The Over-Hype about Digital Books
Summary: Seems that Amazon and others have been using statistics that skew the data in a way that makes it seem more meaningful than it really is.
Doc loves the idea of digital books, but he has been a bit skeptical of some of the data out there which would make you think we were already past a tipping point in the move from print to digital. Not so, says Marc Boer, Vice President of IT Strategies, in this video from Whattheythink.com.
Seems that Amazon and others have been using statistics that skew the data in a way that makes it seem more meaningful than it really is.
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ZDNet introduces Doc (The DocuMentor), sponsored by RICOH. Through his blog, Doc will educate you about Document Management. So who is Doc? Doc is something of an enigma. He was born to a Russian ballerina and a German electrical engineer who some believe was running covert operations for shadowy corporate interests. Doc grew up in various locations in the United States, although no one seems to know precisely where, least of all Doc. His early schooling was unremarkable except for the time he was caught trying to replace all the mimeograph machines with high-tech color copiers that had mysteriously disappeared from a shipment to Albania. At MIT, he made a name for himself by transforming a large printer into a robot that hunts and eats Roombas. Professionally, he reportedly has seen the insides of more brands, versions, and generations of printer and printer-related hardware than almost anyone. Some say his obsession with paper, printing, and mechanical movement was either started by, or evidenced by, a traumatic childhood episode when he crawled inside an old Xerox 2400 and tried to print himself.
Anyway, Doc has hands on experience with stuff like printer maintenance and fleet management, but his mastery of document management leaves no stone unturned. Important issues like sustainability, security, and regulatory compliance are top of mind for Doc, as are other business technology needs like networking and IT services, making him a true blue IT renaissance man.
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This article piqued my interest because I have a couple of novels in 'traditional' print--softcover, perfect bound. My publisher is pushing vigorously to have their authors pay them to produce an e-book for both Kindle and Nook. I've dug in my heels and refuse to buy into their marketing; I retain all rights to my books aside from the contracted seven years of 'traditional' printing and those contracts expire in 2012 and 2013 respectively. I prefer 'real' books versus the virtual world and cannot believe that the majority of humankind still also does want a volume to treasure. When comparing my family heirlooms handed down by generations ahead of me to a digital device...well, there simply is no comparison. I won't be dropping traditionally printed books in this lifetime. Besides, did you ever try to press flowers in a Kindle?
"I prefer 'real' books versus the virtual world and cannot believe that the majority of humankind still also does want a volume to treasure."
Every aspect of human commerce has come to be dominated by one question: "What can we get away with?" And with today's consumers, the answer is, "Almost anything."
Every aspect of human commerce has come to be dominated by one question: "What can we get away with?" And with today's consumers, the answer is, "Almost anything."
@dgurney Personally, I see a lot of value in being able to carry about entire libraries of books with me on a single device. I don't mind paying for that value, however, if you don't see the value in that service, no one is forcing you to choose digital media over traditional media. The two seem to be co-existing quite nicely.
@dgurney aww, someone's grumpy. That's a pretty cynical way to characterize the sum-total of commerce.
I have always been a voracious reader, and have my treasures on my bookshelves, my day to day reads on my Sony reader, and often copies in both locations. I love my books, but I can't keep them all - my house is large, but not enormous. I already have 8 bookcases, but my reader stores as many again in something I can slip into my purse and take anywhere. So please, cut the dramatics, lose the emotive language, and just maintain a balanced view - no one is forcing you to choose!
@OldGrayWolf
Since putting the Kindle app on my iPhone I've read over 25 books (all bought and paid for except for the old public domain titles) in a period that I would have read, maybe 4 at best. Having several books in my pocket all the time is revolutionary. I care more about reading than I do about putting ever more paper in my house.
Since putting the Kindle app on my iPhone I've read over 25 books (all bought and paid for except for the old public domain titles) in a period that I would have read, maybe 4 at best. Having several books in my pocket all the time is revolutionary. I care more about reading than I do about putting ever more paper in my house.
@rickleefs, you have perfectly stated the case for digital books. My personal Kindle statistics are a mirror of yours. I have many bookshelves lined two and three deep with old friends whom I have read, but may never touch again. They are hardly heirlooms, yet I could never compost a book. Electrons and magnetic domains solve both problems.
@rickleefs ...terrific post.
Add to that some of us continue to use the traditional form even as we embrace the digital form. I am in a doctoral program and the cost of books would be astronomical. We use digital texts, and from that I choose the ones that I may want to keep around as hard copies.
For non-fiction especially, updates can make the traditional books fairly dated and of reduced value. Take my old encyclopaedia sets for example. Great bindings but truth be told, we would be better of with the trees still around. They are unlike terrific stories that only get better with time and would make great boxed presents or shelf ornamentation for generations.
My wife is a voracious reader and she's getting a Kindle Fire for Christmas. I am tired of dragging boxes of spent novels to the basement!
Add to that some of us continue to use the traditional form even as we embrace the digital form. I am in a doctoral program and the cost of books would be astronomical. We use digital texts, and from that I choose the ones that I may want to keep around as hard copies.
For non-fiction especially, updates can make the traditional books fairly dated and of reduced value. Take my old encyclopaedia sets for example. Great bindings but truth be told, we would be better of with the trees still around. They are unlike terrific stories that only get better with time and would make great boxed presents or shelf ornamentation for generations.
My wife is a voracious reader and she's getting a Kindle Fire for Christmas. I am tired of dragging boxes of spent novels to the basement!
@rickleefs: You hit the nail on the head. Except in those rare cases where people keep them as artifacts or works of art, books are just a way of packaging information to be consumed.
I love being able to carry around enough books, music, movies and other media to last me for weeks, maybe months! My goal is to replace the hundreds of boxes of books, comics, video, CDs and records that are clogging up my front room with a single external drive, smaller than a box of chocolates, but with the same amount (or more) of content as I have buried and (mostly) inaccessible in those cardboard boxes.
I love being able to carry around enough books, music, movies and other media to last me for weeks, maybe months! My goal is to replace the hundreds of boxes of books, comics, video, CDs and records that are clogging up my front room with a single external drive, smaller than a box of chocolates, but with the same amount (or more) of content as I have buried and (mostly) inaccessible in those cardboard boxes.
@OldGrayWolf When you limit your book to paper-only edition, you limit the number of your readers. The funny thing I have read recently (sorry, don't remember the source) that when paper-only is scanned by anybody and fed to Internet, it usually increases the number of books sold. But I suspect that it is still less than number would be if you release paper and ebook format for people to choose.
@vlad-tch It may have been bOINGbOING. Cory Doctorow, a syfy author and bOINGbOING co-editor, has a lot to say on that subject. He's quoted studies that showed just that--that availability of the text, free online, increases the sale of the book. He makes all his books available for free download at his personal site--craphound.com--at the time they're released in hardcover. It turns out pirating digital music also sells more music. All this paranoia about digital making us all thieves turns out to be nonsense. The more pirating a person does, the more content they buy. Music pirates spend a LOT more money on music than the average.
@OldGrayWolf
I am always dissapointed when a book I want to read is not available in ePub. It is very dissapointing, and usually ends in me looking for a competing book if it exists. I have moved house 17 times in adulthood, and 5 bookcases + several boxes is more than enough books.
I am always dissapointed when a book I want to read is not available in ePub. It is very dissapointing, and usually ends in me looking for a competing book if it exists. I have moved house 17 times in adulthood, and 5 bookcases + several boxes is more than enough books.
@dimonic
I'm the exact same way. I've moved from place to place, and the last time I threw my back out moving books. Now if a book isn't available digitally, I don't buy the paper edition- I just buy a different e-book.
I'm the exact same way. I've moved from place to place, and the last time I threw my back out moving books. Now if a book isn't available digitally, I don't buy the paper edition- I just buy a different e-book.
@OldGrayWolf There is nothing like sitting down & reading a Good Ole Book by Mark Twain. I have books from the 1800's & Love just reading History. A-Plus on the Book its self.
@jaz54bo@... Mark Twain is just as talented when you read him on Kindle. Paper doesn't make it better.
@OldGrayWolf
Digital books are about selling things, not using things. I believe that most people who read prefer print, for many reasons. That may change in twenty, forty, or sixty years, but so will the delivery technology.
Digital books also offer instant gratification. Again, it's about buying and having, not about using.
Digital books are about selling things, not using things. I believe that most people who read prefer print, for many reasons. That may change in twenty, forty, or sixty years, but so will the delivery technology.
Digital books also offer instant gratification. Again, it's about buying and having, not about using.
@MJohnstone
I resent the suggestion - I am way too cheap to buy a book without actually readin it.
Secondly, you have it exactly backwards. Obviously those who need the physical book are ALL ABOUT HAVING IT versus using it. An e-ink reader is lighter (by an almost inifinite amout), easier to carry (than even a single book), better (with its bookmarks and access to libraries and shops). I am once again reading as much as I did in my teens, because now I can do it conveniently, without the burden on my conscience about filling more shelves with books I hate to part with, but hate to move with.
I resent the suggestion - I am way too cheap to buy a book without actually readin it.
Secondly, you have it exactly backwards. Obviously those who need the physical book are ALL ABOUT HAVING IT versus using it. An e-ink reader is lighter (by an almost inifinite amout), easier to carry (than even a single book), better (with its bookmarks and access to libraries and shops). I am once again reading as much as I did in my teens, because now I can do it conveniently, without the burden on my conscience about filling more shelves with books I hate to part with, but hate to move with.
@MJohnstone
Here's one person who disagrees with you and enjoys reading on his Playbook (...hey what's that?)
Part of what makes your comment invalid is that the pervasiveness of the computer has made us digital readers, period. We have learned to read and assimilate through that medium to earn a living so we have become good at it. Reading novels that way is simply an extension of something we practice routinely.
We may overtly attempt to 'reclaim' tradition by reading paper but it's now a lifestyle choice. Even leaving PCs aside, phone displays, train and airport schedules, miscellaneous kiosks, supermarket checkout counters, digital payment devices...on an on...the LED rules. We all have become digital readers.
Here's one person who disagrees with you and enjoys reading on his Playbook (...hey what's that?)
Part of what makes your comment invalid is that the pervasiveness of the computer has made us digital readers, period. We have learned to read and assimilate through that medium to earn a living so we have become good at it. Reading novels that way is simply an extension of something we practice routinely.
We may overtly attempt to 'reclaim' tradition by reading paper but it's now a lifestyle choice. Even leaving PCs aside, phone displays, train and airport schedules, miscellaneous kiosks, supermarket checkout counters, digital payment devices...on an on...the LED rules. We all have become digital readers.
@MJohnstone "having, not using"? That may be true for many book pirates who often collect more books than they can read in their lifetime (!!!). I do not, on the other hand, believe that it is true of most ebook device owners (myself included).
I switched to reading ebooks exclusively because of how much smaller and lighter ebooks are. They're easier to dust, and to move. In addition, most services will let you re-download the file (for those that don't - a good offsite backup will work) so that in the event your house is destroyed, you can't lose them.
I switched to reading ebooks exclusively because of how much smaller and lighter ebooks are. They're easier to dust, and to move. In addition, most services will let you re-download the file (for those that don't - a good offsite backup will work) so that in the event your house is destroyed, you can't lose them.
@OldGrayWolf @MJohnstone
I beg to differ. As an IT person the books we read are:
1. thick and heavy (and I'm scared to think about similarly thick and heavy textbooks students need to carry to and from school).
2. the information could become obsolete in a short time (so those thick and heavy books become thick and heavy trash)
3. requires references to other books, Web resources etc. (what is better, having a hyperlink in your digital book that connects to the Internet in an instance, or sit around a computer to type a printed URL? If the book needs to reference a video, is it better to link to youtube to have others watch it in an instant)?
I don't think there is any argument here that real books are inferior to digital ones. Paper books will not entirely go away, but in a few decades I see them cease being distributed and sold in paper. By then those who love paper books, will be asked to print digital books and bind together the paper themselves.
It's not about instant gratification. It's about real value proposition.
I beg to differ. As an IT person the books we read are:
1. thick and heavy (and I'm scared to think about similarly thick and heavy textbooks students need to carry to and from school).
2. the information could become obsolete in a short time (so those thick and heavy books become thick and heavy trash)
3. requires references to other books, Web resources etc. (what is better, having a hyperlink in your digital book that connects to the Internet in an instance, or sit around a computer to type a printed URL? If the book needs to reference a video, is it better to link to youtube to have others watch it in an instant)?
I don't think there is any argument here that real books are inferior to digital ones. Paper books will not entirely go away, but in a few decades I see them cease being distributed and sold in paper. By then those who love paper books, will be asked to print digital books and bind together the paper themselves.
It's not about instant gratification. It's about real value proposition.
@CyberGuerilla
What an interesting idea. When codex books were first produced, the purchasers were responsible for binding together the gathered pages by sending them to a binder. I love an old volume;but, I have purchased a Kindle device and see the value in being able to enlarge the print and read when I am working out on the elliptical machines. I also see real value to the adaptive features of having a book read to you with an electronic voice. This will give books to readers with print disabilities. I don't think that we are at the end of five-hundred years of the codex book any more than that the format of 33 and one third LP is gone. There is still a market and many advantages to the codex book. Perhaps the addition of readable (non-backlit) books will change the market and make a move away from perfect and perfect-case bindings and toward quality books with great paper and string bindings. The purists might be willing to pay for these features. For the rest of us, lower costs for readable copies is a good deal.
What an interesting idea. When codex books were first produced, the purchasers were responsible for binding together the gathered pages by sending them to a binder. I love an old volume;but, I have purchased a Kindle device and see the value in being able to enlarge the print and read when I am working out on the elliptical machines. I also see real value to the adaptive features of having a book read to you with an electronic voice. This will give books to readers with print disabilities. I don't think that we are at the end of five-hundred years of the codex book any more than that the format of 33 and one third LP is gone. There is still a market and many advantages to the codex book. Perhaps the addition of readable (non-backlit) books will change the market and make a move away from perfect and perfect-case bindings and toward quality books with great paper and string bindings. The purists might be willing to pay for these features. For the rest of us, lower costs for readable copies is a good deal.
@OldGrayWolf
I'm not sure I understand your position, Old Gray Wolf. You do not wish to have a kindle edition of your novels because you are not interested in paying for this, or because you expect everyone to share your exclusive/exclusionary appreciation for a library of volumes? My own library of volumes is the only possession I deeply value, and I love handling a book, turning its pages, making notes, flipping effortlessly between various sections for comparison. Yet, work keeps me forever bouncing from city to city, country to country, and often enroute to fairly austere locations. I travel light, by necessity; my kindle allows me to read an old Platonic dialogue, work through French exercises, review high school chemistry, pick out a travel guide, and generally re-read old favorites or find new ones--so effortlessly. That is, through digital media, the books become both available (quite the selling point, when you are overseas or otherwise disconnected from your permanent address) and breathtakingly easy to cart around from one flight to another. I am merely one of countless others whose work puts them in the same position, not to mention expatriates working for the state department, expatriates married to non-English speakers, and troops deployed to overseas stations or wars. I suspect, Old Gray Wolf, that you've never been stranded for months at a time in a country where no good English books were available to you; and if this were sometimes your reality (as it is for hundreds of thousands of others), you would latch upon a kindle/nook like a famished pup put before the feast. In other words, I wouldn't presume to argue with your decision not to pay a publisher for producing ebooks (--and I don't understand what's going on there, businesswise), but. . . I feel you take the position too far when appearing to argue that your own distaste for digital books should suffice equally for everyone else.
I'm not sure I understand your position, Old Gray Wolf. You do not wish to have a kindle edition of your novels because you are not interested in paying for this, or because you expect everyone to share your exclusive/exclusionary appreciation for a library of volumes? My own library of volumes is the only possession I deeply value, and I love handling a book, turning its pages, making notes, flipping effortlessly between various sections for comparison. Yet, work keeps me forever bouncing from city to city, country to country, and often enroute to fairly austere locations. I travel light, by necessity; my kindle allows me to read an old Platonic dialogue, work through French exercises, review high school chemistry, pick out a travel guide, and generally re-read old favorites or find new ones--so effortlessly. That is, through digital media, the books become both available (quite the selling point, when you are overseas or otherwise disconnected from your permanent address) and breathtakingly easy to cart around from one flight to another. I am merely one of countless others whose work puts them in the same position, not to mention expatriates working for the state department, expatriates married to non-English speakers, and troops deployed to overseas stations or wars. I suspect, Old Gray Wolf, that you've never been stranded for months at a time in a country where no good English books were available to you; and if this were sometimes your reality (as it is for hundreds of thousands of others), you would latch upon a kindle/nook like a famished pup put before the feast. In other words, I wouldn't presume to argue with your decision not to pay a publisher for producing ebooks (--and I don't understand what's going on there, businesswise), but. . . I feel you take the position too far when appearing to argue that your own distaste for digital books should suffice equally for everyone else.
There are advantages and disadvantages to digital books. First, if you are getting older or have problems seeing, digital books are a godsend. They take up far less room, much easier to take a selection with you on vacation to read. Some downsides are you cannot resell them, and it is hard to share them. But digital is where the book market is going, despite luddite opinion. It is a new market, and if greed is overcome, it means more readers can own and read more books, which is a good thing. And I think greed will be overcome, for one simple reason- if publishers do not price rationally, peple will get their digital books for free. Courtesy of the vibrant ebook pirate scene, which is pretty sophisticated these days, with distribution channels on the web, on newsgroups, and on irc. Give most readers a chance to buy a book for under five dollars, they will do so. Price hat book at fifteen or twenty, and they will get it for free. Seems simple to me, so why haven't publishers done better with pricing?
@OldGrayWolf
I normally buy both. a digial copy and a hard book copy. But normal books need to be like a lot of tech books. I buy the hard cover verison of a cisco book and I get a pdf copy for free
I normally buy both. a digial copy and a hard book copy. But normal books need to be like a lot of tech books. I buy the hard cover verison of a cisco book and I get a pdf copy for free
@OldGrayWolf I thought I was the only one who could not "read" (to really comprehend) anything on an LCD screen! for a while i would refuse to absorb anything worthily complex unless it was on paper, where i could annotate and hold in my hands, and read looking down!
But i'm grudgingly adapting!!! Newpapers, books, everything on screen in front. It sounds quaint but I didn't like it! There are OTHERS w my complaint!
But i'm grudgingly adapting!!! Newpapers, books, everything on screen in front. It sounds quaint but I didn't like it! There are OTHERS w my complaint!
@Kiers - guess what a Kindle is NOT an LCD screen, it is just like reading a paper book.
@OldGrayWolf Congratulations! I'm a potential customer that will now never buy your book.
@OldGrayWolf Well, that's your loss. I might be in the minority, but I read ONLY digital editions. In fact, I've read only electronically since 1999. (I buy the occasional dead-tree edition if I meet the author and need something for him/her to autograph.) Since there are more books I'd be interested in written than I could ever hope to read, I can pass on those that aren't in a format I don't prefer. There's nothing more "real" about ideas on paper as opposed to those written in bits. Good writers use words well to express ideas. It's the words and the expressed ideas that mark a book as truly great--NOT the format it's in. An author who thinks his books can only be treasured if they're in a paper form probably doesn't write books worth treasuring.
Fellow author, I use both....But be not concerned, PAPER will never be out of print...most readers LUV the smell of a new book, they enjoy the read myself to sleep comfort of a printed book, they can put ph#s on a page if someone calls while they are reading, press flowers, stash cash, give as a tangible present,build a library on a shelf....THEY PURCHASE BOTH VERSIONS....I'm making mo' money..this is great!!!!!
I agree. However, I would buy a digital book if the Reader is a A4 size slate, and the book has colour pictures. I would prefer a double screen A4 display. The mothballed Microsoft tablet which had two screens would be my preference.
@OldGrayWolf
There will be a lot of empty bookcases if everything goes digital...besides sitting down to read a paper book is relaxing...holding an e-reader that scrambles the cells in my body or causes cancer doesn't sound relaxing.
There will be a lot of empty bookcases if everything goes digital...besides sitting down to read a paper book is relaxing...holding an e-reader that scrambles the cells in my body or causes cancer doesn't sound relaxing.
@OldGrayWolf I always took the position that digital media has the ability to offer convenience, but that it will never entirely replace physical media, because digital content has no real value. I love being able to carry thousands of songs around with me on an iPod, but I still treasure my vinyl collection, and continue to add to it; not because the sound quality is better, but because there's so much more personality in those physical records than there is in an mp3 file.
Eventually, I think most if not all books will be published in digital format, but that most publishers will also retain a small arm of their physical publishing business so that customers who want to have their favorites around to flip through as real books will place enough value in those books to justify printing and selling them.
Eventually, I think most if not all books will be published in digital format, but that most publishers will also retain a small arm of their physical publishing business so that customers who want to have their favorites around to flip through as real books will place enough value in those books to justify printing and selling them.
@OldGrayWolf Classic books, historical types I buy to keep on the shelf. Junk or easy read I like electronically. It has been about 2 years when I cleaned out my basement and donated close to 300 paperback books to a small library in southeast NM. I read a 400p book in about 10 days unless it rains on the weekend and paperback are too much to store in an RV. Ebooks should cost less than do, do to decrees in printing and distribution.
@OldGrayWolf
I have several bookcases full of books which I have collected over the years with the conviction that "books are my friends." I have, however, noted that every time I move, my "friends" turn on me. I have not purchased that many books for my Kindle because I generally despise DRM -- I do have quite a number of public domain titles, however. But eventually I expect that where books are concerned I will likely grow to consider DRM the lesser evil compared to gravity and volume.
- Les
I have several bookcases full of books which I have collected over the years with the conviction that "books are my friends." I have, however, noted that every time I move, my "friends" turn on me. I have not purchased that many books for my Kindle because I generally despise DRM -- I do have quite a number of public domain titles, however. But eventually I expect that where books are concerned I will likely grow to consider DRM the lesser evil compared to gravity and volume.
- Les
@OldGrayWolf You talk of books as objects and for you this is meaningful and this is a valid point of view. I think of books as the content and the layout and if the fonts are comfortable and well chosen. I do not asprie to a ten thousand tonne load of books mouldering on the shelves..nor does my library who refused my collection..and others along with it just as they did not want my 78 colllection or my pristine LP collection. The world wants information and they want it in the most compact and most functional form..period. There are those who love their objects much as people collect copper kettles and teacups but the reality is that when they pass away, those fine items likely will be sent to the crusher and recycler. That is what ended up with my books which I could not give away never mind contribute to society...Personally, I am awaiting an iPad 3 and then I will never have to consider what the hell to do with yet another pile of musty books. To each his own.
@OldGrayWolf
Doc actually did try to press flowers in his Kindle and the results were less than satisfactory! You make some good points, OldGrayWolf, but Doc thinks you may be a bit out of step with modern publishing. Would you agree to e-book versions of your works if they dramatically increased the audience for them? Seems like every author wants the widest audience possible, and e-books are becoming a great way to reach more readers.
Doc actually did try to press flowers in his Kindle and the results were less than satisfactory! You make some good points, OldGrayWolf, but Doc thinks you may be a bit out of step with modern publishing. Would you agree to e-book versions of your works if they dramatically increased the audience for them? Seems like every author wants the widest audience possible, and e-books are becoming a great way to reach more readers.
I'm 69 and have been a life-long reader. I love books, but now I find I am disappointed if I can't get a book I want to read in either nook or kindle format. I like being able to read in bed without a light. I like looking up words with a click or two. I like checking some reference on the web. And actually I just like the visual experience better. I was surprised at how much I like the ebook experience.
Not everyone keeps books forever. Rather than drop off boxes of books to the library every few months, I can keep hundreds or thousands of books on my e-reader of choice. I can read in bed with a backlight and take all of my e-books on vacation - no added weight. Large books don't weigh any more than paper backs. There are so many reasons. I'm ticked when I can't get a book I want to read in an e-format.
I don't know...my mom is 83 years old, she contributed heavily to our 2-story library at home, she still thumbs magazines and books -- but so loves her Kindle.
I'm a teacher-librarian in an elementary school. The encyclopedias are pretty well gone for good, but picture-books and novels are still moving well among the youngsters. Interesting to note: at our most recent bookfair, the most popular books that flew off the shelves were those few hardcovers offered, with lovely leatherette bindings, with gold lettering. It seems the beautiful book as a coveted possession still has a strong appeal. So, lose the flimsy paperbacks to e-books, but keep on making the gorgeous well-bound collectors' editions. That's what the youngest readers want.
@paperowl you're exactly right. Electronic formats will eventually replace a lot of paperbacks, magazines and hopefully textbooks, but there will ALWAYS be a market for nicely made, quality hardcover books. I love my Kindle but there is nothing like a real book.
@paperowl You make a salient point. I read almost everything on my Kindle and much more of it than when I used to have to lug around a book with me. But there are some books, well made, richly bound, fragrant books that I will spend twice the cost of a Kindle to acquire. I'd rather spend my budget that way and carry around the bulk of my library on a device that weighs less than a paperback.
@paperowl I agree. I do buy print versions of books that I particularly treasure, but literature that I will likely only read once is read in on an ebook reader.
@paperowl
Doc agrees, paperowl, and has a large library of fine books that I'll always treasure, especially those that highlight art and other visual material. There is certainly room in this world for both print books and e-books. It should always be a matter of personal choice. And it's fun, by the way, to give a child a real book.
Doc agrees, paperowl, and has a large library of fine books that I'll always treasure, especially those that highlight art and other visual material. There is certainly room in this world for both print books and e-books. It should always be a matter of personal choice. And it's fun, by the way, to give a child a real book.
I understand your concern about e-boosk --you are afriid there will be too many trees in the world and not enough for your weekly garbage.
15 acres of trees just to put out the sunday edition of the New York Times.
And how many trees to slaughter to send all the junk mail we receive on a daily basis?
Just to read outdated news, and ads about chinese made clothing.
And how many trees to slaughter to send all the junk mail we receive on a daily basis?
Just to read outdated news, and ads about chinese made clothing.
@froggy57 Do you worry about saving corn or soybean plants? Trees, especially the sorts of trees used to make newspaper are just as much a crop as corn or wheat.
@JeffDeWitt - do not produce oxygen!
Last year, My Wife suprised me with a Kindle DX for my Birthday!. On it is the equivlant of a 4-3 ft. stack of Cisco, Sybex, Microsoft-Press technical study guides, manuals and administration books (I'm a Network Engineer) papers on computer security, Cloud applications all in .PDF format, Sci-Fi books that were in paperback format now electronic, technical manuals for various types of system and hardware. and I can carry it all in a 10.4 x 7.2 x 0.4 inches ; 1.2 pound
format.
Bottom line if you love reading, Who gives a Damn about how it's delivered.
All of those folks whining aobut leather-bound with gold lettering, GROW UP!, MOVE UP! stop wasting time in the past!
format.
Bottom line if you love reading, Who gives a Damn about how it's delivered.
All of those folks whining aobut leather-bound with gold lettering, GROW UP!, MOVE UP! stop wasting time in the past!
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Office 365 Migration Guide: Approaches, Techniques and ChallengesNo Headache, No Hassles Microsoft 365 Migration
Your company is ... (Quest Software)Download Now - Seven Keys to Success in Managing Your Business-Critical CloudNeed a few tips on how to manage your cloud infrastructure? Here are seven ... (Hewlett-Packard (HP))Download Now
- The Business Value of Adopting Advanced Support Tools and UtilitiesWhat are the difficulties associated with supporting advanced technology ... (Hewlett-Packard (HP))Download Now
