e-Book Sales Soar While Paper Declines

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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A report released by the Association of American Publishers just confirmed what many already know: Paper books are on their way out. The surprise is how fast the transition is taking place. Printed books are declining while the e-Book is gaining ground partly by the increased availability of older and out of print books.
 
I cant get into ereaders. I've tried a Kindle, and while its not hard on the eyes, I've got an affinity for actually holding a physical book that I can shelve when I finish.
 
inotocracy said:
I cant get into ereaders. I've tried a Kindle, and while its not hard on the eyes, I've got an affinity for actually holding a physical book that I can shelve when I finish.
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Buy an ereader per book.. you'll be able to shelve them :D
 
Cue all the insane media reports by mainstream media about how 'piracy' of ebooks is 'destroying the publishing industry'.
/sigh
 
I just started using a Kindle a month ago, and it's actually very nice.

The only thing I won't use the Kindle for are artbooks or books with a lot of photographs or colored artwork. That's the one place I'd draw the line at when it comes to eReaders.

I'd rather see the color of the artwork and photos as they are printed on paper and not on a digital screen.
 
darkwraith007 said:
Cue all the insane media reports by mainstream media about how 'piracy' of ebooks is 'destroying the publishing industry'.
/sigh
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I don't think the publishing industry is going to get hit very hard by piracy. After all, piracy of books has existed for a long time. It's called a "public library".
 
inotocracy said:
I cant get into ereaders. I've tried a Kindle, and while its not hard on the eyes, I've got an affinity for actually holding a physical book that I can shelve when I finish.
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that makes two of us. my gf has a nook (non-color) and while its impressive, i just cant get over how its basically a slab of plastic. books to me need to stay. for one thing, i dont need to recharge a paper book, and if it gets wet for any reason its not a big deal.
 
I won't be jumping on board the e-reader trend.

First, I like books, I like holding a book, for images, photographs, etc. I haven't seen an e-reader that can compare.

I find the e-readers a bit awkward to hold. Could be all these years of holding real books (I'm in my 50s).

I also find that no matter how I adjust the print size and lighting after awhile, the e-readers just make my eyes scream "enough", same if I'm at the computer too long.

The charging issue, yes that's a consideration. You don't need to recharge a book half-way through a chapter.

I may be a "tree hugger" and I normally don't buy new books, nothing wrong with used, especially older books that haven't been reprinted.

Some of this stuff just makes me feel old!
 
ditzilla said:
I also find that no matter how I adjust the print size and lighting after awhile, the e-readers just make my eyes scream "enough", same if I'm at the computer too long.
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What ereader are you using? :confused: Because e-ink is nothing like sitting at a computer screen for too long...

I prefer reading hardcopy books as well and if I know I'll only be reading at home (e.g., have a few free days coming up) then I'll do that. However, for the convenience of being able to read anywhere while taking up so little space in my bag, I really have come to love my Nook. I miss having a full bookshelf to stare at, but the convenience makes it worth it.
 
How is this going to effect libraries I wonder? Most of what I read comes from the library.
 
inotocracy said:
I cant get into ereaders. I've tried a Kindle, and while its not hard on the eyes, I've got an affinity for actually holding a physical book that I can shelve when I finish.
Click to expand...

Im with you on this I will stay with my paper books as long as I can before I switch to an e reader
 
bazylik said:
*hugs nook* I now read more than I used to.
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+1 to that. Granted, I couldn't get into the Kindle or original Nook, but the Nook Color tablet? I read far more (and *pay* for them) than I have in the years since college. What sold me was being able to browse the web and do tablet-like stuff in a rather small form factor. It also helped that I could root it to play games, install apps, and emulate NES/SNES on the go.
 
the wife got me a nook color for christmas and I really like it, books can be had pretty cheap and I dont have them spilling off the shelves at such a rapid rate anymore. I will still be buying some things in physical though like the new 'song of fire and ice' coming this summer and all the warhammer omnibus' which wont even be available in e-format (according to gamesworkshop).
 
Used to buy a lot physical books but everything I do now with a few exceptions is digital form mainly from my Safari Online subscription for technical stuff and Kindle for other stuff. I hate physical books because of the bulk and space they occupy.
 
LonerVamp said:
+1 to that. Granted, I couldn't get into the Kindle or original Nook, but the Nook Color tablet? I read far more (and *pay* for them) than I have in the years since college. What sold me was being able to browse the web and do tablet-like stuff in a rather small form factor. It also helped that I could root it to play games, install apps, and emulate NES/SNES on the go.
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Hilariously enough, I find that I read more on my Kindle specifically because it doesn't have (usable) web support. I find that if I'm easily able to switch over and read some website instead, I will, but with the Kindle I have no distractions and get to plow through books.
 
I've been seriously looking into an e-reader for the last few weeks. I prefer the feel of a physical book and will continue to buy them, but with sites like Project Gutenberg having most everything thats in the public domain available for free I think it would be great to have them in one place. Sitting here at my desk is not comfortable at all for reading so it would be nice to sit in my comfy leather reading chair with nice reading lamp and have so many of those books in one place. Of course this would be great for traveling, my collection of beloved Lovecraft stories is almost 1100 pages of hardcover goodness and would take up half my travel bag.

I will say though, I used Steam in the early days ONLY for Valve games, but over 60 games later I guess I've changed my tune when it comes to paying for downloadable content. If book publishers start having sales like Steam sales I'd be in trouble though :D
 
I like having the physical copies, but an e-reader would be nice for trips. I would hate to go on a long vacation and try and lug around the entire Wheel of Time series in hardback form. Unfortunately, publishers are completely insane with the prices of their e-books. Which is the reason I won't buy them and stick with physical copies.
 
darkwraith007 said:
Cue all the insane media reports by mainstream media about how 'piracy' of ebooks is 'destroying the publishing industry'.
/sigh
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I kind of worry about this myself. If books aren't profitable, will people continue to write books as living? Will the books we see for sale be made by 'hobbyist' novelists and thus perhaps of a bit less quality than someone who spends a majority of their time doing it as a living?

Would author's like Stephen King of our 'next' generation only write a 1/5th as many books because he has to spend 8 hours a day working at bath, bed and beyond to make a living?

To an extent, I hope/imagine not since afaik, there haven't been a lot of musicians or movie motion picture, game developers etc becoming poor and going out of business, minus Michael Jackson or a few game developers whom just make crappy games like Silicon Knight who both had some insane expenditures.

One difference, I can see though with eBooks is it takes a while and there's the concern of virus from the general public regarding downloading 'mp3s' or downloading 'movies' // 'games'. I can't tell you how many of my friends are afraid to download movies/games for fear of viruses but not so much with music. They think limewire is semi-safe :(.

Anyways, songs take maybe 2 minutes to download. DVD quality movies maybe an hour from a good source. HD quality movies & games, maybe 2-3 hours from a good source. Books, on the other hand, maybe a mere 2 seconds.

I imagine if just 'words' and not 'words saved as pictures'(IE direct-scans) should BE about 75KB. Books with some pictures, maybe 1MB. With the former types of books, it seems piracy might be extremely easy. 75KB? That's transferable in half a second with any half-decent Internet connection. 1/10th of a second with a good Internet connection. The worst part is, this file size is within almost any email client/email addresses maximum attachment size. People could literately 'email' their friend a book whereas a whole cd at 70MB and definitely a dvd-quality movie at 700MB would go over the maximum file attachment size limit.
 
There is no reason to buy paper books anymore, they take up space in your house/room/apartment/etc. All you take up are mb's on your computer and you can store thousands on a single HDD. Doesn't surprise me one bit. Manufacturers and publishers should be happy with this, it doesn't cost them a dime to print the books anymore now so they potentially make MORE money. People are getting smarter finally.
 
jctess87 said:
There is no reason to buy paper books anymore, they take up space in your house/room/apartment/etc. All you take up are mb's on your computer and you can store thousands on a single HDD. Doesn't surprise me one bit. Manufacturers and publishers should be happy with this, it doesn't cost them a dime to print the books anymore now so they potentially make MORE money. People are getting smarter finally.
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I disagree. I like paper books for the tangibility. I'll also throw a few points at you as to where you're mistaken. First off, your single HDD can crash and obliterate your data, wiping out that nice library. Second, paper books can survive a nuclear war or other near-extinction level event. Computers will not owing to EMP effects and the general requirement of electricity of some kind, so if you want knowledge to survive an apocalypse paper is the way to go. Third, paper books and periodicals can be used for fuel in an emergency, or for emergency TP. I recommend the Federal Tax Code for the former, and The New York Times for the latter purpose. Last... clobbering someone with a Kindle will break it. Clobbering someone with Webster's is going to give them a concussion and the book will still be readable afterward.

People getting smarter is not happening either. If you've been keeping up with pop culture and driving habits lately you'd see the amount of rampant stupidity present in the developed world is on the increase.
 
I picked up a literati for about $40 and other than not connecting to my Windows 7 box right it looks great.
 
I have doubled my reading count with the nook. Not having to lug around books, make sure to change out books in my bag/car (I'm forgetful) has given me more time to read. Also when I'm done I don't have to attempt to find a spot to put my book (my BOOK shelves are slammed with books).

I really appreciate that companies have finally came out with these. Very good on the eyes and my reading habits. Sometimes I get addicted, this thing feeds my addiction.
 
I read mostly on my e-ink Nook (I have a rooted Nook Color but I don't use it for reading that much). I decided that I prefer hardcovers, ebooks, and then paperbacks. I like that you can read on an e-ink device while you're eating, for example, without it popping shut (like a hardcover).

I refuse to buy DRM protected books though. I hate them with a passion like I do all DRM'd content. So I generally read non-legit copies of books I already own as I have no moral qualms about doing so (I have 3 bookshelves full), public domain, and DRM-free ebooks from Smashwords and places like that. I will rarely buy a B&N or Kindle book (mainly for class if I need it in a hurry), but I have a rule that I must strip the DRM ASAP before I can use it. I keep a backup of my Calibre library on a portable HDD in case of HDD failure.
 
ditzilla said:
I may be a "tree hugger" and I normally don't buy new books, nothing wrong with used, especially older books that haven't been reprinted.
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But old books that haven't been reprinted in a while is one area where digital books will be far superior. There's very little reason not to have a digital version available, where a physical reprint is often unavailable.

Used bookstores are fine if you aren't looking for anything specific, but if you are more particular, you may not find what you need.
 
This is my surprised face.

I don't look surprised, you say? Oh that's right, I'm not. :)

Paper is just becoming less relevant. Information is useful if easily shared. A physical copy of anything can only be so many places at once, and viewing digital media is accessible by pretty much every pretty much everywhere.

I do keep notepads laying around for when I want to jot something down fast though.
 
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