (and the battery running out is really not an issue with the newer ones, since the screen uses so little power that it'll run for a couple weeks on a charge). I really, really appreciate being able to search within them easily, copy and paste quotes, and change the font and size to suit whatever I'm reading it on.

That said, you'll never take away my crates full of 1960s/70s sci-fi paperbacks I got from my uncle when I was a kid (mountains and mountains of Heinlein and Asimov and good stuff like that), or the shelves of all sorts of stuff ranging from textbooks and treatises to poetry and plays. And some comic books for good measure. After all, I'm the guy who went to Poland with my dad when I was 12, and the "souvenir" I brought home was a hundred-year-old book of examples of initials in centuries-old manuscripts that I found in an antique book store while we were wandering around (and we have one of the best ones framed and on the wall (which was easy enough to do, because the book itself is loose and not bound)).

[wondernut]

BOOKS!!!! ..I will always read books

and also while you are here listening ...I miss album covers badly

I carry a date book too paper (but I do use the email date reminders as back up!

I feeling these things in your hands adds to the enjoyment

my baby sister adores her Kindle (I think that is what it is called) she thinks books make clutter and this is easier for her

we are from two differing planets this child I love and myself

[withing]

I'm gonna have to say that I'm middle of the road here. I love books, always have, always will, but i like ebooks too. I don't have a gizmo too read them 'cause I can download them on my laptop and read them there, but I don't mind reading on the screen as much as I did before. As long as I remember to look away every once and a while I can keep the headaches at bay. I get headaches from reading printed books too btw.

Anyway, ebooks take up a lot less space, and sometimes they're way cheaper than printed books (free for those in the public domain) and once I'm done with a book, I can either store to be read again later or delete it. No wasted paper.

Nothing will ever take the place of curling up with a nice book on a lazy day, but for convenience sake, I like ebooks just as much as I like printed books. That being said, I would *never* waste my money on something that *only* reads books. It would have to do more than that for me to throw away a couple hundred bucks.

But I hear that Amazon's Kindle accesses the internet, has a navigator, and does some other nifty things. Still not worth the price their asking for it, but not a single tasker either.

[Ophelia]

I prefer the touch and feel of a *real* book in my hands. To me, it is just something that cannot be replaced. You can't feel and turn a page on a computer.

[gizmo]

I have some sort of weird neurological/vascular issue with my arms in which if my arms/hands are positioned in the same way for too long for any reason (typing on the computer, sitting on the couch watching tv, reading a book in bed), the area where the pressure is and on down will go completely numb. And it happens fast - like less than 10 minutes. We are talking can't feel it as though the body part is cut off and you can't move it even it you wanted to.

The problem gets worse when I try to read a book, especially hardback, because the weight of the book speeds this process up.

So for the past three years I read all my books on a PDA. Now, I read my books on a Sprint Smartphone (ironically, I don't have cell phone service through sprint any more, but I still use the phone to read my books, lol). The device is so light that my arms and hands fall asleep much less quickly, so I have a chance to move around before it happens to me.

The ebook is litterally a lifesaver for me. I probably would not be able to read books without the technology.

It has some drawbacks. Yes, sometimes I have to tilt the screen to avoid glare, but my screen is much smaller than the screens the OP is talking about. Many people couldn't read on the 2 1/2" by 3 1/2" screen I use, but I'm so used to it, and the font size is adjustable, so I don't have any problems.