Does anyone here read eBooks? I have been reading eBooks on my Palm PDA
for about a year now and I LOVE it. I even bought my wife an eBook
reader (which is larger than a PDA and made specifically for reading
books) for Christmas.

"Print is dead"
         - Egon Spengler

15 responses total.

I download ebooks for technical stuff, like learning CVS.  

My general rule for actually spending money on a book is that I buy it after
I've checked it out of the library, or consulted it at a bookstore, more than
3 times.

E books are still too clunky for me.  For some reason, I really prefer
hardcopy to screens.  I have, over the years, become quite proficient at
reading, proofing, and editing screens, but I still prefer paper.  

I have occasionally read ebooks on my laptop or on my work pc during my 
lunch hour. I have thought about buying one of those readers but the 
truth is that the print versions of books have a lot of advantages over 
the ebook readers. They work without power. They can go anywhere. They 
are inexpensive enough that one doesnt have to worry about damaging 
them which makes them ideal for places like beaches where sand and 
water are likely to damage electronics. 

I suppose if the ebook readers get significantly cheaper, I would 
consider going that route for reading while traveling. 

By the way, I have never bought an eBook. I've always downloaded free
books from www.gutenberg.org.

Yeah, I havent ever paid for one either. 

I use an eBoook reader on my PDA.  I find it useful for waiting on line and
such like; places where hardcopy isn't convenient.  I also like it for
reference materials, such as the Constitution of the United States.

Yes, I can think of times when ebooks would be more convenient than
hardcopy books. PDA's can be read in the dark for instance. 

I know of one musician who uses a (much larger) PDA-style device to read 
sheet music.  I assume it stores a decent amount of music, presents it 
illuminated, and changes pages automatically.  But it looks weird.  I find 
myself paying more attention to the technology than the sound.  

re 7: Could that possibly be a tablet PC?

Ebooks more convenient?  I hate keeping track of batteries.  Give me a
paperback every time.  

One very convenient feature of the eBook reader I bought for my wife is
that it comes with an electronic dictionary than be cross referenced
from any ebook. She just has to highlight the word and it will give her
a definition.

I wonder what kinds of things people read electronically.  Fiction?  
Technical material.  Somehow the idea of reading Mark Twain electronically 
just doesn't cut it, but maybe that's me.

I read a lot of classical literature electronically, mostly because that
is what is free off of gutenberg.com.

I don't do any significant reading electronically. It is just not convenient.
One cannot easily flip between pages to check on related events or facts.
There is no way to hold those places, as one does with fingers. On the other
hand I don't have a tablet or even laptop, which would make it easier in some
respects. A lot of this probably also depends on what one "grew up with".

Most e-readers have a bookmark feature that lets you hold those places.  I
have a lot of public domain books in e-form for my Palm.  I also have all the
free and all the current monthly e-subscriptions from Baen Books.  The entire
free and subscriptions from 1999-Dec 2006 fit on one CD.  It resides in the
CD cases that lives in my backpack for downtimes between classes/work
sessions.  

I do prefer a hardcopy book, but when your backpack is already full of heavy
computer and math tomes, having a science fiction library on one little CD
is very welcome.

I already mentioned the U.S. Constitution.  I also have the Federalist
Papers, which I've not yet finished reading, Aesop's Fables, which I read on
paper MANY years ago, the Magna Carta, the First and Second Virginia
Charters, and the Mayflower Compact.  I also had the Declaration of
Independence, but so far I've not been able to get to my new PDA.

I also read the Iroquois constitution and _Fallen_Angels_ by Niven/Pournelle/
another (Flynn?).

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