I’ve had similar discussions with my son-in-law who is a college text book publisher. He does not feel threatened yet. He says that the e books will take over when his son and friends (now an 18 year old college freshmen) are adults calling the shots in the business world. That is hard to imagine, frankly.
I am not into e books, myself. I spend too much time at the computer already, and I relish curling up with a good book. If it is a fine edition, the feel of the binding and the pages are delicious on their own, no matter what is written on them. Many editions, nowadays, contain beautiful pictures that just can’t be duplicated on a little computer screen.
But, I have too many books, and my mother is worse. I am going to have to dispose of her collection someday, and I dread it. I’ll hear her voice nagging me about every volumne that I discard.
i hear you and felt that way until i got the Ipad and the Kindle app has made downloading books possible. i would not have ever gotten a kindle to just read books, but the multiplicity of function with an ipad is just fantastic. I can go from Words with Friends with Explorer89, to email, to FR, to twitter, to the book i am reading— all with one touch. And the immediate gratification of finishing one book and being able to immediately start another, is something i am loving too. Yes amazon will bring it next day, but amazon kindle books can be there in a NY minute. Also, i paid $57 for the Hunger Games Trilogy for my daughters to be able to read them in paper form, at B&N. i downloaded the trilogy to my ipad for $17.
Xxteen is firmly in the paper books, i want to hold them in my hand, camp. i think until you’ve experienced an ebook, that’s an understandable feeling. i had it myself.
I used to feel that way. However...the IPOD opened my eyes a decade ago when my 2 year old destroyed my 300 disc changer.
Now the ability to carry a library, and add to it at the push of a button..is like a Porsche.
There is no substitute.
(Cheesy Tom Cruise movie ref)
I started with Kindle for PC which mandated sitting at my desk...Once I got on the IPAD...(which has the added benefit of not losing your page when you fall asleep reading!) I’ll never go back to print unless I have to.
The $$$ you save by eschewing Dead Tree, over time pays for the device.
My Teen has the Kindle Fire, which is pretty sweet..and a fraction of what my IPAD cost.