To Be Or Not To Be---No Longer A Question?

[Margaret]

The articles and opinions on the demise of books in print form have been popping up with increasing frequency online and in print form.

On of my new Booklist magazines has thoughts from Will Manley. http://bit.ly/qSzFEI

And Twitter revealed this new article by Mark O'Connell via Publishers Weekly. http://bit.ly/q5fXl1

I am sure that I am going to upgrade to a full size reader in the future as I wait to see what might be the best one for my needs but I can also see me buying print until it's dying gasp.

[Andre Jute]

Margie wrote: "I am sure that I am going to upgrade to a full size reader in the future as I wait to see what might be the best one for my needs but I can also see me buying print until it's dying gasp."

1. I just bought a Samsung Galaxy Europa (i5500) smartphone with Android OS 2.2 just to see what the experience of readers is, and am surprised at how well one reads on it. The reading app I like, among the few I've tried, is Moon+ Reader, free from the Android Market.

2. If you're buying for libraries, don't make any rash forecasts about the demise of printed books. They may eventually become a luxury item, but until a reader costs less than a schoolbook now, it'll be a social no-no for schoolboards to force parents to buy one for each kid. (Mind you, some of the idiots who sit on school boards...)

[Claudine]

So far having a Kindle and an iPad hasn't persuaded me to give up my addiction to ink and paper.

[Margaret]

http://nyti.ms/oRYD33

Just another article about someone trying to decide what to do; just like me.
@Andre---I agree that given the economic status of more than half of our students in my district it is going to be some time before they will be able to read books electronically. We can't afford to provide readers for them either. Although our district is currently starting a major fund raiser outside of bonds and taxes to upgrade technology for the students.
My phone is the Samsung Galaxy offered by Verizon this past spring, but I don't know the specifics about it as I am at school.
@Claudine---I am trying to decide on which tablet and reader to buy but first I need a new laptop. By the time the money rolls in hopefully the prices will have come down. What is the advantage to having a reader as well as a tablet? Do you also have a computer, desktop or laptop?

[Claudine]

Margie I have a laptop as well. My desktop died on me last year. I prefer reading on my Kindle to reading on the iPad although the bjggest advantage the iPad has is that the screen is backlit. The Kindle isn't. I like the versatility of the iPad for office as well as personal use. I can pretty much use it in place of my laptop on trips and it is much smaller and lighter. The Kindle app on the iPad loads all books that you purchase through Amazon. There is also an iBooks app for iTunes purchases. I do use both on the iPad. If all you want is an ereader, I'd not purchase both. Go for an ereader only.

[Andre Jute]

I know this question is aimed at Claudine, but I'll stick my oar in as well. I have a desktop computer as my main computer; a designer needs a beeeg screen. I read on it a lot. In my study, at my computer is where I sit. A Kindle which I read in my bath and virtually only then. The Galaxy phone I bought because my wife took my bike phone and I had to buy a new phone and this one was on sale, on twenty euro more expensive than the cheapest crud, and it has GPS, which is useful to me as cyclist and hillwalker. I found reading on it a very pleasant experience.

Neither a tablet, not even an iPad, nor a smartphone will do what a laptop does. The tablets and phones are simply too awkward to use, and the iPad is deliberately crippled so that it won't steal sales from the iMac. The Kindle is worthless as a computer. The Android tablets, judging by my phone, might have some use as computers but will be clumsy and slow. It is a question of input and output. Nothing but nothing replaces a fullsize keyboard on a laptop or a proper computer. It took me fifteen frustrating minutes to log onto Goodreads with my Android phone, trying to tap in my name and password. Aaargh.

We have Mac laptops too and the cheap ones work, and are good for carrying around. The Mac I really like is the basic 21in screen iMac which for a thousand dollars (less with the education discount) is a really useful computer straight out of the box. Super screens for reading on. And Apple computers last a long time, which makes them seem less expensive, to me at least.

[K.A.]

I have a number of computers here at the house and others that I'm responisible for.

I get eyestrain from reading on my laptop. Hubby's desktop has a very large screen, which I like.

I love my Nook with WiFi. Mom's Sony e-reader is marvelous for her.

[Margaret]

Thanks to both of you. Andre, you are the second person to say with confidence and conviction that a tablet is not as good as a laptop. (The other was a teacher/tech guru that does seminars for educators.) Right now I am saving for a new laptop which will be followed by an eReader.

[Margaret]

Thanks, Kat for your input. I have been thinking about the Sony for myself also over the Kindle. I am torn betwen the Sony and Nook. Of course, by the time I can afford either something else will be out.

[K.A.]

There is one advantage with the Nook - the touch control screen is easier to navigate than the Sony buttons.

I would also recommend you get something with WiFi so you don't have to hook it to the PC to get books.

[Margaret]

Kat wrote: "There is one advantage with the Nook - the touch control screen is easier to navigate than the Sony buttons.

I would also recommend you get something with WiFi so you don't have to hook it to t..."

Thanks, Kat!

[Patricia]

Margie, I haven't seen the newer Sony models, but I owned one about two or three years ago. The reading experience is very similar to reading on the Kindle, but the third generation Kindle is far superior to the Sony model I owned in terms of the clarity and contrast of the text. Sony may have improved their display by now.

I loved the design of the Sony and the feel of it in my hand. I passed it on to a friend who loves it, but he tells me the Sony bookstore is not as extensive as the Kindle store and the pricing is higher (that may have changed with the agency model). He also couldn't take advantage of as many free book offers as I could with the Kindle.

The back light that Claudine mentions as a plus with her iPad is, to my eyes, a detriment. I even felt a little woozy when reading on the iPad, almost seasick.

For me, the Nook was just too danged heavy to be comfortable for long-term reading, and the balance from top to bottom was not good. Maybe more recent models have improved on that. It's been about a year since I gave one a test drive.

[Margaret]

Patricia wrote: "Margie, I haven't seen the newer Sony models, but I owned one about two or three years ago. The reading experience is very similar to reading on the Kindle, but the third generation Kindle is far s..."

Thanks for the additional notes, Patricia. I am going to have to try each one now I guess. I will have to seek out those who already own.

[Patricia]

When choosing an ereader, check out the store tied to the various models. Search for titles you're likely to want and see who has what, and how much the books cost.

[Claudine]

I agree that at the moment, an iPad or other tablet is nowhere near ready to replace a laptop. The iPad keyboard is a godsend though. Plugged in, it gives you more control and the feel of a tiny laptop. At the moment my husband is test driving both an iPad and a Macbook or whatever it is called for general use for the company execs. So far the Mac trumps the iPad. There's just no versatility when it comes to specific office use for an iPad as yet. For me, as a home user, it is perfect and changable between a laptop and tablet. I am able to surf the web, read books, check my email. The office package that comes with an iPad doesn't and cannot as yet replace MSOffice.

I have heard great things about the Nook vs Kindle but not much about any of the other readers. I must say, my biggest gripe with the ebook industry right now is that there is not much cooperation between the various devices. For instance, one format cannot be read on another device unless first converted through a programme like Calibre. It would be much easier and more consumer friendly if there was a standard ebook format in use, one that works on every single ereader device available.

[K.A.]

e-pub is trying to emerge as a standard. Of course Apple and Amazon are using something else.

[Andre Jute]

I looked into the iPad as a computer, perhaps a sole computer. For a start, you can't even operate it properly without a desktop to set it up and connect it. The bits of a minimally complete computer are all there, but they are deliberately crippled by the input/output arrangements, and by Steve Jobs's vision of the iPad as a shopping aide for the iTunes store. You could of course jailbreak your iPad, but the problem with that is that you can't download updates to a jailbroken iPad, so every now and again you need a proper computer to put it back in jail so you can talk to Apple with it. Other bothersome questions arise -- that are never asked by the supernaturally productive and tidy being assumed to be just off-screen in the Apple ads. How will you back up your data? How many peripherals (proper keyboard etc) will you need to make the iPad useful? Where will you find useful software? For instance, even Pages, Apple's own perfectly good word processor on the Mac, sucks on the iPad. Etc, a three page single-spaced double column list of things you can do with a fullsize Mac that an iPad can't do, or in some case won't do even if it is capable, because Apple won't let you for fear of precisely this scenario, that you'll buy an iPad instead of an iMac.

@ Claudine
There is a standard. It is EPUB. Apple adheres to it. Some others say they do but, like Sony, practice breakaway religions. Amazon, in its attempt to grab the entire market for itself, invented (well, actually bought and adapted) a proprietary standard for no good reason except their commercial dream of empire.

This problem is a very good reason to buy all your ebooks from Smashwords rather than anyone else, because at Smashwords, once you've bought one format, you own the book in all formats, deliverable on demand.

[Claudine]

No the iPad is totally unsuitable as a standin computer Andre. In the future maybe with bigger processers, more memory and other enhancements yes, but then what would be the point when a laptop or desktop has all that anyway. I reckon it's mainly for yuppie users like me or business professionals like my husband who uses his to check email and respond to IT queries when he is on a business trip and he doesn't want to lug his laptop with. He certainly isn't able to use it for much more than that in a business capacity. At this point in time it's a big toy for the inner geek in all of us I think.

iTunes is a swearword in our household right now. Hate them passionately. There are some stupid restrictions in place when buying any music or books. Even worse than Amazon has. Apparently South Africa doesn't have a full licence in place to purchase most of the tunes. And then the world wonders why people hack mp3s and steal music or books. Gah!

I buy quite a few books from Smashwords but their library is fairly limited in what I enjoy reading at the moment. I check their listings fairly regularly. And that is about the best thing they have going for them, that all the books are yours in whatever format the author has loaded them.

[Patricia]

I agree, Claudine -- Smashwords is way too limited to be the only source for one's ebooks. I also agree with your point about the iPad being primarily a geeky toy. But when I see someone like my daughter take to it in a natural way that I could not, I figure that much of what I saw as limitations she sees as tools. She's able to use it productively and even likes the built-in keyboard. I used it to drive myself crazy with Angry Birds and to take movies into the kitchen (Netflix) while I attempted to cook.

I didn't enjoy surfing on it at all.

[Daniel]

FADE IN:
EXT.PARK BENCH.DAY

Action: We see an attractive, petite woman sitting on the park bench reading the paperback book, Passion Of The Different. She is alone. As she's reading, an overwieight man sits next to her and leers. During this action, we hear the narrator talk.

NARRATOR
(With Subtle Irony) She could have chosen a Kindle. Or perhaps brought an iPad with her to the park. Or read this book on her smart phone with the right app. Instead, she wisely chose to take the paperback. Not because it won't ever have a battery outage, or because a drop would never smash the screen...

Action: The woman dislikes the obvious silent come-on from the disgusting big guy. Just as the narrator finishes his comment, she closes the book, grips it with both hands and smashes him upside the head with it. We hear a loud thwaking impact and he goes flying off the bench. The upper half is offscreen, his un-moving sprawled legs are still visible as she re-opens the book to continue reading. We get a closeup of her satisfied expression and catch the book title at the same time.

NARRATOR
(Conclusively Happy) Passion Of The Different, empowering women everywhere. Now available in paperback.
--------------------

I'll never have the ability or money to produce this commercial, but it most certainly fits this thread. While handhelds are wonders to behold, with a paperback there are obvious advantages. To see the brick and mortar stores lose business means they have to merely change their business model and benefit from the digital media. How... I will leave that up to them. ^_^

[Daniel]

OH oh oh just had a thought!! We need to combine a digital reader with a 50,000 volt stun gun and make it look fashionable and cool to hold to read. And use. Hahahahaha! One battery / capacitor for the stun gun portion, a different battery for the reader... then and only then could I write a counter-commercial. ^_^

[Claudine]

Why not go the whole hog Daniel and incorporate a tank? That way you can ride over the body countless times. I like your commercial idea. Make it a hardcover though for a more solid sound and more impact on the idiot's skull.

[Matt]

I read much much much more since I got a Kindle last summer. Lower prices of books is one reason -- another is my growing contact with other indie writers whose books become available to me as a result of that contact. Of course I understand the pleasures of owning print books, but I have been facing a brutal storage problem for nearly twenty years -- I own too many books, and they are scattered over three homes and a storage space. I can't keep acquiring books -- but digital books are no problem.


Indeed the ipad cannot be a personal computer. It doesn't have a lot of digital storage capability, and with no usb ports, it doesn't offer any of the most effective methods of moving files to portable memory devides. Additionally, the virtual qwerty keyboard is not ideal for fast typing, both because of its narrowness and, in my particular case, because it's too easy to hit c or v when you mean to hit the space bar.

[Andre Jute]

Matt Posner wrote: "I own too many books, and they are scattered over three homes and a storage space. I can't keep acquiring books..."

That's not a problem yet. That's a symptom of a richly cultured life.

The wife of a writer I know said, "Buy one more book, and you're for the divorce courts." He replied, "Have you ever stopped to ask why you're my fifth wife?" Currently on his seventh wife.

[Margaret]

Andre Jute wrote: "Matt Posner wrote: "I own too many books, and they are scattered over three homes and a storage space. I can't keep acquiring books..."

That's not a problem yet. That's a symptom of a richly cultu..."

I love that thought; my piles of books in almost every room being a symptom of a richly cultured life.

[Claudine]

I use that excuse too, a richly cultured life...

Matt, have you tried the iPad keyboard? Soooo much better than that POS virtual keyboard.

[Sharon]

giggle...

[Andre Jute]

The waistband of my trousers knows all about my richly cultured life!

[Sharon]

spewing tea here!

[Patricia]

Margie, when I asked you a question not too long ago and you said you'd get back to me, were you kidding? I keep watching...

[Margaret]

Patricia wrote: "Margie, when I asked you a question not too long ago and you said you'd get back to me, were you kidding? I keep watching..."

Nope. Thanks for reminding me I had forgotten in all the hoopla of school and lesson plans. I will get back to you.