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Yes--they're the way of the near future.

Yes--they will provide lots of interesting developments, and may phase out dead-tree books eventually.

Yes--they will provide a second market. Both eBooks and dead-tree books will remain on the market.

Yes--they'll make an impact on the industry, but dead-tree books will bounce back.

No--they're a gimmick.

No--books are dying out, anyway.

No--dead-tree books are the only true books, and everyone will agree with me!

It's too early to tell, and I'm a pansy, so I won't make any predictions.

[Sensei]

I think there's not much reason for a dedicated e-reader when you could have a computer, especially since laptops are getting pretty damn light. Also digital rights crap is a bitch. Mostly, I think e-books are only the way to go when you have a morbid curiosity about the Mechwarrior novelization, or shorter reads. Dead tree books are more portable and durable, and work completely free of power.

[ChairmanPoo]

I think there's not much reason for a dedicated e-reader when you could have a computer, especially since laptops are getting pretty damn light.

But not even close as light, or with such a long battery life. To say nothing of the eyestrain. E-ink is far more forgiving. I love netbooks, for the record, and I have read books in the computer for a long time until I bought the ebook reader. But the extra portability does make a difference, even at home.
The eye-tiredness is very much a personal matter, because I dont normally get tired on the computer anyway.

Also digital rights crap is a bitch.

Yeah, DRM is annoying, that's why you avoid it. Just like with mp3s.

Dead tree books are more portable and durable, and work completely free of power.

More durable, IŽll give you that. Far, far less portable. Power, as I've said elsewhere, is not that much of an issue.

TBH at the moment the biggest (and likely single) objection I can make against ebook readers is their fragility. Although people in forums exaggerate it, they are in fact rather fragile.

That's why I think the next advancement in ebook readers will be flexible screens, not color (which is pointless for most books anyway)


Anyway, to each his own I guess. I do get a lot of use out of mine.

[Sensei]

Unfortunately DRM isn't THAT simple to avoid, for a lot of books, short of pirating. There's probably also lots of books that are easier to find in paper.

[ChairmanPoo]

Unfortunately DRM isn't THAT simple to avoid, for a lot of books, short of pirating.

There's probably also lots of books that are easier to find in paper.

This is... arguably not true, except for niche technical books. I seriously doubt that if you can't find a book in the internet you'll have an easier time looking for it jumping from library to library.

[SolarShado]

On the topic of eReaders:
My mom got a Kindle last christmas and loves it. You can get some books for free, and most (maybe all, haven't looked into it myself) books have a free preview available.

Personally, I recently started using DSlibris, a (free) homebrew program for the NDS. It's quite nice. Not as feature packed as a commercial device of course, but it gets the job done. Only peeve is having to convert to books XHTML... so far from mostly DOC. Doable, but a bit of a pain in the @$$.

[piecewise]

Unfortunately DRM isn't THAT simple to avoid, for a lot of books, short of pirating.

There's probably also lots of books that are easier to find in paper.

This is... arguably not true, except for niche technical books. I seriously doubt that if you can't find a book in the internet you'll have an easier time looking for it jumping from library to library.

*points to a used book store* betcha that a significant portion of the books in there aren't ebook-ified.

[ChairmanPoo]

you'd be surprised..

Heck, in fact, I bet that most used bookstore books are even in the public domain, so you dont need to resort to the Bay.

[piecewise]

you'd be surprised..

Heck, in fact, I bet that most used bookstore books are even in the public domain, so you dont need to resort to the Bay.

Lets look at some of the books I bought from a book store shall we?

Amok Journal Sensurround Edition: Nope
Gray's anatomy: Exists but has no images, making it useless.
The Encyclopedia of Fantasy:nope
Earthdoom!:Not even close
Howdunit series: Not even one.
Version 99: nope
The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary: Nah-uh

etc. Ebooks are good for the normal kind of books or famous authors but not so much for more eclectic stuff. Not just technical manuals, but pretty much anything off the beaten path. Not to mention that my copy of "man in the high castle" cost me $2 for a dead tree version but the Kindle is $10.

[ChairmanPoo]

I dont know where you are looking for books, but I have Netter's anatomy atlas (which is FAR superior to Grey's) in the computer,  and I think I do have grey's stashed around as well.

That being said, those are particularily bad examples for ebook reader candidates, given that they rely mostly on images, and reflow will make you suffer. Pure text fares far better.

[bjlong]

Speaking of images, do black and white images work on eReaders?

[Tack]

I refuse to read anything but dead-tree. Owning a dead-tree gives you a sense of satisfaction, and looks good in your wardrobe. Dead-tree, all the way.


Edit: About the 'Wardrobe' thing. Dead-tree isn't an innuendo, my brother has a walk-in wardrobe full of his favourite books, stacked ceiling high in the shelves.
It's pretty awesome.

[Sir Pseudonymous]

I prefer ebooks because they're free and I have no money to burn on books; and I'd rather read on a backlit lcd I can scroll with minimal effort than try to awkwardly angle a book so that it's lit up (also implies having a lamp switched on, which I dislike when I don't need a bright light). Of course, it is rather hit or miss as to whether or not a given book's been digitized, and the ocr is occasionally shit, but it sure as hell beats going to the trouble of searching a bookstore and shelling out $10-20 for a book... :/

[SolarShado]

Speaking of images, do black and white images work on eReaders?

Depends on the device I imagine. The kindle does, quality's not great but it works. Look closely at the specs for the device you're looking at.

[Sensei]

It should seem that more often, those books you can never find on e-readers are the ones you go to the bookstore -and one like, say, half price books- only vaguely looking for. That's just an awesome store in general though; I found an original copy of Master of Magic there.

[ChairmanPoo]

Speaking of images, do black and white images work on eReaders?

they can (color pics too, for that matter, but theyŽll show in black and white), but it's not the ideal device, really. So if it's something precise and dellicate (a schematic for some engineering thing, or somesuch), then it's not really worth it. (at least, given current ebook features)