eReaders

I've got an Amazon Kindle 2. I love it. It works great and the Kindle app is available for my Droid phone so I can read my books from my cell as well.

As for my personal views:
1. Real books will always be better as they have a feel and a smell you can't duplicate.
2. I had filled up my bookcase and either had to buy a new bookcase or an eReader. I opted for the smaller thing.
3. I love having all my books with me on one device that I can take anywhere. It's like having all my songs on my mp3 player. I can pick whatever I want depending on my mood.

So all and all I'd say eReaders are a great idea regardless of which model you buy.

I have a Nook, and my partner has a Kindle. Neither one has completely replaced paper books. Actually I'm unhappy with my Nook purchase. The library is limited, and it takes FOREVER to boot up. With the future of B&N in question, (who knew?) I would not suggest the Nook to anyone.

I give the Kindle a slightly higher thumbs up, but there are still lots of new releases that are paper only, not e-books. I guess I could look around for some un-hem, unauthorized sites for ebooks, but just didn't want to go there. AND, the price difference is not dramatic based on the amount of resources saved.

Most of my ebook purchases are made late at night when the book store is closed, or when I just get a huge case of "gotta have it nows".

my .02

I haven't bought any new books as I am trying to get all my old books electronically first. However I too am waiting for some of them to get converted over to ebooks, but I imagine in a few years, they'll be tons more available.

DL your picture is so adorable. I have this strange urge to try and reach out to pinch your cheeks.

I'm sure eReaders, Kindle, et al have their place and I would be simply happy to know more people are reading - regardless of the source.

However, I'm with Sam and Jen when it comes to owning and reading REAL books. I take them everywhere cause you never know.

There is another option I have been exploring that suits me well: Books on CD. I am in my car sometimes hours a day and books on CD have proved extremely enjoyable. The Da Vinci Code, Inkheart, Inkspell, Eragon, and dozens more have "tickled" my ears, so to speak. It is a nice alternative to listening to music or sports, not that books on CD would ever fully replace those historic icons.

One last thing: Brendon Fraser, who starred as Mortimer in Inkheart, reads the second book - Inkspell - and he is absolutely fantastic as a reader! You would never think the Mummy chaser had that talent, but I assure you he does.

I haven't gotten into these things yet... I prefer having the paper pages in my hands... But I can definitely see the convenience of having one and will probably end up getting one once I start reading regularly again...

My father however has got one, but I can't remember which one, I'll have to ask him this weekend...

My parents each have a Kindle and love it. My brother has an iPad and reads books on it and loves it. Eventually I'll probably succumb, but I have always loved physical books and probably always will.

To show my extra nerdiness, a topic like this always makes me think of an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. A couple of the characters are in the library and Giles says he doesn't like computers. This is kind of how I feel about books.

Ms. Calendar: Honestly, what is it about them that bothers you so much?
Giles: The smell.
Ms. Calendar: Computer's don't smell, Rupert.
Giles: I know! Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there
is. A certain flower or a, a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences...
long forgotten. Books smell. Musty and, and, and, and rich. The
knowledge gained from a computer, is, uh, it... it has no, no texture,
no, no context. It's, it's there and then it's gone. If it's to last,
then, then the getting of knowledge should be, uh, tangible, it should
be, um... smelly.

I wonder if Aaron will make Moon and Pandora available through those eReaders...
I bet he could make some additional money off of them if he did...

According to reports, people have bought more books in the last year than any other year and they expect that number to climb over the next 5 years as more and more people get these devices... They expect that the number of book sales will increase for 8 to 10 years before leveling off... By then these eReaders should become like Cell Phones, just about everyone will have one...

Books are cheaper.

And they don't run out of batteries.

'Nuff said.

I don't have one of the eReaders yet, what does an average book cost on one of those???

Well for the Kindle:

New hardbacks are $10 and under (though they are trying to push some prices up to $13)
Old books vary in price from free to a couple of bucks (that's where I'm cleaning up)

The other cool thing about Kindle is that it has apps for Android, Iphone, Blackberry, and PC. So technically you can buy ebooks from Amazon and read books on one of these programs. You don't even need to buy the Kindle Ereader to have access to the ebooks.

Baf, most of the Ereaders can read pdf files. So I've already got the pdf files of UAKM and Pandora. Of course it would be better if the books were formatted for the reader.

Not only would it be better if they were formatted for the eReaders, it would be better if Aaron made some more money off of them to put towards the new Project...

So Gary, it would seem that Books aren't Cheaper... A Hardback normally goes for 20 bucks or higher... Paperbacks usually average around 6 bucks...

I always thought along these lines:-

Advantages -
Store all your books in a small space
Take 100+ books with you rather than one
The pages don't get old and fall out
Batteries last ages.
They look cool

Disadvantages -
You can't lend a book to anyone
They cost just as much as a real book
They can take the book from you again (Kindle did it with 1984 apparently)
New e-readers come out each year so it probably costs more overall in reading the books.
Can't read in the bath
Run out of batteries and you're stuffed.

And Sam, keep your paws from my cheeks! I remember lots of people doing that to me as a kid. I'm sorry to say I don't look as cute anymore.

Demonlawyer wrote:I always thought along these lines:-

Disadvantages -
You can't lend a book to anyone
They cost just as much as a real book
They can take the book from you again (Kindle did it with 1984 apparently)
New e-readers come out each year so it probably costs more overall in reading the books.
Can't read in the bath
Run out of batteries and you're stuffed.

And Sam, keep your paws from my cheeks! I remember lots of people doing that to me as a kid. I'm sorry to say I don't look as cute anymore.

DL,
I believe with the Barnes and Noble Nook there is an option to lend your book to a friend for a couple of weeks. It takes the ebook from your reader and sends it to their ereader (share between NOOK™, and iPad™, iPhone®, iPod touch®, Android™ Smartphones, PC). Yeah I'm hoping Kindle and the others will eventually make this a standard feature.

Actually Ebooks cost less than a real book. The new hardback books are sold at a discount because it's in electronic format and they are trying to lure you away from printed books.

As with any electronic device like cell phones, mp3 players, and digital cameras new ones come out each year. You buy one and use it till you are done. Only peer pressure and envy compels you to buy a new one.

I personally never read books in the bath as I was afraid of getting them wet and ruining the pages. It's true the Ereaders might get damaged or electrocute you if you drop them.

If you run out of batteries you can plug it in using the AC adapter which has a decent cord length and continue to read. It's not that hard to find a nearby plug. I think there's even a car charger for the Kindle too. So I guess if you were in the middle of nowhere then yeah you'd probably be screwed.

Ah none of us are as cute as we used to be. But that's okay I much prefer being an adult than a kid. I'd never go back.

I wonder if it's a different things on continents - books here are about $2 cheaper than a real book. And we don't have Barnes and Noble, so don't have Nooks. Sounds like a good plan though.

As for being older - it's much more fun I agree - you can squeeze kids cheeks and get away with it!