e-books, hardbacks or paperbacks our thoughts.

[Perpetual Man]

As an overall thing, I agree Teresa. I don't think anything will ever take away the feel of having a hardback book in your hands; and no matter how many novels you can fit onto an e-reader there will always be something missing in not entering a room and not seeing a shelf full of books. It gives meaning, life, a soul to a home.

I think I shall always buy books by my favourite authors in a proper, paper format, but new stuff and quick reads... well then I can see that is ideal for the Kindle (or e-reader of choice)

I think though, if someone should buy a hardback, they should be given a fee digital copy at the same time, or a substantial discount on one.

And when Goblin Moon is published in digital format, Teresa, let me know. I really should have something worthwhile on the e-reader!

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Thanks, Perp. I think that when the GM reprint comes out, I'll make sure that everyone knows.

(Preparing to carpet spam the for-- Oh, wait, I'm a moderator here. That would probably not be appropriate. Oh well, I'll just have to settle for being obnoxious and shoehorning it into every possible conversation.)

 

[thaddeus6th]

I've had a Kindle for a little while now. I still buy some books in physical form, and I've found it quite useful for checking my writing and making notes for redrafting.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I recently read that people who are visually impaired are a big part of the market for e-books. I suppose that's because they can adjust the size and font.

If true, that's a marvelous thing.

 

[Tillane]

I have to say, while I love the feel of a proper hardback (or paperback), I am not a million miles from buying myself an e-reader on health grounds.

First and foremost, as Teresa mentioned, the adjustable font sizes. My eyesight is not the best - I have 200/400 vision, and it'll most likely only get worse as I get older - and I find it awkward to read some paperbacks when the publishers have squished the text down too small. Having had a play around on my dad's Kindle, I have to say that I find the adjustable fonts an excellent feature and a big selling point for someone like me.

Secondly - and this is something that has only been starting to affect me recently - reading some of the larger hardbacks and (to a lesser extent) paperbacks is really starting to play merry hell with my wrists. I'm currently reading through A Song of Ice And Fire, and even in paperback I'm finding myself having to do it in short bursts to stop my wrists from aching. With the general trend seeming to be for novels to get longer and longer, I'm a little concerned that at some point I'm going to end up doing myself lasting harm.

So, yes. Reluctantly, I think there'll be a Kindle in my future - and probably my not-too-distant future, at that.

 

[Connavar]

Fantasy bricks i knew was not good for you!

Myself i dislike huge paperbacks but unless im old feeble man in like 50 years i will never betray the paper books.

Seriously its wonderful to know people with bad eyesights can read thanks to e-reader.

 

[Vertigo]

TE there is a big market for ebooks for those with visual problems and even the blind who can have them automatically read to them (not very well maybe but better than no book at all!).

And then there's the opportunity to take that so much further; this is from the Baen Publishers Website:

Baen Books (www.baen.com), a publisher of science fiction, will provide its books to fans who are blind, paralysed, or dyslexic, or are amputees, in electronic form free of charge, effective immediately.

 

[Tillane]

Myself i dislike huge paperbacks but unless im old feeble man in like 50 years i will never betray the paper books.

Heh. My problem is that I'm a young feeble man...

 

[Daisy-Boo]

Well, I finally took the plunge and ordered a Kindle (the 6" with wi-fi and 3G). I ordered a cover with it and since that will take 4-5 weeks to ship, I'll only get the Kindle in Aug/Sep. (I chose not to ship as available.)

I'm quite excited about this. I've dithered for so long, read countless reviews and comparisons between various brands and I've researched all the ins-and-outs of using a Kindle in South Africa.

I'll still buy paper books for those books that I lend to (vetted and approved) others. But otherwise I'll opt for eBooks as much as possible. Being able to carry around many books in one lightweight and convenient device is just too attractive a prospect.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Daisy, had mine since Saturday, and I'm becoming more and more impressed by it as the days go by. Much as I love hardback books, and will still buy my favourite authors in that format, the Kindle is so much lighter and I can take it anywhere with very little trouble!

If you haven't already, there is a free Kindle program you can download from Amazon for the PC (and Smart phones come to that). It does all the stuff the handheld can do, and a few different things as well. Using that for a few months certainly got me ready for the real thing

 

[Daisy-Boo]

I'm so glad to hear that you're enjoying your Kindle Perpetual Man. Every piece of positive feedback makes me more excited about getting my own.

I heard of the Kindle app but I haven't downloaded it. I'm still not comfortable reading books on a PC/laptop so I didn't think I'd use the Kindle app much.

 

[Clansman]

Okay, reading great big fat paperbacks is a pain. I am in the midst of Erikson's The Bonehunters right now, and the monster is huge and heavy, and you can't open it enough with one hand (the way I like to read a paperback) to see the words crammed next to the binding. It is heavy enough to need a pillow under it if I am reading in bed (where I usually read). With this kind of size, I would be better off with a hardcover (the print would be larger and the margins better), or an e-book (to which I am philosophically opposed. Yes, I am a Luddite, but I am honest about it).

 

[JP Garrod]

Main reason i haven't got and probably never will get a Kindle is the fact most of my books i get for 50p from the amazon marketplace and most books are £7+ on the kindle(I am a student).

Also it sounds strange but i like the feel and smell of a book and the satisfaction of working your way through one as you can physically see how much you've read, just old fashioned i guess!

 

[thaddeus6th]

Daisy-Boo, one of the best (and slightly strange) things about the Kindle is the screen. It's enormously easier to read (especially for prolonged periods) than a standard screen.

JP Garrod, I know what you mean. I still get some physical books, particularly hefty hardbacks.

 

[Daisy-Boo]

Nothing will ever replace the feel and smell of a real book. I even enjoy the musty smell of old books.

For a number of years I boought loads of used books from a charity shop and many of those books were really old. I'd often find inscriptions and sometimes scribbles. It always made me wonder about the person who first got the book. Did they love it or hate it? How did the book get to the charity shop? Did the owner die, pass it on to someone else, donate it to the shop? How many people read the book? It felt like more than a book. I was holding a small piece of history too.

I know I'll enjoy my Kindle, but it will never occupy that place in my heart that is forever reserved for real books.

 

[GOLLUM]

I'm not an ebook fan or user but a friend of mine is considering buying one. Thing is he wants to be able to be sure to:

a). back up the books he downloads on the ereader on to his pc in case the reader goes pear shaped.
b). know how hard is it to print the book vs. reading online. Granted that somewhat defeats the purpose and may not instantaneously bring a smile to e-sellers vis a vis copyright etc.. but are most books 'protected' with a disabled print button apart from possibly pdf?
c). once you purchase the ebook does it have a shelf-life or do you keep the copy on your system til the day dot without it self-imploding?

Thank you.

 

[Perpetual Man]

I'm pretty sure that once you buy an e-book online it is logging in your account as having bought it. You can re-download it as often as possible. It's also possible to copy the files to your computer, and although they sellers probably l don't like it, using a free program like Calibre it is possible to change the file format. So for example you could buy a copy of one in .epub format cheaper than the kindle version, then convert it to mobi format and put it on your kindle (I have).

The printing thing probably is frowned on, but it is possible, again calibre would convert files to pdf or even a word document.

I think it's your until the end of time. Even if you lost it, you should be able to download it again from the seller free of charge.

I've got copies on my e-reader and on the free Kindle download for the PC (and on my smart phone, but that's redundant now)

 

[antiloquax]

I think that books you buy have some DRM (digital rights management) in them that is supposed to stop you converting / editing / printing them etc.

I'm sure that Perpetual Man is right about converting them. I had thought that Calibre wouldn't remove the DRM, but I may be wrong. There are certainly other packages that will. (Mobipocket creator is a nice piece of software).

I think that basically once you have the files you can do with them as you please. I have been spending many happy hours (!!) converting pdfs to mobi files and playing around with metadata. My only gripe with my Kindle is that despite all my best efforts it displays some of my books alphabetically by their first name and the rest by surname. Grrr.

BTW I have just done a little backup of the 700 or so books I have on my Kindle. They all went nicely onto a CD Rom.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Calibre seems to do okay so far antiloquax, but I've been going to mobi, not from it so I'll have to wait and see.

Interesting what you say about the listing of books on the kindle, I haven't got that many books yet so I hadn't noticed...

and I'll have a look at that mobipocket creator, it sounds interesting.

 

[Vertigo]

Calibre can convert pretty much any format to any other including Word documents, RTF, PDF or even just plain text (TXT). However the ebook must have no DRM on it to allow it to do that. There are plenty of ways to go about stripping the DRM that although they can get a little techie. I always do this on the principal that I have bought the book and should have the freedom to read it on any device not just a Kindle or Sony or whatever.

If you want to maintain your own backup of your books, and I would advise it even though all the major booksellers including Amazon do this for you, then the easiest way I feel is to buy the books on your PC. This is the sequence I go through when buying a book and despite the way it sounds it really does only take a couple of minutes when you've done it a few times:

1. Buy the book and download to your PC (not your reader). You will typically have to have PC reader software to do this even if you don't actually read on the PC. That is Kindle for PC for Amazon and Adobe Digital Editions for pretty much anyone else. If you are getting free books from the likes of Gutenberg that last bit is not necessary as they are not secured.

2. Strip the DRM.

3. Add the book into my Calibre database, so creating my permanent copy on me PC (actually on an external USB drive in my case).

4. If necessary convert the book to the format for my reader (ePub for my Sony, it would be MOBI or AZW for a Kindle).

5. Connect my reader and Calibre automatically detects the reader and uploads a copy of the book to it.

Regarding the "shelf life", just as with a printed book you now own that book for "the rest of time". However on the basis that you can't assume your supplier (Amazon or whoever) will be around for the rest of time, this is why I make sure I have my own backup of all my books.

Antiloquax, my mother has a kindle and I have tried to sort out the organisation of books on her machine and I gave up in despair. Calibre does a pretty good job of creating "collections" on my Sony, so I have a hierarchy letting me view all books by an author, or all books in a series. Works pretty well!