E-Books

I read an article a few weeks ago that stated that new printed books would cease to exist in the coming years and predicted that ebooks would be the only thing available for new material. I really hope that's not true. I remarked to my wife  that if I bought a printed novel today and gave it reasonable care that 25-30 years down the road that printed book would be would still be readable. Can anyone say that about an ebook?

The Chicago Tribune will soon be offering a free ebook with a paid subscription. Seems to me the printing presses are gonna get turned off pretty soon.

At my age I am not too worried about e-books 25-30 years down the road. But right now I enjoy the convenience of e-books.

God, I hope REAL books are around for a long time...the feel of a book, shopping in a real book store,taking from the shelves,browsing and sampling from the new book shelf to make a purchase...all a part of the reading experience, and would be gone with the sterile e reader!

I can't read an e-book. I've tried. But having to read that much on a screen makes my eyes wig out. I sincerely hope actual printed books don't go away...curling up in a chair in front of the fireplace with a book is one of my great pleasures. That, and laying in a hammock in the back yard with a book. And let's not forget soaking in a bubble bath with a book! If you drop an actual book in the tub the worst thing that happens is the pages dry out a little oddly-shaped. An e-reader has the potential to electrocute you and will need to be replaced if it takes a swim.

felix4067


I can't read an e-book. I've tried. But having to read that much on a screen makes my eyes wig out. I sincerely hope actual printed books don't go away...curling up in a chair in front of the fireplace with a book is one of my great pleasures. That, and laying in a hammock in the back yard with a book. And let's not forget soaking in a bubble bath with a book! If you drop an actual book in the tub the worst thing that happens is the pages dry out a little oddly-shaped. An e-reader has the potential to electrocute you and will need to be replaced if it takes a swim.

 
Did you try a Kindle?  I borrowed my mother's on vacation and read a book over a couple of days and I didn't have any eye issues with it at all?  I'm not getting one yet but it is inevitable that I will end up with one.  It's just to convenient.  I mean I finished the second book in a series and wanted to read the third one that I hadn't bought yet.  So I purchased it from Amazon and then "loaned" it to my mother's account and within minutes I was reading it.

I haven't tried a kindle or a nook but I have installed their apps for windows on my laptop. Reading a book on my laptop screen causes my eyes to play strange tricks, I think it's called computer vision syndrome.
Maybe technology is moving at a pace I'm not comfortable with even though I've been on the Internet almost as long ad there has been an Internet.

I've tried both Kindle and Nook, and both of them make my eyes buggy after about a half hour. I'll gladly give up "convenient" to have an actual book in my hands that I can read without issues.

I think the long term concern would be possession of the document or media itself. You may purchase all of the e-books and media content you want and have an impressive collection of documents, music, and video that would fill many physical shelves. Between increasingly agressive DRM and now migration into the cloud, your ownership (seemingly questionable concept) of a virtual document is of prime concern. At the revocation or question of publishing rights as in the Amazon case, owners found documents deleted from their Kindles and PC's for material they purchased. Now into the cloud, what happens when a server is compromised? Recent events showed that this idea of distributed content and archiving would make it all but impossible to lose data stored in the cloud gave another definition to vaporware. All this is nice for the moment in the virtual realm, but it could all be gone tomorrow from any kind of catastrophic physical or hostile event to interventional control of the net or it's infrastructure.

If only we had a "like" button.
 

DawnT


I think the long term concern would be possession of the document or media itself. You may purchase all of the e-books and media content you want and have an impressive collection of documents, music, and video that would fill many physical shelves. Between increasingly agressive DRM and now migration into the cloud, your ownership (seemingly questionable concept) of a virtual document is of prime concern. At the revocation or question of publishing rights as in the Amazon case, owners found documents deleted from their Kindles and PC's for material they purchased. Now into the cloud, what happens when a server is compromised? Recent events showed that this idea of distributed content and archiving would make it all but impossible to lose data stored in the cloud gave another definition to vaporware. All this is nice for the moment in the virtual realm, but it could all be gone tomorrow from any kind of catastrophic physical or hostile event to interventional control of the net or it's infrastructure.

Like I read on another board. What happens when you push the power button and there's nothing there.

I am an avid reader.I  probably go thru 2-3 books a week. Its my relaxation, to get comfy on the couch, or in bed, open my book and disappear into its realm. I have no interest in e-books or kindle, whatever.People have suggested them to me, but no go. And I agree with leethebard-I love going to bookstores and looking, and coming home with my treasures-which one to read first!?!?

It's funny, my library has about a dozen kindles for loan. I've borrowed them three times there. Always a 5-6 week wait.

We purchased a nook for my daughter last Christmas. I recently got the opportunity to become more familiar with it over the last 2 months. The reason being I broke my shoulder and the nook made it easy to read a book with one hand.  Also learned how to borrow books from my local library via the internet. Did't have to leave the house. Made it very convenient.
I've thought about the direction e-books were taking society. I believe we are moving towards a paperless society. It may take awhile to get there, perhaps generations. Along with that progression, I think storage reliability will coincide with that as well. Obviously people can't afford to lose what they have acquired.
Lost will be that feeling of holding a book. A conversation opportunity to ask what a person is reading and their opinion of how they like it.
I also consider the value of an e-book. When you purchase a traditional print book, you have a tangible item that when you are finished, it can be put on a shelf or sold on the second hand market. An e-book purchase does not give you the same. I think it is a true intellectual content purchase. There is nothing tangible to it much like digital music.
I think printed books will always have a place, but will not be as easy to come by as they are now.
 

I travel a lot in a very small RV. Typically on a 6 week trip I might read a dozen books and my wife the same. Some will be the same, some different. We have no room to carry physical books. With e-books we have any book at our disposal including borrowed books from our local library no matter where we are in the USA. We can buy almost any book even when parked in the remote wilderness. We can also read the same book at the same time with our two iPads. I've accumulated quite a library that is always with me.
 
Another very distinct advantage of e-books is that the history of classic out of copyright books are all available free - anything written before 1923 or so. That is a huge body of books that I hadn't read a lot of in my adult years because of the physical cost of paying for paper books.
 
With e-books I can touch a word on the screen and get a dictionary definition popup. I can bookmark pages. I can non-destruct highlight passages for reference. I can non-destruct annotate highlighted passage and words with more than I can write in a paper book. I can even share that information over the internet on Facebook, Twitter or e-mail and probably other places soon.
 
If desired I could archive e-books on various electronic media and in different translated formats. Any purchase is available on multiple electronic and computer devices of my own or borrowed anywhere. The "cloud" is a fast coming concept that may change a lot of thinking. If worried about all that, chances are it would be more catastrophic to us that just losing an e-book.
 
I'm a confirmed e-book reader now. My iPad is not the lightest in weight for an e-reader but is still lighter than most all hardcover books and it doesn't take two hands to hold open. I read a lot more now mainly because I can get the books I want more conveniently.

I am torn
 
I love the feel of a book, dog earring the corners, making notations in the margins.  I have gotten lost on the Ol Muddy with Tom and Huck.  Went on many adventures with Bilbo and the Hobbits and many others over the years.
 
I have usually bought them in paper back form and after so many readings they tend to fall apart.
 
Lately my readings have been more historical readings (US Civil War and The foundings of the frontier area west of the appalachians)
The problem with these books have been the size, weight and the damned footnotes.
 
My hands have arthritis in them and after reading for x amount of time my hands hurt and I have to stop reading.
 
I tried my sisters nook (she has a nook her husband has the kindle) I liked the ease of use and being able to get books anywhere at anytime. and it didn't give my hands cramps or pains after several hours of reading.
 
I guess it may be time for ol Tom, Huck and Bilbo to move into the digital age......
 
 
but then what do I do with my 100's of books err better make that 1000s of books. 

ces1948


Like I read on another board. What happens when you push the power button and there's nothing there.

My feelings exactly.

Any fans of the twilight zone out there?. Remember the one with I think Burgess Meredith who was the last man on earth but didn't mind because he was surrounded by books. Then he broke his glasses and couldn't see a thing. Sort of the equivalent to pushing the power button and nothing happens.

Personally, I really like the idea of a ebook.  Most of them are about the same but I bought a Nook for my neice who just graduated from law school.  I travel quite a bit and the ability to carry a very light weight device that will store thousand's of books is quite appealing to me.
 
Count me in for buying one PDQ.
 
Incidentally with HP getting out of the tablet business, I wonder if the price will drop on their 32GB tablet.  It was rated 2nd to Apple and if they have a fire sale, I will buy one of those.
 
Paul E. Smith
Sundancer7
ZOR

CajunKing

Lately my readings have been more historical readings (US Civil War and The foundings of the frontier area west of the appalachians)
The problem with these books have been the size, weight and the damned footnotes.

In a e-book you can tap the footnote number and get a popup annotation or page. Slick.
 
On the iPad there are a lot of standalone books (not Kindle Reader or iBooks Reader, etc.) in app form that have embedded photos, slideshows, audio, videos, reference web links and animations (instead of a static graphic you might see a progression graphic).

Sundancer7

Incidentally with HP getting out of the tablet business, I wonder if the price will drop on their 32GB tablet.  It was rated 2nd to Apple and if they have a fire sale, I will buy one of those.

Paul E. Smith
Sundancer7
ZOR

Paul, The fire sale is on. The 32GB HP Touchpad is selling for about $150. They will sell I suppose until they run out of what is in stock. If used as an e-reader that is not a bad price but as a tablet they are dead in the water and an orphan. Also, Amazon.com just came out with a Kindle Cloud Reader that works on the iPad and some, but not all browsers on PC and Mac computers. I doubt they will ever customize and expand that to the HP Touchpad now. The other e-book aspect is public library access. That is almost monopolized by a company called Overdrive. Overdrive is Android, Nook, PC, Mac and iPad accessible. Kindle not quite yet but announced. I don't know about the HP Touchpad. But if not...

Davydd:  What is the issue with the HP tablet.  Seriously, I want to know.  I have a friend that is getting PhD.  Instead of carrying books around, I thought the HP tablet might be a good choice.
 
Thanks:
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

HP Touchpad uses a proprietary operating system called WebOS. I think it was acquired in the Palm buy-out. I suspect with the company ditching the tablet endeavor, there will be little to no support for such an operating system unless it is purchased by a third party vendor.
 
Or maybe there is something else but those are my thoughts.

Davydd

CajunKing

Lately my readings have been more historical readings (US Civil War and The foundings of the frontier area west of the appalachians)
The problem with these books have been the size, weight and the damned footnotes.

In a e-book you can tap the footnote number and get a popup annotation or page. Slick.

On the iPad there are a lot of standalone books (not Kindle Reader or iBooks Reader, etc.) in app form that have embedded photos, slideshows, audio, videos, reference web links and animations (instead of a static graphic you might see a progression graphic).

 
When I looked before most of the books I have been reading lately hadn't been converted.  Now searching for them it seems Kindle has more of them converted than the nook does.
 
I may borrow my BIL's and try vol 3 of shelby footes civil war.

I wouldn't mind borrowing or renting one to try out but I'm not willing to purchase one yet.

Sundancer7


Davydd:  What is the issue with the HP tablet.  Seriously, I want to know.  I have a friend that is getting PhD.  Instead of carrying books around, I thought the HP tablet might be a good choice.

Thanks:

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

HP bought Web OS last year. That was the Palm OS used on the earliest PDAs and later smartphones. Before that, for many years HP tried to market a Windows tablet unsuccessfully. The HP Touchpad came out just a couple of months ago and like almost all tablets other than the iPad it met with limited to nil success. So they threw in the towel. They won't be manufactured anymore. They won't be supported. Developers of course will have to abandon working on them with updates and new apps.
 
Right now Amazon.com is the big Kahoona in e-books. Without access to them you are very limited. The HP Touchpad Web OS does have an e-reader app for Amazon. However, Amazon just came out with the Kindle Cloud Reader, their next evolution and the HP Touchpad or Android OS is not supported yet. Web OS may never likely be developed now. Android will. Also, any future changes at Amazon.com needing software updates could end the HP Touchpad as a Kindle e-books reader. The other important area in e-books is the ability to download from your public libraries with an app called Overdrive Media Console. The HP Touchpad Web OS missed the boat on that one and again may never be developed now.
 
The irony is with the HP Touchpad fire sale to unload the existing manufactured units is probably going to put a temporary dent in the Android tablet market that could be fatal for some. Samsung is hemorrhaging with its Galaxy Tab 10.1 as evidenced of them dumping them free with Samsung 3D HDTV purchases at Best Buy. Dell dropped their Streak-5 tablet and I suspect their Streak-7 is on the ropes. Right now, I think the only safe bets in e-readers are the Apple iPad, the Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook. You can get Kindles and Nooks cheaper than the HP Touchpad fire sale anyway. If you are serious there is really only one viable choice out there that will give you access to any book source, magazines, news, and other media and that is the iPad. You would be gambling with anything else at this time and if you just want to read popular mostly current books and the copyright free books, text only, then either the Kindle or Nook are ideal.

I wouldn't be surprised to see all tablets (with the possible exception of Ipad) fade away. I think they are mostly a fad anyway. I for one don't see any advantage over a netbook or laptop. For years it was smaller, smaller, smaller and now they want us to carry a Studebaker around.

ces1948

For years it was smaller, smaller, smaller and now they want us to carry a Studebaker around.

 
I said the exact same thing t'other day, except I used Packard!

jajarino68


HP Touchpad uses a proprietary operating system called WebOS. I think it was acquired in the Palm buy-out. I suspect with the company ditching the tablet endeavor, there will be little to no support for such an operating system unless it is purchased by a third party vendor.

Or maybe there is something else but those are my thoughts.

Kinda like the old Webtv! lol Actually i was on the HP website on Sunday and had two of the 32gb models in my shopping cart I tried for a couple of hours to make the final order but it kept redirecting the page. They were swamped! I gave up.

jajarino68


HP Touchpad uses a proprietary operating system called WebOS. I think it was acquired in the Palm buy-out. I suspect with the company ditching the tablet endeavor, there will be little to no support for such an operating system unless it is purchased by a third party vendor.

Or maybe there is something else but those are my thoughts.

Kinda like the old Webtv! lol Actually i was on the HP website on Sunday and had two of the 32gb models in my shopping cart I tried for a couple of hours to make the final order but it kept redirecting the page. They were swamped! I gave up.