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Yay! (Score:2)
First vote!
I love paper books but ebooks are so handy... I keep reference books in print and light reads electronic.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
You're doing it wrong. Reference books should be electronic (for easy reference, obviously), whereas light reads may just as well be disposable paperbacks.
It would be interesting seeing this poll repeated next year. I still don't have an ebook reader, but having tried both a Kindle and a competing product from Sony, I think they're really great devices. Easy on the eyes, portable, practical.
Re:Yay! (Score:5, Interesting)
I disagree. Text search is nice, but ebook screens are still too slow to rapidly try to look at the 10 pages where that word is found. Also, often times I know about where in the book what I'm looking for is (whether Python in a Nutshell, or the Bible), and I can find it very quickly by simply flipping pages with my thumb. Maybe I'm just a fast reader. Whatever the case, for the cases where I use a reference book, dead tree is still the quickest. I own several ebook readers. But they are strictly for straight-through reading. Now a device like the iPad is different. At church I'd never consider using my Kindle to look up scriptures. Horrible keyboard, slow screen. But folks with iPads or iPhones can find things very rapidly.
Re:Yay! (Score:5, Funny)
At church I'd never consider using my Kindle to look up scriptures. Horrible keyboard, slow screen. But folks with iPads or iPhones can find things very rapidly.
Huh. I always figured iPads and iPods would catch fire upon entering into churches; guess now I know for sure there is no God.
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It really goes the other way; iPad / iPod / iPhone choice is almost a religion (like college football in the South), and those that bring electronics to church seem to be more heavily weighted to Apple products.
Maybe perception (I'm an Android guy), maybe it's that the Apple guys are more in-your-face, maybe it's just that the Apple guys are more gadget-thinking and recognize the advantage of using electronics instead of dead tree format.
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iPhone choice is almost a religion (like college football in the South)
I thought religion was the religion in the South.
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I thought religion was the religion in the South.
It is on Sunday and maybe Wednesday. The rest of the week it's football, although there is some intermingling as many football fans seem to think that God wants their team to win.
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Ebook screen speeds are fine, as long as you don't use one that has that craptacular e-paper. I just can't imagine why anybody would want one of those - hard to read, no color, and no backlight.
And I wouldn't use one in a church either - talk about a waste of time, I have no reason to go in one of those silly places. But if you must look up anything in the xian bible, I'd say an ebook or laptop would be a good way to do it, since the best source is on the web - http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/ [skepticsan...dbible.com]
Ebooks on destop computers (Score:2)
Agreed, there is even a 'Kindle for PC' program.
But I don't buy Ebooks from Amazon, I prefer an open formet. I buy SF novels from Baen in HTML, and eveything these days comes with a manual(s) in PDF.
I have a 28 inch screen on this PC, and you can zoom to however big you want the text.
I have been reading the Writings (of the Bahá'í Faith) in etext format since 1989
Re:Yay! (Score:4, Funny)
The funny thing is that at a friend of mine's church, they find e-book readers for the Bible heresy -- "would you have the Bible on the same physical book as a stack of hardcore gay porn? That is what happens with e-readers."
Though, to be fair, that only happens for the priest.
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Only if you're not Catholic, it would seem.
Catholic priests, of course, need no porn when there's an endless supply of altar boys who are available.
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I was a bit skeptical about the Kindle, simply because of the lock into Amazon, the lack of memory expansion, etc. Love the idea, the screen is great for books (sucks for magazines).
These days, I'm using a Notion Ink Adam (Android-based) tablet as an eBook reader. It solves most of the problems. I have a 32GB memory card, so I can keep 10-15GB of tech docs on it if I need to (datasheets in PDF for hardware projects, that kind of thing)... paper alternatives to these have pretty much gone the way of the film
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Reference books should be electronic
Can e-books be annotated easily? If not, then they'll never replace printed reference material. All my reference books are scribbled in, and well-sprinkled with post-it notes and 3x5 cards. If, however, I can write notes and hyperlink to them, I'll seriously consider picking up an e-book reader.
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If you buy any of my books from InformIT [informit.com] or get them from Safari Books Online [safaribooksonline.com], then you get a DRM-free PDF. You can then annotate it to your heart's content. I have an iRex iLiad, which has a built-in wacom tablet (sadly, the company that made it went bust) so you can write on the resulting PDF. Most PDF readers also let you annotate the file. Best of all, if you annotate them using text, rather than doodles, this then also becomes searchable. One of my friends wrote a little Cocoa apps that ran annota
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None of the eBook readers on the market do well with preformatted code. It really harshes your mellow.
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Assuming you know what precisely you're looking for and assuming that you foresaw the need for the book when you started whatever you're doing. In more realistic situations though an ebook is going to beat the dead tree edition due to not having to know you're going to need a particular book.
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If the book is properly hyperlinked in the contents and appendix, and with a good interface for text searching and bookmarks, a tablet would be fastest all round I think.
Ebooks are convenient for travel (Score:3)
Ebooks have real limitations - can't read them in the bathtub, probably don't want to read them on the beach either, limited size so they're not always useful for technical books.
But they are really nice for travel - a few hundred pounds of books all fit in the size of a trade paperback. I spent most of my last flight reading this year's Hugo Award nominees on my Kindle, and I've got an increasing selection of Project Gutenberg books and a few authors who publish e-book versions. (And on the way back, I s
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Ebooks have real limitations - can't read them in the bathtub, probably don't want to read them on the beach either
Invest in a Ziploc baggie. I read in the bathtub all the time, and in many other situations where I wouldn't want to risk a paper book.
I think dead tree books have far more limitations. Especially if you have an e-book reader which has a backlit screen, so you can read in the dark. I also like that e-books can be read with one hand, or even no hands, while paperbacks more or less require two hands. And that I can carry a whole library with me.
Re:Ebooks are convenient for travel (Score:5, Funny)
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Also ebooks are easier to copy/backup than paper books.
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Ebooks have real limitations - can't read them in the bathtub, probably don't want to read them on the beach either
Yes you can. I do it anyway. Got myself a Sony (PRS900). I own lots of gadgets, but this one proved to be the best and most useful. I love reading. And I take it anywhere. Most Sony products in the past decade were meh, but they do make great readers. Very, very sturdy. It came with a leather-like cover AND a case for travel, which I never used actually. Dropped it a couple of times (I never dropped it in water though). And beaches - that's my favourite activity... reading on the beach. Actually, now it loo
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Ebooks have real limitations - can't read them in the bathtub, probably don't want to read them on the beach either
Yes you can. I do it anyway.
Me too... as I said in the post you responded to. I do recommend investing in a Ziploc baggie, though.
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I've read ebooks on the beach on my PDA. Just don't drop them in the sand or water. No big deal.
If you want to read them in the bath, there are ziplock bags and dedicated waterproof gadget bags.
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Amazon can, they already got caught deleting 1984. There are ways of cracking the books though.
Personally, I got myself a Nook and most of the books I own are DRM free from O'Reilly. But, cracking the DRMed books isn't really that hard if you really want to as is finding them in a less than legal manner.
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I got my Kindle courtesy of a vendor raffle at a trade show, so in this case Free Beer beat Free Speech hands-down :-) Otherwise I was going to have to decide which vendors' DRM systems were more annoying, and whether that overrode the design superiority of the Kindle, which I really liked anyway.
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Um, you can't read a dead tree book in the bathtub without risking the same kind of damage
I read dead tree books in the bath. Getting a little bit of water on the pages is fine - getting the same amount in the non-waterproof controls of my eBook reader would probably be less fine. If I drop a paperback in the bath, I've lost one paperback. A replacement is cheap. I don't care (much). If I drop my eBook reader in the bath, I've lost something that costs over 50 times as much as a paperback. That's more irritating.
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First vote!
I love paper books but ebooks are so handy... I keep reference books in print and light reads electronic.
Oddly, I'm the opposite - I want my references digital (because I usually only need them a few pages at a time), and my reading in print. Cheap reading comes from the library, and then I'll buy the stuff that I know I'll read again.
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My favorite thing about buying a Kindle book, for example, is that I can then read it on any of my computers, either of my Android phones, or my Kindle e-reader. That convenience has been very enjoyable--especially since I don't bring my Kindle to a lot of places but I always have my phone.
Some of the above (Score:3)
No audiobook option? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
(sorry had to quote Egon)
But honestly, if I'm "reading" for entertainment I'm listening to an audiobook. If I'm reading for knowledge, I'm reading something freely and legally distributed on the net. I'm reading it on a monitor, and I'm either following the tutorial or fact checking every other sentence, depending on what I'm reading it for.
Sometimes I'll get a tree version of an audio book just for follow up, but that's mostly because audiobooks don't have adequate search, glossaries
Re: (Score:2)
You know I have seen a lot of versions of the bible done this way. I think that at this time, you have to have a book that has a huge appeal to make it proffitable to do a book like this. The Bible is an obvious choice, but I honestly cannot think of any other book that warrants this treatment. I would say The Koran, but with Islam's restriction on depicting Allah and T
Re: (Score:2)
I think that at this time, you have to have a book that has a huge appeal to make it proffitable to do a book like this. The Bible is an obvious choice, but I honestly cannot think of any other book that warrants this treatment.
It wouldn't necessarily be profitable in first edition, but once it generated enough interest to become a summer best seller, block buster movie, HBO miniseries, etc. it would be easy to put a multimedia version together. The key would be making meaningful and interesting links between the various media. It would be neat to be able to switch between the three formats or have them blended together, as well as have access to author notes and maps, as well as production sketches (basically what DVD promised t
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By.... not depicting either? Sorry but I fail to see the specific issue. Illustrations could be used outside of the depiction of those two individuals, and if they needed to include visuals during those passages, let them be impressionistic representations or abstract patterns.
You know you may be right. I am / was probably letting my ignorance / prejudice reflect in my opinion.
I stand corrected.
Re: (Score:2)
The question is about books. Leaving off audio isn't an oversight any more than leaving off butterflies or charcoal or hubcaps would be.
Kind of like how being blind is no different than margarine?
Used Book Store vs Ebooks (Score:5, Interesting)
A Used Book Store is a great place to kill an afternoon, and most of my shelves are filled with both hardcover and paperback items I may never have discovered without that browsing opportunity.
That being said, I have owned a Nook Colour since the end of February and haven't cracked a paper book since I got it. I suspect my vote will be different when this poll comes around again. I already have significantly more ebooks than paper books but I'm only counting the ones I've read for my voting purposes. TPB and other sources will satisfy my "haven't heard of this, might as well read it" urge that I usually get from the book shops but I must admit that I still browse the used (and new) book shops but usually just go back home to find the ebook instead of actually bringing home the paper copy.
I suppose that would make me part of the problem, if we were discussing a problem.
Re: (Score:2)
I always end up spending way too much money at used book stores. There's so many books out there that make me want to read them I buy several of them every time I go. I'll probably never have enough time to read through them all, but having them around me makes me happy.
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Whaa? You don't use /. Book Reviews [slashdot.org] as your exclusive guide for dead tree and ebook purchases?
Nope. (Score:2)
Multiple choice! (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
You are, even if I ignore the other benefits of ebooks, the reality is that I don't have room for all the reference books and books that I might want to reread in the future.
Plus, my library, like many others, allows me to check out books from Overdrive or Safari Books.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Multiple choice! (Score:4, Interesting)
For me, there's nothing like holding a real book in my hands.
I've said the same thing in the past, and now that I have an eReader, I still don't disagree with the sentiment. There is value to reading a real book.
However, reading an ebook is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, it's not bad at all. And I do like the idea that I can take my entire bookshelf with me wherever I go.
It's an evolution that's easy to get used to if you allow yourself. I used to feel the same way about music on physical media vs digital. I loved unwrapping a brand new CD and flipping through the liner. But now I'm so used to having my entire music collection in my pocket that I just don't bother buying CDs anymore. It's just a matter of time before I look at books as quaint relics of a distant past.
Yay for used books! (Score:2)
Paper (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I own a tree farm... once every 25-30 years or so, we cut down some trees. The difference between a tree farm and a forest is simple: if you're logging on a tree farm, you're cutting down your trees, and you will replace them (in fact, most of the logging is sparse enough to only take some of the more mature trees, and leave the forest itself intact). If you're logging on a forest, you're cutting down someone else's trees (probably the Government's, which by extension makes them yours and mine).
The reason f
But, but, but!!! (Score:2)
I use all of those methods you insensitive clod.
(Those children had already finished reading them anyway!)
Re: (Score:2)
Well, the question was: where do you get most of them? That is theoretically answerable, but there's no freakin' way I'm going to go though all the books I've bought in the last year and trace each back to its source just so I can answer a slashdot poll. So my answer is: Cowboy Neal!
Physical stores, paper books (Score:2)
I figured that my choice would be the least popular. At this point, it is in second place. I guess I am not the only one out there who enjoys the entire bookstore experience.
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It does have it's advantages over stealing from kids.... but it was only the "Harry Potter" series I stole from a kid. And she was my kid, so in a way, it wasn't really stealing.
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er, its advantages (well, this is all more or less presuming literacy).
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Come On Bookshop are becoming pale imitations of gift shops
I disagree for 2 reasons:
1. Books are good gifts - so bookshops are giftshops.
2. But second hand book shops are not gift shops at all! Those are about as non-commercial as possible. Large piles of unsorted books waiting for a treasure digger to discover them. All books available at bargain prices. All great classics are available (and not just the latest "bestsellers"). If you want quality and content: go to a second hand bookshop. If you just want a fancy cover that says it's the NY Times' favorite of the
Stolen from Children (Score:2)
marketing survey, in my /. poll? (Score:2)
It's more likely than you think.
Missing option (Score:2)
Poll missing the obvious option:
Books? What are books?
Might help show if the majority of Slashdotters even bother reading books anymore, or rather just read lots of literature in various forms on the Net.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm quite disappointed about this option - unless you count the Cisco books my employer gave me...
It depends (Score:2)
eBooks now for technical books (searchable and usually a limited useful lifetime so I like recycling electrons better then trees). I still like hard-cover treeware for books I want to hold on to. These are usually histories, biographies (some autographed), a few works of fiction like Lord of the Rings that are "timeless", etc. If I have to buy a work of fiction like a mystery (e.g., the library doesn't have a copy) then paperback and used paperback if possible. Especially when I'm reading a mystery, I s
Another missing option (Score:2)
In the form of calligraphy carefully copied and coloured by an army of scribes, on the skin of goats.
OK, so I guess it is not as popular any more these days. At least, it does not kill TREES!
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Wow, you and your modern methods. I prefer cuneiform on clay tablets.
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Pffft, clay tablets are so mass-market, give me text hand-chiseled into a nice slab of polished marble.
Missing option (Score:2)
In an audio format. Helps quite a bit with the commute.
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Complain! (Score:2)
Don't complain about lack of options.
It's the right of every man (and woman) to complain about lack of options.
And also about the prohibition of complains. And the prohibition of prohibition of complains.
Ans also from our fathers' fathers' fathers' fathers. [montypython.net]
Real books (Score:2)
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You put a lot of trust in brick and mortar stores, why is that? You think if you buy a stolen used book that the store won't turn over your credit card info to the police? You probably buy everything in cash though, right? Good thing no store on earth has security cameras. The only thing amazon did wrong was handle the deletion of the offending book in a horrible manner.
Parent is spot on. Amazon exists (as far as books are concerned) and does business at the whim of the publishers. They cannot piss off the
Re:Real books (Score:4, Insightful)
Telling... (Score:2)
Yay for university libraries! (Score:2)
40 books loan limit, six months loan, interlibrary loans for free! (including getting books in from other countries).
The Open University (UK) library rocks!
Ebooks! (Score:2)
I used to be really anti-ebook. I was thinking you couldn't read them in the bath, you couldn't stuff them in a bag, readers were expensive etc. But now I'm starting to get used to them. The obvious advantages are that they take no space - I used to have bookshelves, but the last time I moved I just never unpacked the books from their boxes and I haven't needed any of them yet - and that they are much easier to move around. They are also a lot easier to pirate^H^H^H^H^H^Hborrow from a friend, which is very
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Graphic Novels VS Books (Score:2)
Most of the books I buy are older, so I get them from local brick and mortar physical stores.
Most of the Graphic Novels I buy you do not find in used book stores, so I buy them all new online.
I lied (Score:2)
I get most of my books through my Nook via the "free Friday" feature. I don't read most of them but I download them anyway (because there might be a contest someday to see who snagged them all without missing any! It could happen!). I love ebooks when they're something ephemeral that I don't want to keep forever, like a popular novel or a magazine issue.
If it's a book I want to keep around so my kids can read it and I can come back to it decades later, I'll pick dead tree every time. If I know exactly what
From a lapsed reader (Score:2)
O'Reilly gets it right (almost) (Score:2)
I've have two Kindles in the past three years (DX, which died just out of warranty, admittedly after much abuse and a regular third gen) and while I like the convenience of buying through amazon, nothing beats the way O'Reilly handles things. No DRM, No limit to downloads, multiple formats. My only knock on O'Reilly is price, but they run enough specials that you can usually pick things up for cheap so long as you're on the mailing list.
On top of that, nothing beats having all your books in your bag when yo
They seem to reproduce on my bookshelves (Score:2)
Danged if I know where all my books come from. They just keep piling up. I get some from the library, buy some at tag sales, some arrive as gifts or review copies, some are left by guests. Three times in my life I have bought homes that came fully furnished -- including lots and lots of books. I keep selling them, donating them to rummage sales and sending friends home with armloads of them, but every time I look on my bookshelves there seem to be more. I got a Kindle for Christmas, and it's handy for trave
Libraries! (Score:2)
Missing option: the Neighborhood (Score:2)
I love to patrol yard sales, so I get most of my books used... from my neighbors, for on average about $.25 USD apiece.
Multi-way tie. (Score:2)
I would say the largest raw number of new volumes acquired are via free (legal) ebooks. However, I don't actually *READ* all of them that much, it's more of a "Oh, that looks interesting... [read three chapters] ...nevermind" deal.
For volumes that I seek out, my most recent few dozen have been a nearly equal mix of:
1. Library
2. Purchased ebooks
3. Purchased new books
4. Purchased used books
Library ebooks would be up there too if the ebook service my local library used didn't suck for both Kindle (no support
Books? (Score:2)
Who still reads those things?
Multiple Choice (Score:2)
is really needed in this case, since 'most' is sort of abstract.
Reading In Public (Score:2)
I've been switching off and on for a few months between paper books and reading on my iPad. One place where paper definitely rules is out in public parks. No matter what paper book I'm reading, there's almost always someone who'll pass by and strike up a conversation with me about the book. No one disturbs me at all with the iPad.
I guess it goes both ways... It's fun to chit chat with random strangers about something of mutual interest, so that's a good reason to carry a paper book to the park. But if
Holding Out (Score:2)
Like many others here, I don't believe e-readers will ever replace physical books. I am hopeful, however, that they will replace magazines. After all, the overwhelming majority of magazines are simply large collections of colorful ads that are actually designed to be thrown away. Why not pack them all into e-readers and tablets? Save some trees and shipping costs, sell more ads and score some free ec
I don't read books (Score:2)
I read webpages, forums, video games, movies.
Flea market finds (Score:2)
Most of my books are store-bought new, but many that I have bought more recently, I bought at flea markets for very low prices - down to 1/10th of the original store price.
With prices that low, you don't hesitate to buy something the way you may do in a store.
Goodwill (Score:2)
abebooks.com (Score:2)
abebooks.com [abebooks.com] is a front end for used bookstores around the world. Because most of them charge shipping and handling, it can be cheaper to buy new from an online retailer who offers free shipping if you buy over a certain amount, but it's definitely worth checking out. Some books you can find cheaper even including s/h. If cost wasn't a factor, I'd buy via abebooks exclusively to support small business.
As for ebooks, they've been around for awhile, but still waiting for a reader not associated with a retai
Where's the (Score:2)
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I read Cowboy Neal's aura...
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Re:Missing option: (Score:4, Informative)
Only on Slashdot does someone get modded insightful for failing to read all of the options in a poll about reading.
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I get the same feeling when I hit the end of the TXT/PDF file and it won't scroll down any more.
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My husband I have both purchased e-readers this year. We have been slowly 'procuring' epub edition of the contents of our 12 books shelves with the intention of offloading the paper copies. In part this is intended to arrest my tendency to need a new bookcase every 12 months due to book purchases I'm running out of room to put them.
I was thinking the other night what dead tree editions we would offload, and have decided that I will probably keep roughly 30-50% of the paper copies, being the books I know I w
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