# Preferred reading format?



## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

With so many options available now, I'm curious what your preferred reading format is. 

All my life I have collected books, mostly paperback, but now about half of my fiction reading is with e-books. Can one "collect" e-books? Or has collecting now become meaningless? I have no problem collecting music in digital format, but somehow books don't seem to lend themselves to that. I suppose I could just store them on CD the same as with my digital music, though e-books are not quite universally cross platform yet.

Then there are audiobooks to consider too. These now cost as little (or as much rather) as a hardback.


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## jani (Jun 15, 2012)

Ebook's, i don't want to carry books around.
I can read them easly anywere without carying anything extra,
I can read them with my laptop and phone.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I use my Nook for proofreading and editing, so when it comes time to relax, I tend to think of the Nook as work. 

I still prefer the old-style hardbacks. It seems like if I see something on a shelf, I'm more likely to pick it up and read it than if it's downloaded somewhere on the Nook.


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

For new books, I'm all e-books (Kindle Paperwhite and the Kindle app for my phone.)


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Usually Hardbacks, for me reading is as much a tactile experience as it is intellectual! And e-bboks and readningpads don't rally deliver on the tactile front for me. Sometimes listen to audio books when I drive as music often involves me to much for a safe ride. 

/ptr


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

For some reason though I've embraced the electronic format for music, I still am old fashioned and like to have a paperback on hand. Maybe because I stick with one book for a few weeks, yet I listen to multiple music pieces during the day if I am lucky. I don't know. I am not opposed to electronic format though and do have a few e-books on my iPad


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Weston said:


> I have no problem collecting music in digital format, but somehow books don't seem to lend themselves to that.


books are just code, so anything that makes said code easier to carry or to store is fine by me. I do still buy paperbacks (or whatever else is available) if the book I want does not come in e-book format. And, yes, I do collect e-books. I'm a very slow buyer in general; I tend to buy things I'm fairly sure I will enjoy.


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## Antihero (Feb 6, 2013)




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## cwarchc (Apr 28, 2012)

I don't have a preference
Though there is something about the tactile part of reading a book
However, I dont mind. I've got my Kindle with about 40 books on it, and shelves full of hardcopy books
I do enjoy going through the "charity" shops searching through all their stock


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

The environmental case isn't quite so clear cut. It takes a lot of energy to create all those Nooks and Kindles and of course some energy to run them. There's disposal as well (I have books I've owned for decades, not so with any electronic devices).

Of all the things we can do to save the planet, this probably doesn't make a huge difference either way.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I have also heard rumors that the authors are not paid as well for digital books in spite of the cost savings to the publisher - unless of course they self-publish which may look dubious for author credibility. I don't know for certain if these rumors are true.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

So for those of you who collect digital books, are they expected to remain in cloud storage with whatever distributor provided the code? What happens when you must change devices or accounts? Do the books evaporate? I think I'd feel safer burning them to CD or uploading to flash (thumb) drive. I guess I don't trust cloud storage yet or fully understand it.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Antihero said:


>


How much would you save with one less kindle in the world?


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

I like to read paperbacks.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> I like to read paperbacks.


Paperbackers unite!


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

Most of my books are paperbacks. It's cheap and practical.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

E-books are part of the International Plutocrat Plot to rule the world. Soon after e-books become common fare, _the words in them will be altered_ in spindoctored ways.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

Hilltroll72 said:


> E-books are part of the International Plutocrat Plot to rule the world. Soon after e-books become common fare, _the words in them will be altered_ in spindoctored ways.


The iBowdler. Coming soon!


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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

I'm glad to see the preference given for physical books. It's not that I'm against e-Books, but there are few things as satisfying as turning the pages yourself.

Give me a piano and a large number of books, and I'll be content for a long time.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I generally prefer e-books if they're available at a good price. If I have to buy a book, I'll look first for a good used hardcover -- not sure why!


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

I like the smell of old hardcovers.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I asked a similar question on Facebook and the general consensus there also is that e-books are for convenient reading and paper books are for _cherishing_. I think I've got a clearer idea now how to proceed with my collection. If I have an e-book, I will catalog it as a separate thing or only as having been read, not as part of my book collection.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Novelette said:


> I'm glad to see the preference given for physical books. It's not that I'm against e-Books, but there are few things as satisfying as turning the pages yourself.
> 
> *Give me a piano and a large number of books, and I'll be content for a long time*.


Sounds pretty wonderful to me!


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

I buy most of my books used. In that market there is little difference in price between paperbacks and hardcovers, so I buy what is available. When I read at home I slightly prefer hardcover; away from home the paperback is more convenient.

The e-book has several objectionable features, the most important one being that it lacks _bookness_.

I read _much_ faster than an audiobook can speak, don't wear earphones 'out in the world', nor am I distracted by music while driving. Audiobooks are a wonderful thing for those unable to read - but I can.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

You cannot read while riding a bicycle or doing housework. _That_ is what audiobooks are for.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Hilltroll72 said:


> The e-book has several objectionable features, the most important one being that it lacks _bookness_.


Whenever I take the flivver out for a spin, I bring along my buggy whip. Just in case, y'know.


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

I'm always touting the greatness of new technologies, but e-books are still something I haven't embraced yet. I prefer plain old paperback books that you actually hold in your hand and see your physical progress...


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Old dog here, not much ready for new tricks, though I can see the instant value and handiness of a Kindle, or like, of pocketbook size, which can be read on a subway, etc.

I am too used, and hear all our brains are still conditioned to, the traditional format 'real book,' two pages in front of you. Whether it is fiction or a textbook, most people will recall an earlier page, paragraph location, etc. and 'flip' from one point back to another, whether it is to check 'where you were set-up / forewarned' in a fictional plot, or to collate and connect paragraphs or pages of info in a textbook. Even the techies who create these things acknowledge that is the way we really read, retain info or learn new things.

I actually nearly hate vertical scrolling as we have to accept if we read articles via computer, and horizontal scrolling (it is often an option in music score modules) is no less "comfortable," my resistance there only a hair less.

I might be quite happy with a Kindle for 'lighter reading' - novels, etc. Would never dream of using one if it were more a matter of a text I wished to study.

Printed music -- no way other than paper, and real paper, not plastic coated, chemical shiny computer printer paper: digital laser printed scores from software, regardless of how high the resolution, look _awful_ and have miles to go to reach even a bit of the graphic finesse, placement of justified spacing, and the 'grace' of handwritten or engraved printed scores. To date, no substitute or computer printed score has come anywhere near to competing with the 'old-style real thing.

Collecting:
Some people take a comfort from being surrounded in a room with one or more walls lined with filled bookshelves. Some take a sort of pride in looking at the bulk of 'all those books I've read.' Some are proud and vain, so also take a bit of pleasure when a guest comes over and sees that the host must 'read a lot.' Some have a collection of references, are truly studying, researching, writing something, and use those references frequently... this last I find 'justified,' the other uses and accumulations, not for me.

I own a first edition of John Irskine's _The Private Life of Helen of Troy_, which is 'worth' only a few bucks, literally, but it is on real rag quality paper, the print is typeset, you can see and feel the slight indentations it makes in the paper, the frontispiece is 'nice.' I've read the book several times, and loaned it to friends as a book, not an object. Call me silly, an effete aesthetic elitist, but there is still nothing quite like the pleasure of holding and reading a book made like that.

Collect, however, I do not do. I do not have the luxury of space or the dispensable income to allow it. My purchases are mainly paperback, all from second-hand bookstores, many of which allow that the book (if still in decent condition) can be traded back for a credit towards another purchase. I read things once, often twice, sometimes a number of times more, then they are traded in or given away. Other than that several dollar's 'indulgence' of owning the copy of the Irskine opus, my 'collection' is but a small handful, ten or less, textbooks mainly, orchestration books, etc.

The rest, I finally figured out, unless rare or out of print, will all generally be available in the pubic library for the next twenty years.

I suppose an ebook might be rather practical if one reads oneself to sleep, as I am wont to do from time to time, but then, both the cat and I would very much miss turning the pages....


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Hilltroll72 said:


> E-books are part of the International Plutocrat Plot to rule the world. Soon after e-books become common fare, _the words in them will be altered_ in spindoctored ways.


"If you want to change the society, first, revise the language." ~ Confucius.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

E-books for me mostly. There are some books that are precious to me, that I read over and over again and that I like to have in a paper version. But if I had to store every book I have ever read in my small apartment, I'd have no room to live in already.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Weston said:


> So for those of you who collect digital books, are they expected to remain in cloud storage with whatever distributor provided the code? *What happens when you must change devices or accounts?* Do the books evaporate? I think I'd feel safer burning them to CD or uploading to flash (thumb) drive. I guess I don't trust cloud storage yet or fully understand it.


I haven't thought about this yet, but I will surely put them on my hard drive before switching.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

There is an excellent free program to manage your ebook named Calibre. It maintains a library of all your books on disk and converts among formats (among other things). For me, the ebook wouldn't be practical without this.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I had Calibre recommended about a year ago and I downloaded it, but I don't think I've looked at it yet. There's probably a newer version by now. I guess have enough material to give it a try.

Those of you who are saying you have to scroll down or don't feel like you're turning pages or you can't see your progress, or you can't hold it in your hands, I'm thinking you must have looked at computer ebook readers several years ago. All of mine have virtual side by side pages that you turn with your finger and a scroll bar to see your progress. They have multiple bookmarks and weigh less than most hardbacks. What I miss is the wonderful smell of pulp, ink and binding.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Newspapers and journals, e or hard copy.


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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

I will give credit to most eBooks that I've seen, though, they don't hurt my eyes as much as I imagined.

Reading on the computer is a self-limiting activity for me, for it wearies my eyes very quickly. =\


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## Rola (May 27, 2013)

Printed format - for fiction. Easier on my eyes than the screen.

Digital format - for monographs, textbooks, even biographies. Because of great _search_ & indexing capabilities digital devices provide. Also "copy&paste" if you need to quote them in your work, no need retyping.

Online digital libraries are a blessing. Where else I could get old magazines or out-of-print book editions? For example I enjoy first editions released before 1936 language reform in my country.

I, too, read faster than the audiobook is spoken. I can't get used to that format.
They usually have only one voice actor, right?


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## Geo Dude (May 22, 2013)

I selected e-books. In the past I was a quite dedicated 'real books' person but e-books are a godsend for people like that have both severe allergy problems and a lot of trouble with wrist problems. Having so many books in one location is a wonderful experience, too. I loved my Kindle Touch but once Kindle Paperwhite came out I became a full-blown convert. I only keep paperback and hardback books on hand if there are no electronic alternatives available or if they're picture-heavy.


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## Valkhafar (Feb 23, 2013)

Hardback or paperback. Well, I have a lot of them, more than 8,000 books (8,131 to be precise).


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## OboeKnight (Jan 25, 2013)

Paperbacks  I haven't been able to get into e-books...I like the satisfaction of flipping pages I suppose lol


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Rola said:


> Online digital libraries are a blessing. Where else I could get old magazines or out-of-print book editions?


any places you'd like to recommend?


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

the first one ...............


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