I do prefer reading physical books, but I almost exclusively read on my ereader because of easy availability of whatever I want, and it doesn’t take up tons of space like books do.
- The <1% of books I love: physical
- The >99% of everything else: digital
Depends. Digital is usually best for me since I can read on my phone pretty much anytime anywhere.
That said, some books feel like they work best in your hand, like The Book of Disquiet, which has so many notes at the end and I haven’t found a comfortable enough way to skip back on forth without having to scroll through a lot to get to where I was, or House of Leaves, which is more like a fun hands-on puzzle to play with.
House of Leaves is a wild experience in the new(ish) full-color print.
I never did finish it because it’s such an endeavor. You really have to commit to it.
I reluctantly started reading ebooks years ago for a very practical reason: owning some few thousand physical books, I pretty much ran out of room in the shelves in my small apartment. So nowadays I only buy physical art books and the like. Having said this, I actually easily grew to like ebooks, for their ubiquitous availability and, of course, not taking up precious shelf space.
Have to read them in an ereader for a proper experience, though. Tablet/smartphone displays tire my eyes a lot if I read for any meaningful period of time.
I used to prefer physical, because I read on my phone and never really paid attention. Used my phone to read for a year and read a ton of books but don’t remember any of them. Couple years ago I bought a kindle and ever since I haven’t bought a single physical book, opting to buy them instead through amazon.
Don’t think I’ll ever go back to physical, honestly, it’s just too convenient. Digital is less bulky, not just in storage but in my hands, pages don’t wear down from turning, and I can fit my kindle in my front pockets and read anywhere, any time.
I dislike having to give money to amazon though.
Just in case you didn’t know, you don’t have to buy books through Amazon (actually that’s the worst option). You can buy the books in epub format from the publishers website or other stores usually (and if all else fails, pirate it in epub format). Epub is DRM free, which means you actually own the book, and, although I wouldn’t have recommended buying an Amazon Kindle, now you have it, according to another commenter, you can email the epub to yourself and read it on the kindle.
Oh yeah, I’ve pirated stuff before. WotC stuff though, no way I’m giving them money for handbooks.
I think I overall prefer digital, but on e-ink devices mostly.
I like that they don’t take up space, I can download them quickly and not have to go to the bookstore or order it online and wait for it to be delivered. Also I can sync it on multiple devices and read on my kindle when I really want to have a good reading experience but if I forget it or am waiting for the bus or something, just pull up the kindle app on my phone and everything is synced.
On the other hand, growing up with a lot of books I kinda miss the feel and smell of physical books. Also I feel like they are a bit more… “permanent”.
Digital. I love physical books, but I never read them. Digital is so much easier for me to actually sit down and read, and I love building up my library.
I’ve really wanted to like digital but it just feels lacking to me. I buy pretty much exclusively used and love buying the oldest print of a book I’m looking for. The feel and smell of the paper, the difference in typeface, line spacing and page size between books, the artwork, all the things are important to me I guess. Bonus points if someone left notes or highlighter marks or old library stamps. It’s more than just words to read for me.
Plus I like seeing them on the shelf, like little badges of accomplishment for making it through the book, or encouragement to read it if I haven’t already.
My brother is similar but he does use an ereader for 90% of books these days. Now his book collecting hobby and the allure of a printed copy are restricted to his favourite or important books, 5 years ago he’d buy 100 books a year for £3 each, nowadays he’ll buy 3 or 4 books a year for £50 each and his satisfaction for good quality old or important copies of books goes through the roof.
It’s possible to have your cake and eat it too is what I guess I’m saying.
I think e-ink readers are incredible. My eyes feel like they’re reading a normal book, but it’s got a backlight, doesn’t take up a bunch of physical space I don’t have, and it’s a lot easier to read using only one hand at a time (even turning pages).
Physical. You do not really own your digital book and you have to depend on a devise that can break/need charging to read.
Depends on the format, you can absolutely own ebooks.
Yes you kind of “own” your ebook, but… The company that sold it to you can remove it legally form their listings, taking away your ability to download your book.
That’s not what I’m referring to. If you have an epub or similar file, you own it. You can store it, and delete it at your own whim.
Yes, but computers are prone to failure, you are depending on a device to hold all your media. I’ve had backups and backups of backups, still losing things to failure. My books take up space, but they will be there unless my home burns down.
And if you store it in the cloud, and in thumb drives, they will be there even if your home burns down, and far more of em too.
With a cloud you are depending on someone else to hold your property.
Not necessarily, you can self-host. I also listed it as a backup, for actual storage on thumb drives, SD cards, etc. It’s really not difficult, files are far more secure and safe than a physical book, which itself degrades upon use.
It’s much nicer to read from physical ones, but i reality I end up borrowing digital copies or audiobooks. I travel often and real books take space, too much I’m afraid.
Physical without a doubt
If it’s just text (paperback novels), digital. If it has some illustrations, or is a comic or an art book, physical. Same for technical books with diagrams: physical. I don’t have an iPad or a large ebook to appreciate graphic content in the same way as in a physical book. I have no problems reading novels off my phone, on the other hand.
Physical. The whole feel of it and for old books the smell. Can’t beat it. But I still read most books on my phone or a Kindle.
Physical. I love the smell of paper.
I do occasionally use a Kobo, which is a very convenient little device. However, I prefer a paper book.
