ebooks or paper??

[emeraldknight47]

E-Books and audiobooks are all well and fine and do serve their respectives purposes, but to me, a true book, whether it be a comic, a novel, a collection of poetry or art, a biography or a bible needs to be ink on paper. I think it's the physical attributes of an actual book---the smell of the paper and the ink, the heft of the book itself, the crispness (or non-crispness when it comes to vintage books) of the cover and pages that makes the book and the reading thereof that much more of an organic experience than reading it electronically or listening to it. I guess I feel like it gives you a little more of a personal connection to the author and the material.

[MIB41]

The virtual world is a beautiful tool to connect people, but when it comes to a good book, magazine, or comic, I want it in my hands. I'm very old school. I want the complete package that allows me to feel the tangible essence of something I'm calling, "mine".

[megoapesnut]

Well, I am going to buck the trend and say the I much prefer ebooks. I have had an iPad from day one and 75% of what I use it for is reading books. I am an avid reader. As soon as I finish one book, I start another. And I reread my favorites often. I read while I am eating at almost every meal, I read when I am playing poker every now and then, in the car when someone else is driving, etc. How cool is it to be able to take my entire book collection with me in one device! I can't tell you how many times I have finished a book, back in the paper days, and didn't have another with me to start. Old, rare hard to find books from my favorite authors were out of the question in the paper days. Now I can find the ebooks or PDF files lurking out there in cyberspace and I am reading them as quick as I can download them. Going to back to reading while eating, it is so much easier to setup my iPad to read in front of me, hands free. It was so difficult to get a book set up and then I got food on the pages half the time. There is no question that reading ebooks on my iPad has made my reading life SOOO much easier. I don't need the feel and smell of paper to get immersed in my books. I have read a couple of old books from the library that smelled bad and distracted me from the actual story. The words on the screen are all I need. I'll take ebooks any day.

[HardyGirl]

Don't own an E-book or a Kindle, and I don't plan to. I like books!

[ubermanx]

Love real books but when I go away loading a tonne of books on my Kobo and Kindle is super convenient.

- Marty

[mikeoz]

I've tried e-readers and really wanted to like them for their convenience, but they just don't work for me. I'm extremely nearsighted and I have to turn the contrast up significantly to better make out the words. The trouble is the reflection caused by the brightness gives me headaches especially when reading in bed. For right now, it's paper for me.

[Donkey Hoatie]

Love printed books like nobody's business. I've got 1000s of them on my shelves at home. I have to admit, though, I like the Kindle far more than I ever thought I would. To keep myself from filling up even more space, I borrow most books I read now from the library, and my library doesn't have the greatest e-book collection. If I could download more frequently, I would. It saves me the trip to and from the library returning books.

[Mego Magyar]

Paper for comics. kindle for books....

Funny, for me it's just the opposite. I don't collect comics anymore and although I still have a couple of thousand comics anything I might want to check out I do it digitally. Also anything old that I never read before is digital. With my life as it is I've started reading books ( John Carter, Tarzan & Conan ) and prefer to actually have the book in hand but will go ebook for anything I can't get a cheap copy of.