E-reading is not just as good as paper reading, it is better.
By removing several small niggles about reading, e-reading has rekindled my enthusiasm about reading.
(I wonder if Amazon saw this phenomenon coming when they named the Kindle at first.)
This is the first time I've experienced real fresh desire for reading more, rather than the act of reading being a burden I had to carry to get the meessage/story.
And this is just the start, the devices (e-readers as well as small tablets) will continue to improve their screens, weight, speed, and usability.
Update:
Dave said:
No it isn't. Besides, audio books are the way to go if you're into abandoning paper books. With the Kindle or iPad you're still using your eyes like a sucker. I prefer paper books to electronic, but I'd rather lay back in the dark and put on an audio book and relax. Depending on who is reading it. Right now I'm listening to Stephen Fry.
eolake said...
I love audio books, I'd hate to tell you how much money I've spent on them (like a sucker).
If it's a very engrossing book, it's great. If it's not always equally interesting, with text reading you can vary the speed and depth with which you're reading. For instance in Moby Dick, the loooong lists of scary white things, or of species of whales, in audio I think "oh gawd, how long does this go on...". I could skip, but then you don't know what you might miss in the text.
And of course, few books are in audio in the first place, sadly.
Amen! This is what I've been saying since I owned my Kindle 1. And yes, the name Kindle comes from "rekindling" the passion for reading.
ReplyDeleteYou've been saying this for a while, though, Eolake. It's not new to us.
ReplyDeleteThis is what I've been saying since I owned my Kindle 1.
You are a prophet.
I've been saying things like "I now prefer reading on my iPad over paper", but this is the first time real fresh desire for reading *more*.
ReplyDeleteI was talking to my wife about these new-fangled e-reading devices and how eBook sales are increasing each year while pBook sales decrease.
ReplyDeleteThen she asked me: what happens with an eBook I've bought, can I lend it to my sister after I've finished reading it?. I had no idea what to answer! Eo, please enlighten us old-fashioned pBook readers about transferring files from one Kindle to another.
Do you think there will ever be a day when libraries become online spaces where you can download eBooks for free, with the catch that they expire after 2 weeks (just like you have to return pBooks to libraries nowadays)?
Note: pBook = physicalBook.
This is a discussion included in the audio here, which I linked to this week.
ReplyDeleteI think there are a few hesitating steps towards lending capabilities, I think it's the Nook and a couple of libraries.
So basically any eBook I buy on Amazon for my Kindle, my wife would not be able to read on her Kindle, correct?
ReplyDeleteSo far as I'm aware, yes.
ReplyDeleteBut Kindles are dropping in price, a lot, so you could buy a second one and lend *all* your books at one go to a friend! (I've done that with audiobooks and iPods actually.)
Well, Like all new tech, eventually it will; come down to a few systems. One of of which will be difficult and unfriendly, and the other will die quickly, cause there was more profit in the other. And sharing ill COST.
ReplyDeleteGrump, grump, grump!
IIRC, you can have multiple Kindles logged into the same family account, so the books you read on your kindle, your wife can read on her kindle, without paying any extra. I don't know if this policy now changed with the new cheaper Kindle.
ReplyDeleteI've googled this, and yes, as I expected you can have more than one Kindles on one account (I have all three models). But it seems that to share you need to use the same amazon account.
ReplyDeleteE-reading is not just as good as paper reading, it is better.
ReplyDeleteNo it isn't. Besides, audio books are the way to go if you're into abandoning paper books. With the Kindle or iPad you're still using your eyes like a sucker. I prefer paper books to electronic, but I'd rather lay back in the dark and put on an audio book and relax. Depending on who is reading it. Right now I'm listening to Stephen Fry.
I love audio books, I'd hate to tell you how much money I've spent on them (like a sucker).
ReplyDeleteIf it's a very engrossing book, it's great. If it's not always equally interesting, with text reading you can vary the speed and depth with which you're reading. For instance in Moby Dick, the long lists of scary white things of species of whales, in audio I think "oh gawd, how long does this go on...". I could skip, but then you don't know what you might miss in the text.
Miserere said...
ReplyDelete"...what happens with an eBook I've bought, can I lend it to my sister after I've finished reading it?"
and
Eolake said...
"...I think it's the Nook..."
Yes...according to this comparison, (pg 2) the Nook allows "lending."
In reading the comments on the comparison, it seems that there are a couple corrections to the information provided that might be pertinent to a person making their decision, as well: Kindle no longer uses Sprint for its 3G connection but, rather, AT&T; and...the WiFi-only version of the Nook does NOT have 3G connection.
ReplyDeleteI love audio books, I'd hate to tell you how much money I've spent on them (like a sucker).
ReplyDeleteI've mostly downloaded them but I buy the ones I know I'll listen to over and over.
"Hey, they have chairs with wheels and here I am using my legs like a sucker!"
-- Homer at the old folks home, "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons"
And of course, few books are in audio in the first place, sadly.
True, but at least you can count on most of the time-tested classics to be out on audio. Books that I might never read otherwise. I haven't read Moby Dick, but I very much enjoyed War and Peace but probably wouldn't have read it either in paper or electronic form.
Maybe in the future the technology will improve so that you could have your iPad read it to you, choosing whatever flawless human-like voice you wanted.
Better to use your eyes like a sucker than like a plunger!!! ;-)
ReplyDeleteMiserere,
"pBook"? Good one!
Oh, "physical"! I thought it meant "paper".
Same difference.
TC,
If I ever need advice on ebook devices, I think I'll ask you right away. You seem to know a lot.
And the OTHER expert I know is always busy marveling at his iPad these days. ;-)
That is, when he doesn't spend hours looking at pics of naked chicks on his computer pretending to be "working"!
(Yeesh! AGAIN my juice croaks. What a day. 8-( And it isn't even a hot day in Lebanon, WTF?)
[OK, generator is now on.]
I'm not much for audiobooks. Myself, I still prefer my peeper-suckers.
"Maybe in the future the technology will improve so that you could have your iPad read it to you, choosing whatever flawless human-like voice you wanted."
That's quite likely, yes.
More likely than each of us living in the countryside and flying to work in their own individual atomic rocket by the year 2000, that's for sure! :-D
Pascal said...
ReplyDelete"TC,
If I ever need advice on ebook devices, I think I'll ask you right away. You seem to know a lot."
Well...thank you but...I am very new to all this e-reader technology. I was, merely, fortunate enough to "bump into" this spreadsheet of which I happened to have been following the author of, on Twitter; and...then, I had spent a few minutes reading through some of the comments, about it, and noticed the couple of changes that people were advising him of and wanted to pass those along to anyone who had been looking over the list, on here. :-)