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.
Almost always digital on my tablet or phone these days (I have a Kindle too but just can’t get used to the display), but I’ll buy physical copies to keep and/or give away if I really like them.
It really depends. I’m not from US, so ebooks and regular books tend to have very similar prices, no idea why. I can get a regular book for 40 bucks and the ebook will be 30. No great. So I useually pirate all Ebooks I have and if I really like it, buy a paper copy of it. I really like to collect books, so there’s that. Graphic novels, on the other hand, are exclusively physical, I’ll only read a few chapters to see if I like the story, in case I’ve never heard of it, and buy the real one
No, I download ebooks (except for The Knowledge, which is physical else it would be useless if I was in a situation to need it), as they have numerous benefits such as text searching, coming back to where I left off, customising how it looks, available anywhere and much lighter.
The only thing I buy physical copies of are art books and bird ID books. My phone screen isn’t a good size for viewing detailed art, and even a large tablet isn’t ideal because of how colors can vary depending on screen settings.
Otherwise I usually don’t buy ebooks either, I check them out from my local library with Libby. I don’t typically do a lot of rereads, and when I do it’s easy to recheck them out.
Physical, I just never could make the jump to digital or e reader. If you like reading on your phone or e reader more power to you. My mom loves her e reader b/c she loves to read but time has not been kind to her eyes, being able to make the print any size has been a big help to her.
Recently purchased a high class ebook reader and had to return it. The display technology simply doesn’t match paper yet.
As far as the pure reading experience goes paper is better. Also less distractions and no blue light that keeps you awake late at night. Printed books take up physical space which is a negative for me.
But digital has the advantage when it comes to working with the text: quickly being able to search for strings, copy and paste whole passages, get translations or pronunciations, reorder pages, etc. Plus all the meta data and library management.
Libraries are in a weird space betwixt when it comes to digital versions btw. They give you a digital text but lock you into a specific app that denies the advantages of the digital format mentioned above.
That being said stuff like blog posts, online articles, social media, etc simply doesn’t exist on paper. But for anything I read for pure enjoyment like literature paper is the way to go.
Lastly, in my experience electronic versions tend to be a bit cheaper than paperbacks but a lot less so than you expect. But a library card pays off after borrowing even a single book, so there’s that 🤷♂️.
Second-hand physical books often cost 3,01€, where 3,00€ are shipping. That’s no match for digitals. Also I hate handheld devices that can’t take a beating (looking at you, smartphone). I’m clumsy. I drop things. Books survive that. E-readers… I don’t wanna test.
Also, for whatever reason, I read physical books more carefully than text on screen.
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