But seriously, ebooks… maybe 8.5 times out of 10. E-ink screens are amazing and just as good as paper, but having your books also available on your phone, and thus always in your pocket, is transformative. So, digital on a platform that syncs between devices. (Bonus points for accomplishing this with an open-source app.)
Do you have any app that you suggest and any store where to actually download the file? Right now I buy physical — I love the feeling of paper — but it’s annoying that I can’t read when outside
I love the Moon+ Reader app. Tons of features. I like that it has a dark mode and you can set the brightness very very low (on OLED) so reading in the dark at night is comfortable.
Not OP but KOReader. It’s an open source e-reader software which runs practically everywhere, even the low-end Kobos. Tons of features. Good UX. Seemless integration to popular hardwares.
If my library doesn’t have an ebook available, I’ll get an electronic version. Paper books don’t make a lot of sense to me: I only read them once, I rarely lend them out, they seem like a waste of energy for what is essentially just data.
Paper books have a romance. The idea of having a stocked personal library is cool, it just doesn’t fit my lifestyle, personality, or budget.
Paper books have a romance. The idea of having a stocked personal library is cool, it just doesn’t fit my lifestyle, personality, or budget.
Totally fair of course, but just as a suggestion for others who want to own books on a budget, I suggest thrift stores (like for clothing). They usually have a whole section of use books for very cheap.
That’s fair too. For my part, I’ve recently started to maintain one bookshelf (found on curbside give-away day) and churn through it, keeping a couple notable favorites as conversation starters or for loaning out.
But the physical presence is important to me, so it’s worth the real estate it takes up in the room. I can totally understand how that isn’t the case for everyone.
Physical books, all the way. I’m a techie, through and through – I’m a computer programmer by trade, and as soon as I can convince these stupid smart bulbs to work with Home Assistant I’m very excited to have a smart home – but I’ll take a physical book over a digital one any day of the week. If I must read something on a computer, I pirate it. Physical books are easier on the eyes (and e-ink displays, though they’ve made massive strides over the last several years, still lag well behind their old-fashioned counterparts in terms of color rendering (and in some cases even black-and-white readability) and are still prohibitively priced), and more importantly, you can’t put DRM on a piece of paper. I’m a huge believer in owning what I buy.
I’ve tried digital books, but I’ve found that physical books work much better for my brain. I retain more information and can “get lost” in the story, whereas, for some inexplicable reason, digital books being read on a screen kind of “flatten” a story for me. It’s almost like a 3d vs 2d experience for me.
Have you ever used an eink reader, or just a tablet or something? The difference is night and day for me. The first time I used an eink reader I thought there was paper covering the screen at first.
I have! But unfortunately, I had the same result as if it were my phone/tablet. I really wish I understood why it was like this for me so I could maybe work on it, but I guess I’m just one of those “need-to-physically-turn-the-page” people :/
It doesn’t impact my experience of the story, but there is something to having the next page hidden behind the turn and knowing that it’s right there. When I read an ebook it’s like reading an article. The sensation is different and it loses a touch of excitement without that tactile feeling of ‘the next page’. Pages don’t matter in ebooks either. You adjust the text size and the ‘page’ count is suddenly radically different. I measure my progress in chapters or percentages now.
It makes sense to me why that wouldn’t work for some folks.
Ebooks. Can store more on a reading tablet, easier to transport most of the time, sometimes lighter than physical books, hold my spot easily where I left off, can read in darker places, easier to store. Still have physical but liking digital more. Use an eink display tablet. Buy the books then download epubs or PDFs.
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