E-books

[Albertosaurus Rex]

I was wondering what everyone's feelings on e-books are. For myself, even though e-books might be the future, I just don't like them. I do see the upsides - no more books going out of print, the ability to take lots of books with you on your e-reader, not having to worry about damaging paperbacks.

However, I need to be able to hold a book, touch it, and display it on my booksehelf after reading it. Just glancing over my bookself brings back memories of all the books on it.

If e-books were to replace physical books in the future, I would buy them. But as long as I can get paper books, I'm not making the switch.

[Manephelien]

I'm not making the switch yet either, but for some applications the advantages are obvious, especially if the reader has a search function.

[Nuytsia]

I don't think I'll be shelling out the money for yet another piece of electronic equipment any time soon (and it's not nice trying to read a novel on your normal laptop!)
But the search could be good, yes! (especially for those of us who love to find things mentioned on forums!)

[Liquid Ice]

For text books and learning, sure they could help when at school.

But for the causal reading no. I like to lay on my bed and put my feet up the wall and you know... just move alot. Computers aren't good at that

[Albertosaurus Rex]

For text books and learning, sure they could help when at school

That's actually a rather good suggestion. Textbooks can be quite expensive. (Although here the bookshelf thing applies too - I like how brainy it looks to have a book like "Psychology of Religion: Classic and Contemporary" on my bookshelf.)

[Mervi]

I think ebooks could be wonderful for schools. No longer would you have to drag around heavy bags all day, or worry that you have all the books you need if the schedule was changed - and best of all, whenever there's a new edition (which in my experience is about every other year, sometimes even every year) the old books wouldn't need to be pulped because there's no second-hand use for them. You just download the new version - think about how much paper/how many trees would be saved.

[chriSchaeffer]

For all you nay-sayers, let me ask you: Have you actually tried reading an ebook on a decent ebook reader?

I've been an avid Kindle fan for over a year now. I was worried I would miss the feel of a book as well, but the benefits greatly outweigh the drawbacks.

Pros

1. Comfort. My reading time has been extended because I can sit or lay in any position I prefer. I'm not limited by the weight of the book or trying to hold the pages in place. Try reading a hardback of A Storm of Swords comfortably.
   
2. Instant delivery. For those not available on Kindle, I'll buy the analog version, but it's not very often.
   
3. Free samples. I can get an instant free sample of any book I'm interested in and if I don't like it, I just delete it.
   
4. Price. I save tons of money on books now because I only pay $10 for newly released hardbacks! I get books at least 50% cheaper than I did before.
   
5. Searchable text. I can find any word or reference in seconds.
   
6. Notes. I can highlight and take notes which are saved in a server cloud.
   
7. Size. First they are portable, so I can take 2 or 3 with me for a long trip and I only have to make room on my bookshelves for books I actually want to buy a paper copy of, like a Robin Hobb book.
   
8. Font. It's not a big deal to us, but font size is the reason many older people don't read anymore. Not a problem with ebooks.
   

Oh wow, there are so many more... So nay-sayers, what are the cons of ebooks?

PS: The iPad is NOT an ebook reader for avid book lovers like us.

[Nuytsia]

For all you nay-sayers, let me ask you: Have you actually tried reading an ebook on a decent ebook reader?

Nah, but I don't think I'll be shelling out the money for yet another piece of electronic equipment any time soon.......

But some of your pro points are good ones, esp the searchability and the lack of annoying book folding up mishaps.

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Chris, I acknowledge all your pro's but I am still hesistant about making the switch. It's something emotional, I don't know how else to put it. Although I wouldn't mind textbook e-books, I still want real physical copies of my novels.

[Farseer]

I think ebooks could be wonderful for schools. No longer would you have to drag around heavy bags all day, or worry that you have all the books you need if the schedule was changed - and best of all, whenever there's a new edition (which in my experience is about every other year, sometimes even every year) the old books wouldn't need to be pulped because there's no second-hand use for them. You just download the new version - think about how much paper/how many trees would be saved.

Much as I love and collect books (I own more of them than I do anything else!), I have to agree to the advantages outlined so far and think you make a fine point here also, Mervi. Similar ideas are already being used successfully (here at least) eg using a Chemistry or Physics textbook while at school but storing these in the classrooms after class and then coming home with a thumbdrive that has a full digital copy of the textbook to use at home to save damage, loss, non-returns and carrying them around...if your "dog eats my thumbdrive", you can give your mate a ring and they can immediately email you the copy of the pages you need!

Another benefit to schools would be the lower overall costs particulalry when a huge number of the same text is required. While providing a Kindle to all students of the school would require a incredibly expensive initial outlay, not to mention on-going costs, you can purchase a lot more ebook copies than you can books, for a lot less money.

It would also allow a large group to work from the same text...an example of this would be that my son is currently pulling apart King Lier when he would much rather be doing Hamlet like the kids in another English class, but can't because the school has a limited number of each resource.

I may be wrong but I do believe we have a school here in Australia that has already made the decision to begin converting their entire library to ebooks. I was mortified when I first heard but have been swayed somewhat by many persuasive points. It will be interesting to see what comes of it all.

On the downside, as well as a costly outlay for purchasing student-loaned Kindles, it's one thing for a student to take home a book and quite another for them to take home an expensive Kindle (my teenagers can't even manage a mobile or an iPod...they get wet, the screens get smashed etc!). In saying that, a normal school requirement is to have a certain number of books and resources supplied by students and families themselves for use at school eg a scientific calculator for higher-level maths and science, so, it wouldn't be that different if students, and not the school, were expected to also purchase a Kindle for their own use.

There have been many communicative changes throughout our history and those who worried about the telephone as opposed to the telegram, the email over the letter, the television instead of the radio, the CD over the record and then the tape etc , well, we still have all those things to fall back on when the advancing technology fails us.

I write it but it's been a hard lesson to learn...I cried hard when my children's lessons were changed from being conducted over a HF radio to a telephone and here we are, five years later, now doing lessons over the internet every day. Yes, I'd like to wring the neck of the person who was responsible for the changes when I thought everything was working fine before BUT, for all of the sentimentality, the changes DO have a place in my children's educations and I think ebooks DO have a place in our world.

My very Aussie-male husband hated the introduction of email and the internet...now he surfs the web and does much of his business via email and the net. He also drives the tractor or checks on cattle and listens to an iPod. We can email photos to a doctor 600kms away and get a diagnosis which can be treated immediately with medical supplies we have on-hand in a Flying Doctor's medical chest. How incredible is that? Geographically isolated, technology has opened up our world in a way we could never have foretold and despite the glitches (emails not working etc), and the negatives, it has given us significant advantages.

Possibly the introduction of ebooks have provided us with yet another one of those "cusps" that Fool so often referred to. We fear change but change is inevitable as there is always change...