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      CommentAuthorDiamonte
    • CommentTimeJan 3rd 2010
     
  1.  
    I can't STAND the idea of people not reading books!!! I mean, paper books!

    OK, so I can see the benefit of eBooks--you can access them anytime, if you have a computer, and you don't have to break your back carrying textbooks. In fact, I can understand putting textbooks online--I think some schools already do this.

    But the idea of not being able to touch the paper, and see the ink smudges on your fingers (if it's a cheap copy of a classic...: )), and not being able to see it on your bedside table...it makes me very, very sad. Plus, reading on the computer is a horrible eyestrain--I can only read for two hours before I get a headache (admittedly, I am supposed to wear glasses, and I don't...)

    There are some things that just shouldn't change, and the way we read books is one of them. But that is just my humble opinion.
    •  
      CommentAuthorMoldorm
    • CommentTimeJan 3rd 2010
     

    I much prefer physical things over purely digital content. Corporeal books are reassuringly there, whereas ethereal digital stuff doesn’t really exist. I’ve also had many more problems with computers than with books, which don’t tend to crash or become infected with viruses quite as much.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeJan 3rd 2010
     

    I love books (physical books) dearly, and I couldn’t imagine life without that glorious feeling of curling up in a corner with a good book, frantically flicking your eyes down every page so you can whip it over to see what’s going to come next. I’ve read ebooks and I find them convenient, but… it just doesn’t recapture that feeling. leans on cane, coughs grumpily

    On the other hand, I think it’s inevitable—like music and movies, books are starting to move toward digital versions instead of physical ones. I personally don’t find it difficult to read ebooks because I have a long history of reading fanfiction, short stories, webpages, etc. on computer screens, so aside from the whole nostalgia factor, I’m fairly neutral on this topic. It’s OK that we’ll have ebooks, IMO, even if I do prefer physical books personally.

  2.  

    I don’t like ebooks. It takes away from the book experience, which involves turning pages and feeling paper and such.

    •  
      CommentAuthorPearl
    • CommentTimeJan 3rd 2010
     

    I’ve never read an actual ebook, aside from looking around on Google books once in a while. But I think it’s safe to say that I would choose a bound book over an ebook any day. Aside from the entertainment factor of the story, the other senses, smell and feel, go unsatisfied. There is something so comfortable about carrying a book around that electronics can’t capture.

    Also, you just cannot have a huge library with towering bookcases and wonderful hardcover books and gold inlay if you want ebooks.

  3.  

    Also, you just cannot have a huge library with towering bookcases and wonderful hardcover books and gold inlay if you want ebooks.

    I know. I love my pretty hardcovers. I’m replacing a lot of my paperbacks that I like with hardcovers.

    •  
      CommentAuthorJeni
    • CommentTimeJan 3rd 2010
     

    Plus, reading on the computer is a horrible eyestrain—I can only read for two hours before I get a headache (admittedly, I am supposed to wear glasses, and I don’t…)

    That’s why they invented eBook readers, you can read them for long periods without eyestrain, it’s not at all like a computer screen.

    The complement each other. Whilst I love my actual books, I also love some of my eBooks. I don’t see why people feel you have to choose one over the other.

    Plus, Project Gutenberg justifies having an eBook Reader. Hahahah. I wouldn’t actually buy an eBook.

    • CommentAuthorIsabel
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2010
     
    I kind of want one. I'm just unwilling to shell out the money for them, though. If I can get textbooks I'll need in college as an ebook, I might consider getting a reader.
    •  
      CommentAuthorDiamonte
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2010
     

    That’s my feeling on them too, Isabel.

    •  
      CommentAuthorKyllorac
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2010
     

    On the one hand, ebooks could make books extremely cheap. On the other hand, anyone can make an ebook, so we shall be flooded with much dreck. On the other other hand, there’s a lot of dreck published in physical format. With ebooks, at least the dreck will be cheap drek. Not to mention that authors would get paid a larger percentage of what their books earn…

    Then there’s the whole experience of reading an actual, physical book. I love my books, especially the smell of them. Seriously, you can learn a lot about a book’s history from their smell. There was this one library that I was browsing, and the Egyptology section had a ton of older books. A lot of them smelled of burnt paper, even though they were completely undamaged. Also, I can usually get a fair idea of a book’s age by sniffing it because they used different glues and paper types, and they smell differently…

    /end weird rambling.

    I love my physical books, I do, and that’s one thing an ebook can never replicate or replace.

    On another note, now would be a great time to open a fully digital publishing house that offers ebooks. Maybe knock the publishing giants out of business. Change the face of the publishing world…

    •  
      CommentAuthorPuppet
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2010
     

    There’s something about the smell and feel of the pages of the book.

    But, I can also see why eBooks would come in handy.

  4.  

    That’s basically the consensus.