Comments on: If You Love Reading, You’ll Love Ebooks

By: avagee

avagee — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 11:42:25 +0000

Anne, http://www.booksinmyphone.com has a version of Kafaka’s Metamorphosis that you can read on your cell phone. If you have internet access on your phone you can install direct from their mobile site, otherwise from your PC.

I find reading on a cell phone to be ‘just reading’ - if anything the ultra portability is the dominant factor. I think this service addresses many people concerns about the cost of the reader device. Their offerings are restricted to public domain and creative commons works, but that is enough good content to see the possibilities.

By: Angela

Angela — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:05:42 +0000

About the price point: wouldn’t that cut into author’s royalties? I may be wrong, but aren’t book prices and royalty rates based on previous or comparable author sales? If a print book priced at 7.99 was sold at say, 3.99 for the e-book, wouldn’t the author get short-changed for their royalties?

By: Chicklet

Chicklet — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 17:11:34 +0000

The beauty of the digital copy, is the ease of delivery and the ease of storage.

…Except for the issues of DRM and of technology becoming obsolete. The last thing I want to do is buy a reader and then have it become an expensive brick when another format takes over the market and I can’t access my ebook library anymore.

As it is, when I buy a paper book, it’s mine. I can keep it. I can loan it to a friend, who doesn’t need expensive technology to read it. I can sell it. I can donate it. This is why I much prefer to buy my music on CDs rather than on iTunes: I don’t have to adhere to the DRM, and I can do what I want with my property.

By: Jules Jones

Jules Jones — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:49:35 +0000

I’d like to put in a word for Baen’s provision of free ebooks to disabled readers. The Baen Free Library offers free ebooks of quite a few books to everyone, but the full Webscriptions catalogue is available free to disabled readers who have problems with print books. More details and application form at ReadAssist.

By: Marianne McA

Marianne McA — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 13:46:08 +0000

I’m sold on the idea of e-books, I’m just waiting for the right device to come along. And then I’d want e-books to be cheaper than ‘real’ books - because it must save the publishers money to produce books in that format. And I’d still buy print books, because I love them - but e-books must be greener.

What I don’t understand is why it’s not possible to do this for schools. My daughters struggle to school weighed down by all their textbooks. If the academic publishers produced those all as e-books, they could just bring one reader into school, which seems like a much better idea. No more forgotten books. And you could update all the text books in a school in no time flat.

I’m sure there’s some reason why it’s not happening - but it always puzzles me, because it seems such an obvious market. And that generation are so used to reading from a screen - it’d suit them. And then, if they’ve been using e-book readers at school, they’re very likely to use them later in life - so it’d be in the manufacturer’s interest to promote a cheap and sturdy school-friendly model.

By: francois

francois — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 13:43:51 +0000

The less technology the better in my opinion, because sooner or later it all becomes obsolete. Ebooks just haven’t got to the stage where they’re really compelling for me. I can’t share them with friends. I might run out of battery. The format may become obsolete at any time. And Ebooks don’t make out of print books any more available than traditional media, unless someone choses to stock an out of print book in Ebook format. That might sound like picking hairs, but just because record companies can put all their old tunes online, it doesn’t mean that they do. Some things are still only available on vinyl! I find nearly all the out of print books I want 2nd hand online, and they’re a damn site cheaper than buying Ebooks, and I can sell or pass them on afterwards (if I want to).

By: Barb

Barb — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 11:51:55 +0000

I love ebooks! I used to be a book tragic. Books cluttered all over my bedroom and under the bed. Searching for a particular book I wanted to re-read and never being able to find it. Not anymore!

Best thing I ever bought was my Dell Axim pocket pc . And I love Mobipocket, it is great not only for reading on but for organizing my ebooks. I have all the authors I like under the reading lists for easy finding of books. I have over 200 ebooks now and I only read printed books if I can’t find an ebook copy of it.

By: Jan

Jan — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 06:08:29 +0000

I really need to do this. Do you have any suggestions?

I copied mine to a new hard drive I bought for backups, and then burned a new DVD, keeping a copy on each so I’ll have two versions. I’ll burn another DVD periodically. I’ve read that people are suggesting hard drives for backups now because they last longer. But if it fails you’ll have the DVD and vice versa.

By: MaryK

MaryK — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 05:06:08 +0000

If you have a storehouse of ebooks make sure you copy them to new media every couple of years and keep a backup.

I really need to do this. Do you have any suggestions?

By: LinM

LinM — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 03:09:20 +0000

I love ebooks and hate the DRM schemes that have locked me out of some of my library.
Gutenberg provided my first exposure to ebooks. Once my daughter was old enough to listen to chapter books, Grandfather wrapped up one of my mother’s Oz books for each birthday and holiday. When those ran out, we searched far and wide for more- the bookstore, the library, used bookstores - no success. But we ended up with daughter perched on my lap as I read Oz books downloaded from Gutenberg on the computer. Oz may not compare to Kafka but we were able to find digital books when the physical books were unavailable.