I buy a lot of books for my nook because it's easy, and B&N has some decent sales here and there where I will load up. I also pre-order books I want to read. There are several authors I buy hardback books from when they come out, but otherwise I go e-book. Sometimes I buy both because I prefer to read on my nook over a regular book (it's easier to take with me everywhere and have several options at once - I never know what will catch my fancy), but want certain books in my collection. I re-read favorite series a lot, so I will often have both e-book and regular in those. My library also uses overdrive which is so easy to use so I also check out a lot of books in e-book format. I never check out regular books for myself anymore - just for the kids - because I usually take them and let them pick out stuff and don't feel like looking around myself.
I also will regularly just get a hankering to have a collection of a certain author or series of books and will hunt them down via half.com, amazon, or half price book stores. MH recently finished some built ins in our great room which are for all of our books until we one day own a home with a library a la Belle in Beauty and the Beast.
Add that to my scholastic and amazon book buying addiction for the kids, and we spend a lot of money on books.
And my built ins:
We have three columns like the above, plus a huge corner area, as well as a wider shelf column and then cabinets below. The bottom cabinets have a lot of the kids' books. And clearly, I only have high brow taste in literature.
I just organized all my books by color.* I love it!!! You can't do this with your ebooks.
*I don't want to hear the snark. I already know this is hotly debated in the book world. I read all the criticism; and was on the anti side for a long time. Now I LOVE it. It works for me. I can't think of a better way to honor my beloved books.
BUT, on my nook I can organize them onto shelves based on genre or author or to read, or to re-read or my personal favorite "in progress." LOL.
Truly, though, I do both.
Some people would spend money like the above gif on many other things, but that's me with books. Zero restraint. ZERO! MAKE IT RAIN WITH BOOK MONEY.
Post by eponinepontmercy on Sept 23, 2015 10:46:34 GMT -5
I have been reading so much more since I got my kindle. I use the overdrive app to borrow books from my local library and I don't have to leave the house and deal with their strange hours.
I love being able to carry all these books with me and not weigh down my purse. Also, I can read all the teen dystopian sci-fi that I want and no one has to know.
I just organized all my books by color.* I love it!!! You can't do this with your ebooks.
*I don't want to hear the snark. I already know this is hotly debated in the book world. I read all the criticism; and was on the anti side for a long time. Now I LOVE it. It works for me. I can't think of a better way to honor my beloved books.
BUT, on my nook I can organize them onto shelves based on genre or author or to read, or to re-read or my personal favorite "in progress." LOL.
Truly, though, I do both.
Some people would spend money like the above gif on many other things, but that's me with books. Zero restraint. ZERO! MAKE IT RAIN WITH BOOK MONEY.
Your book shelves would look awesome organized by color BTW.
I just organized all my books by color.* I love it!!! You can't do this with your ebooks.
*I don't want to hear the snark. I already know this is hotly debated in the book world. I read all the criticism; and was on the anti side for a long time. Now I LOVE it. It works for me. I can't think of a better way to honor my beloved books.
This makes my mild OCD hurt. I need *need* my books organized by subject and genre.
Also, I've checked out books from my library e apps. And it's confusing. Why do I have to download several aps only to have the books show up on my kindle? Why several platforms? There's overdrive and something called 3M. The technology is interesting but not designed well.
I just organized all my books by color.* I love it!!! You can't do this with your ebooks.
*I don't want to hear the snark. I already know this is hotly debated in the book world. I read all the criticism; and was on the anti side for a long time. Now I LOVE it. It works for me. I can't think of a better way to honor my beloved books.
This makes my mild OCD hurt. I need *need* my books organized by subject and genre.
I initially liked ebooks, but now I need a getaway from screens since my work is so screen-dependent. I've never had to charge the battery on a paper book.
This is how I feel. Even when I read an ebook, it feels less like reading and more like staring at another device. I don't know how to explain it.
Also, I've checked out books from my library e apps. And it's confusing. Why do I have to download several aps only to have the books show up on my kindle? Why several platforms? There's overdrive and something called 3M. The technology is interesting but not designed well.
I download all of the books I borrow in epub format to my computer. For some reason they have to go through adobe documents and then I can transfer them to my nook. I find it to be pretty easy because I generally do several at once, but it is kind of dumb. I also have a nook simple so I don't even think it can have apps?
I have been reading so much more since I got my kindle. I use the overdrive app to borrow books from my local library and I don't have to leave the house and deal with their strange hours.
I love being able to carry all these books with me and not weigh down my purse. Also, I can read all the teen dystopian sci-fi that I want and no one has to know.
1000 X this!!! I go to the library with my son and covertly grab the occasional teen dystopian sci-fi...for him...of course.
That said, I am not paying $11.99 to essentially rent a book. You can't sell it, lend it, etc.
Plus remember that thing a few years ago where there was a dispute between the publisher and Amazon (or was it BN?) and peoples books disappeared from their e-readers overnight? Ironically, of all books, it included the book 1984! I don't want that happening. When I buy a book, I want The Book.
That said, I am not paying $11.99 to essentially rent a book. You can't sell it, lend it, etc.
Plus remember that thing a few years ago where there was a dispute between the publisher and Amazon (or was it BN?) and peoples books disappeared from their e-readers overnight? Ironically, of all books, it included the book 1984! I don't want that happening. When I buy a book, I want The Book.
I wish someone would offer a price for a book and the e-book. Like on Amazon how you can get the CD and the mp3. It's not all CDs but a lot of them.
Also, I've checked out books from my library e apps. And it's confusing. Why do I have to download several aps only to have the books show up on my kindle? Why several platforms? There's overdrive and something called 3M. The technology is interesting but not designed well.
Ah, this could be a long answer. I'm grappling with this issue right now.
Different platforms exist because some have deals with certain publishers while others don't. So in order to acquire the most variety in content to interest patrons, libraries often subscribe to more than one platform (OverDrive, 3M, etc.). Some also are compatible with only some e-readers but not others, so we want to be able to serve people no matter which reader or tablet they use. But there is no simple way to "merge" these platforms so that the user experience is simpler.
One way around this is for libraries to design their own apps to keep things simple for patrons so they don't have to go to OverDrive, look for a book, find it unavailable, and THEN go to 3M and do the same thing. That's annoying. One-click software exists that just lets you search for a book, discover its availability, and then download it immediately and we're reviewing what some other libraries are doing, so that should help with this problem. But the other solution is to wait around for publishers to be more open with these vendors in terms of content so that one platform can do all we want it to do. Given the publishers' propensity for being slow to the demand, I don't know when the latter would happen.
Personally, I'm unhappy with one of our platforms, love the other one we have, and then there's a third that blows the other two out of the water that I'm strongly considering (if our libraries go for it) just moving towards that one platform to get to where we want to be. But it won't be perfect because it doesn't work with Kindle e-ink readers (it works with Kindle tablets).
The other thing that annoys me about ebooks is that I've been collecting books for my future kids for years. It's been important to me to maintain a well stocked library for them to browse because I love that my mom did this for me. You can't do this with ebooks. Or not as easily that is. These books are all prominantly displayed in the house in a giant expedit as a reminder that books are important and reading is important.
That said, I am not paying $11.99 to essentially rent a book. You can't sell it, lend it, etc.
Plus remember that thing a few years ago where there was a dispute between the publisher and Amazon (or was it BN?) and peoples books disappeared from their e-readers overnight? Ironically, of all books, it included the book 1984! I don't want that happening. When I buy a book, I want The Book.
I wish someone would offer a price for a book and the e-book. Like on Amazon how you can get the CD and the mp3. It's not all CDs but a lot of them.
Yes!! There are two reasons I buy ebooks: because I'm going to be traveling and want multiple books on my kindle for a flight or because i am spoiled and impatient and I want to read something NOW and can't wait two days to get the print book. I would love to be able to get the ebook plus the print book. Unfortunately I think the way the publishing world works, this is never going to happen.
Post by cattledogkisses on Sept 23, 2015 11:06:52 GMT -5
I had an e-reader for a while and I literally never used it. It sat on the bookshelf by my bed next to all of my real books with perpetually dead batteries*. I ended up giving it away.
*Real books don't need to be charged. That's another plus.
Also, I've checked out books from my library e apps. And it's confusing. Why do I have to download several aps only to have the books show up on my kindle? Why several platforms? There's overdrive and something called 3M. The technology is interesting but not designed well.
Ah, this could be a long answer. I'm grappling with this issue right now.
Different platforms exist because some have deals with certain publishers while others don't. So in order to acquire the most variety in content to interest patrons, libraries often subscribe to more than one platform (OverDrive, 3M, etc.). Some also are compatible with only some e-readers but not others, so we want to be able to serve people no matter which reader or tablet they use. But there is no simple way to "merge" these platforms so that the user experience is simpler.
One way around this is for libraries to design their own apps to keep things simple for patrons so they don't have to go to OverDrive, look for a book, find it unavailable, and THEN go to 3M and do the same thing. That's annoying. One-click software exists that just lets you search for a book, discover its availability, and then download it immediately and we're reviewing what some other libraries are doing, so that should help with this problem. But the other solution is to wait around for publishers to be more open with these vendors in terms of content so that one platform can do all we want it to do. Given the publishers' propensity for being slow to the demand, I don't know when the latter would happen.
Personally, I'm unhappy with one of our platforms, love the other one we have, and then there's a third that blows the other two out of the water that I'm strongly considering (if our libraries go for it) just moving towards that one platform to get to where we want to be. But it won't be perfect because it doesn't work with Kindle e-ink readers (it works with Kindle tablets).
Thank you for all this!!
It sounds like you are an insider on this topic!!
Can you tell me why I have to have these special apps (overdrive and 3M) when the books ultimately migrate to my kindle app anyway? So it's like 3 apps needed to read one book. I wish I could just simply download a book to my kindle.
Has anyone tried lending books though the kindle? Apparently you can, but the one title I tried to do this with was rejected. I haven't tried since. Annoying!!
Post by orangello on Sept 23, 2015 11:07:46 GMT -5
It's all about the price for me, and I suspect also for a lot of other people. I was totally on board with e-books until they started to get more expensive than print books - it's ridiculous.. And Kindle Unlimited is terrrrrrible - so much crap, so little good content. I still use my e-reader for vacation, and I love the Overdrive service my library provides, but I am going to start patronizing small bookstores more frequently now.
I just organized all my books by color.* I love it!!! You can't do this with your ebooks.
*I don't want to hear the snark. I already know this is hotly debated in the book world. I read all the criticism; and was on the anti side for a long time. Now I LOVE it. It works for me. I can't think of a better way to honor my beloved books.
This makes my mild OCD hurt. I need *need* my books organized by subject and genre.
I am gradually bringing more books to where I live now from my childhood bedroom at my parents' house and re-reading them. I have exactly zero confidence that my ebooks will still be readable in 20 years.
I inherited a bunch of books from my grandfather when he passed, and some of them are more than a hundred years old. Some of them have my great great grandmothers name written on the inside cover and I love this so very much. It makes me feel connected to ancestors I never knew who also loved books enough to keep them and pass them down. Even though some are in German and I can't actually read them.
I only like e-books for travel. Either way, I'm taking my tablet with me and that way, I don't have to lug books. Even when I take 2 weeks trips, I only take a carry-on, so space is huge for me. The other big draw of an e-book to me is the ability to search. Sometimes, it's nice to reference something that happened earlier in the book without having to rely on my memory. Otherwise, I want a real book. I like turning pages, I'd rather read a page than a screen, and I like the smell.
Ebooks have been great for my mom, because she has macular degeneration and Ebooks allow you to enlarge the font for easy reading. That being said, there is nothing quite like the smell of a new book
I LOOOOVE ebooks so much more than traditional books. They're instantly available. I don't have to go anywhere to get them. They're easier to read lying down or while nursing a baby. They take up no space. I can take my entire book collection wherever I go. If my library loan is ending and I'm not finished, I can turn off the WiFi and keep the book until I'm finished. And they give me a wider selection of library books. I live in a small city. Our library system is limited, however, my parents' library has a huge selection of kindle books. I can use their library card to check out books, plus I have access to the digital resources of all the libraries of other places I have lived using my old library cards.
I pretty much only go with a physical book when I don't want to buy it and none of my libraries have the digital version.
That said, I am not paying $11.99 to essentially rent a book. You can't sell it, lend it, etc.
Plus remember that thing a few years ago where there was a dispute between the publisher and Amazon (or was it BN?) and peoples books disappeared from their e-readers overnight? Ironically, of all books, it included the book 1984! I don't want that happening. When I buy a book, I want The Book.
I wish someone would offer a price for a book and the e-book. Like on Amazon how you can get the CD and the mp3. It's not all CDs but a lot of them.
Amazon offers this for print books. Buy the hard copy and get the snook for $2-3. It's definitely not all books. And since I dot buy many print books I'm not sure how often it happens. There is a way to look it up but I've forgotten.