the elibrary revisited

[jazzfish]

Given: Bookshelf space is a serious consideration for housing. We got unbelievably lucky with the place we're in right now but it's bloody expensive, and we may not be so fortunate in the next place.

Also, books are the great majority of the physical objects I own. If I'm looking to reduce the amount of Stuff in my life (and I usually am; the "do not have any attachments" pattern is locked in eternal conflict with the "might be useful someday" pattern), books are a place to start.

Hence: the possibility of going over to ebooks for the small portion of the library available in that format plus anything new that comes out.

The imminent release of the new iPad is doubtless a small factor in pondering this possibility.

Pros: Less space, obviously. Being able to buy books immediately as I want to read them may (may) curtail the need to Buy All The Books whether or not I have time to read them. (Case in point: acquired "Throne of the Crescent Moon" this weekend, but gord only knows when it'll slot into the stack.) Not as much having to haul a giant hardback around because it's what I'm in the middle of (e.g., Anathem). Ereading is likely to lend itself to reading more online magazines & contemporary short stories.

Cons: Love of the physical experience of reading a paper book. Fear of lost data. The visible library is a defining feature of Home. Another %&$ device that needs to be plugged in. Can't loan ebooks to people who don't have an ereader. Many older works are unavailable as ebooks, leading to frustration. Need to find an ereader acceptable to uilos as well as one for me, otherwise she'll just buy dead-tree copies of anything I pick up in ebook that she wants to read too.

Unknowns: The biggest factor is how well I'll like reading on an ereader / tablet / what have you. (Already known: how well I like reading on the Device, that being "not very," but that's a function of the tiny screen.) How much of a problem the confusion of "do i have that in ebook or dead-tree" will be. How much of a problem DRM will be, though I anticipate "not much."

Thoughts?

Comments

[blairmacg.livejournal.com]

I love my Kindle. I am buying and reading more fiction now than I have in years. (My nearest bookstore is almost an hour from home.) It's convenient, makes carrying books around easy, and lets me read anywhere I can read a paperback. The fact it isn't LCD is a huge plus for me.

Most non-fiction, though, I'll still buy in paper. When putting a project together, I like having four or five books open on the table at one time. Can't do that with an ereader.

I let go of thousands of books some years ago, when life circumstances required I sell/donate them. After the initial pain of loss, I found I didn't miss them nearly as much as I thought I would.

I don't at all mind buying from Amazon. Sure, they tick me off now and then, but so does my local grocery store, my credit card company, my computer repair shop, and my cable TV provider. ;-) If I ever decide to abandon Amazon, I'll at least have an easy-to-organize list of ebooks--on my Kindle--that I may want to purchase in paper, so I don't see myself as being locked in to Amazon so much as making a changeable decision right now.

[jazzfish]

You don't mind the page-turning flicker/delay? That (and the contrast not as high as I'd like) are the things that have made me sceptical of trying one.

It's entirely possible that if and when I have to leave two-thirds of my books, after six months I won't miss them so much. I mean, we half decimated the library (literally; about five percent went away) before the move, and I didn't miss those at all.

Amazon... is turning into the Wal-mart of the online world, and that aggravates me. Also there have been reports of people having their purchased ebooks revoked (& refunded) when Amazon decides/realises it doesn't have the rights to sell them. Which makes me wonder whether the next salvo in the Amazon wars is not only yanking all of a publisher's books from sale, but also from having ever been for sale. Paranoia, I expect, but the technology is clearly there.

[blairmacg.livejournal.com]

The delay was a little irksome for the first day or so, but now I don't think of it any more than I would think of having to turn the page. Now what bugs me is when I accidentally tuck it in my purse, thinking I've turned it off, and multiple pages get "turned." On the other hand, I guess it's no different than my bookmark falling out. ;-)

[jazzfish]

*laugh* This is true.

Do you happen to know how old your Kindle is? As in, what generation?

[blairmacg.livejournal.com]

Device Info says it's version 5.0.1.

(I realized, too, that my impressions may be more rosy than others because I really, really wanted an ereader. I wanted the convenience, and I wanted to read a bunch of self-published material. And when we really want something, we tend accept what is otherwise irksome.)

[jazzfish]

Ah, okay. Fairly recent, then. Cool.

(That makes a lot of sense. I'm... not sure how much I really really want one.)