eBooks vs. Paper books

A terribly bad pun, but nonetheless true.

Every experience I have with an eBook seems to do nothing less than begin the plauge of vision inpairment for the duration of my deading of the material on most any LCD screen. Especially when it is text-on-text-on-text style books where the reading is verbose and detailed.

Products like the Kindle however, seem to be slowly changing that. I had a chance to play around with a Kindle, and I feel a lot more comfortable reading a book of that particualr screen that I would a computer or laptop screen.

Additionally, the device is less distractive from the reading. If I am on a full-feature computer, distractions such as surfing the Internet and taking 'notes' in the eBook or PDF instead of in the margin or something along that line with a pencil become rather large stumbling blocks, expecially if the aforementioned eBook was actually a textbook of some sort.

I don't think eBooks are there yet, and the only way they can get there is by the format being utilized in an easy on the eyes product that discourages any vision impairment as a result of reading the eBook on it.

That may just be myself, though.

My eyes do get very tired after reading an eBook. Reading a book makes you feel good inside, like you actually finished something, which you did. Plus, on my computer, I get distracted very eas...oh, cool, a new YouTube video!

When eBooks first came out, most software companies assumed they would yield enormous profits.. after all, eBooks would be in accord with the huge demand there is for anything that has to do with the internet/technology/etc. They would be the most conveniant since you would no longer have to travel to a bookstore/library for your reading needs, and for those that already spend 90% of their life in front of a computer (cough, Fariz.. jk :) ) this obviously seemed like the best choice. However, paper books are still holding quite a weight when compared to its competitor.

Although for leisure reading I prefer paper books, there are situations which I'd rather use an eBook-i.e for anything school related when ctrl+F comes into handy.

eBooks are cheaper, the availability of it is hardly ever an issue (being something you can download immediately), you can hold a shitton of books in whatever means you are using (palm pilot, computer, etc), it probably does have the most potential considering there is only so much you can do with a paper book.. but there is something about the conventional form of books that is hard to ignore. The intangible benefits-the sentimental value, the "feel of pages of a brand new book"..etc are just as important. However, I don't deny that paper books will become as obsolete as letters sent through snail mail are today, unfortunately.

And the argument that is often used about eBooks being 'environmentally friendly' though is very false; the amount of energy that is used through a computer or tablet (etc) can be just as detrimental to the environment as the trees killed with books.

I have an old RCA eBook that you download your ebooks on, just like the Kindle without the buttons. It's really nice sometimes. You can save space by taking the one ebook as opposed to a ton of books. You can jump through a book by placing bookmarks wherever you want. You can underline words and phrases. And my FAVORITE feature of the eBooks: the dictionary. If you're reading along and you come upon a word you don't know, all you have to do is click look up, so I'm more inclined to look up a word than if I read a paper book.

But I love paper books. Just that classic smell of a new book with crisp pages. The soft feeling a book gets after you've read it a million times. It's more of a sentimental connection to the paper books. I know eventually ebooks will be the norm, and they should be, but I love my paper books.

I think it is already fact we read e-book everyday just using avalanche of information read on computer screen. So we are after choice already. Making any research in Internet involves adding piles of unseen pages we go through. In case it is price of availability I accept e-books instead of paper. But it goes in this direction e-books being cheaper or without price when on peers network. How to live with eye strain? I have several methods, one using reading software changing screen experience into audio one, second using more convenient content look using presentation prompter software, you have nice big sentences moving on screen to your speed, third using summarizing software opting for say 50, 25 per cent of text to have just a look what is important there. So you can live with a new beast with additional prize of indexed content, easy search of subject matter etc. Global opportunity of e-text may be solving of copyright difficulty in spreading culture. Now it blocks flow. When it is changed into flat access fee to the full riches of invisible internet it will bring new enlightenment revolution to masses. Thing making small irritations irrelevant especially when every new generation of LCD screens relieves sight tension in comparison with earlier products.

One day ebooks will be much better than paper books, they will be almost weightless, waterproof, and easy to read under any lighting condition. Till then paper beats plastic.

im sorry, that would be a nice change but my eyes start to water after a while and it irritaes my a LOT. lets just keep it old school for now.

When it comes to reading a book, be it for pleasure or education, I prefer a printed book. The tactile experience is part of what I enjoy about reading. I also like to read while I dine when I'm dining alone and that's a lot easier with a bok then with a computer. Additionally I spend most of my work day on a computer, so I like to take a break from back-lighting when I get home.

However, if I'm researching then I like eBooks. The search features of computerized texts just lend themselves to the needs of research much better then a printed book, even with the best index in the world.

I love technology, I do. But there is nothing better than curling up with a good paper book. I may be partly biased as a librarian, which in and of itself denotes a certain obsession with the printed word.

However, I live in an urban metropolitan area, surrounded by tech people who work for a certain industry giant. Consequently, the library system I work for has been moving to more and more content available electronically. Overall, I support this. All those computer books from the 005.XXXs go out of date incredibly quickly. There is a huge demand and then the next version comes out leaving shelves of barely a year old, but already obsolete, materials. In this realm, I think an eBook is great.

From what I understand in the publishing industry, romance novels are being loaded on more and more electronic devices. If you're going to read at all those children's events, they can be at least a little more subtle about it.

Online databases are a fabulous invention. If I'd had the same access from home 24:7, high school homework would have been sooooo much easier!

Someone brought a Kindle in to work, and we all ohhhed and ahhhhed, but the price tag is still too steep for my budget. I can see some potential uses for it. Instead of packing my vacation luggage with 8-12 books for a week long trip I can download them instead. I have to admit that's intriguing.

But for settling down at home with a nice novel (or non-fiction) I want a cat in my lap, my cell phone within arm reach and the physical heft of a printed book. I love the smell of paper, the different textures of paper quality, and the pleasure of reshelving it in my personal library when I'm done.

"That may just be myself, though."

Actually everyone I know who wears glasses claims to get headaches from reading eBooks on the computer screen. It has to do with the number of times the eye must refocus to read a single line of text from the Gaussian image on the screen.