e-book sales in decline

[Skybird]

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-26816884

Somehow, that feels relieving. Personally, I always thought - sometimes more intensely, sometimes less - that it all is about a hyped interest into the new and exotic electronic toy stuff. Once the initial "newness" and fascination has gone, things are normalising again.

[TG626]

I don't think printed books will ever die off completely. I think paper will eventually become obsolete for things like periodicals.

[Garion]

I have just under 2000 books on my Kindle and have not paid for any of them.:woot:

They ain't pirated neither.

Cheers

Gary

[Skybird]

I don't think printed books will ever die off completely. I think paper will eventually become obsolete for things like periodicals.
Yes, and temporary material at work, newspapers, and such.

However, who ever has tried to compare several text passages in some academic book for example, reading the parallel, knows that the use of electronic readers and tablets has limits, ergonomically, and while it is easy to search for keywords, it it also inferior due the just described reasons.

[MH]

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-26816884

Somehow, that feels relieving. Personally, I always thought - sometimes more intensely, sometimes less - that it all is about a hyped interest into the new and exotic electronic toy stuff. Once the initial "newness" and fascination has gone, things are normalising again.



I used to buy books but i don't anymore.

I like the idea that whenever i wish to i cam pull up my phone and read whichever book i like not needing to carry them around.

On another hand the physical copy has something to it ...sort of like possessing the old records...and you cant delete them with press of a button..

[Skybird]

Have you ever red the fineprint for Amazon Kindle?

You may have payed for its books, but you do not own them at all. If you take your Kindle to another continent, for example, and use the deiove there for trying to buy another ebook from one of the local Amazon stores there, Amazon reserves the right (and has executed that repeatedly) to delete your account at home and delete all your books ever bought. Books gone, money gone.

Enjoy living at the mercy of somebody else not pushing a button. ;)

That is the biggest issue with digital sales, may it be software, may it be printware: private property is a term that has become useless there. You do not own anything for real with it. You cannot resell it. You cannot exchange or barter it. You are dependent and remote-controllable. And if the other thinks you "owned" something for long enough and that you should not own it any longer, or should not own this version, but an edited, different version of a book, there is nothing you can do - he does what he wants, and you suffer what you must.

[MH]

That is the biggest issue with digital sales, may it be software, may it be printware: private property is a term that has become useless there. You do not own anything for real with it. You cannot resell it. You cannot exchange or barter it. You are dependent and remote-controllable. And if the other thinks you "owned" something for long enough and that you should not own it any longer, or should not own this version, but an edited, different version of a book, there is nothing you can do - he does what he wants, and you suffer what you must

I agree with that.
You sort buy the right to read a book not to own it.

[vanjast]

When shopping for a tablet, I had kindles and apples shoved in my face.
People say you must feel sorry for sales peoples - just doing a job. Bugger that, 99.9999% of them are so dense, and hard of hearing

All I wanted was a colour tablet with a open memory stick and USB port, so I can transfer docs from my PC to the tablet, and something for the wife to browse with.
Never bought an e-book (except for my kids schooling), and never will - The internet provides enough legal free stuff.

Got myself a nice 10" ASUS 310T (I think the model number is) for 3000 ZARs... nice a cheap, considering the nearest equivalent was 5000 bucks at the time, and apples going for 6000 :har:

[Kazuaki Shimazaki II]

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-26816884

Somehow, that feels relieving. Personally, I always thought - sometimes more intensely, sometimes less - that it all is about a hyped interest into the new and exotic electronic toy stuff. Once the initial "newness" and fascination has gone, things are normalising again.

But down there in one of the links it says:
"Printed book sales fall £98m in 2013"

and the link doesn't even say what BBC claims it said:

For the first eight months of 2013, e-book sale were worth $800m in the US, down 5% on the same period the previous year, according to the Association of American Publishers.

Meanwhile, hardback book sales rose 11.5%.

According to the latest numbers from the Association of American publishers, adult ebook sales are up 4.8% through August to $647.7 million. Meanwhile, sales of hardcover books are up 11.5% to $778.6 million over the same period.

The trend over the past several years has been quite the opposite, with ebooks growing in double and triple digits and hardcover sales falling, giving way to the cheaper format. Paperback sales, however, continued to decrease, down 11.6% from a year ago to $898.9 million.

Uh...

Anyway, what I see happening is that sales are polarizing, with people who really liking the print material opting for hardcover and those that don't care buying E-books. Paperbacks are the main losers.

As for me, I like books, but as you know my small apartment hardly has store to store many more. Besides, I need word search more than an advantage in laying up several books side by side, and I want my books in one tablet ...

Got myself a nice 10" ASUS 310T (I think the model number is) for 3000 ZARs... nice a cheap, considering the nearest equivalent was 5000 bucks at the time, and apples going for 6000

Hey, me too! Say, are you having problems with your SD card going offline?

[Jimbuna]

I much prefer the paper version but also have a growing electronic collection.

Plenty of room in the market place for both IMO.

[Admiral Halsey]

Personally i've never liked E-Books. The things always seemed off for some reason.

[McBeck]

I love my kindle for some simple reasons
1) I travel a lot. It saves weight, room and is always handy
2) I dont have to keep my wife up if I want to read in bed
3) It saves a ton of room in our flat, because we both read a lot on vacations.

That being said, I keep some books on paper, because they have illustrations etc...or are of sentimental value.

[Wolferz]

On another hand the physical copy has something to it ...sort of like possessing the old records...and you cant delete them with press of a button..


Nope, all you need is a match and some form of energetic accelerant.:hmmm:

I recall a chancellor doing just that back in the 1930's:-?

[the_tyrant]

I like ebooks quite a bit. I would much, much rather lug around a tablet or ebook reader instead of my 3 - 5 big textbooks.


I would usually have to carry a solid 5 pounds to class daily, or I can just use an ebook reader.

[areo16]

That's because there are very few things that are as satisfying as reading an actual book on the sh!tter, while sipping a cup of Joe!

I'll take the infraction for that one because it was well worth saying.:salute:

[vanjast]

Hey, me too! Say, are you having problems with your SD card going offline?
When I first got the tablet.. it did this - all I did was re-insert the card.
Then the tablet crashed - can you believe that ?- I thought windoze was bad.

Anyway I pushed the Reset button.. and haven't had a problem since ...'touch wood'

[MH]

Format your sd card from within your tablet.
Might solve the issue.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Love the ipad. Read books, magazines, comics and graphic novels on it. With the retina display everything is ultra-sharp :yep:

[Tango589]

I've never gone in for e-books, for me you can't beat the sight, feel and smell of a good book. I tried a kindle for 5 minutes, but the 'press the button to turn the page' thing just felt awkward.

[Kazuaki Shimazaki II]

Format your sd card from within your tablet.
Might solve the issue.

ASUS disabled that functionality on the tablet.

[ReallyDedPoet]

I've never gone in for e-books, for me you can't beat the sight, feel and smell of a good book. I tried a kindle for 5 minutes, but the 'press the button to turn the page' thing just felt awkward.

With the ipad you turn the pages like you would with a real book :yep: I read now more than I did before. But like music, the ones I really want I get in hard-copy.

[Platapus]

I do like reading some stuff on the Ipad. And thanks to Project Gutenberg I can get digital copies of books I would have a harder time finding in print.

But nothing can take the place of my dead tree library. I like books, I like the way they look, they way they smell, and I like the way they feel when you read them.

[August]

I have just under 2000 books on my Kindle and have not paid for any of them.:woot:

They ain't pirated neither.

Cheers

Gary

And if you drop it or loose it they're all gone. The thousand or so real books I have in my library would not be so easily destroyed or lost.

[ReallyDedPoet]

I have most of mine backed up on a hard drive. Also if you purchase from iBooks they are saved in the Cloud.

[ReallyDedPoet]

But nothing can take the place of my dead tree library. I like books, I like the way they look, they way they smell, and I like the way they feel when you read them.


For sure, I just bought Thunder Below, the hard copy. It really depends what I am buying. I do however like the portability of digital.

The flip-side is nothing compares to a nice bookshelf.

[STEED]

I will stick with the real deal that of real books thank you.

[Ducimus]

I would have thought one of the major points of sitting or laying down and reading a book was to get away from computers to begin with. Merging the two seems like an anachronism.

[STEED]

I would have thought one of the major points of sitting or laying down and reading a book was to get away from computers to begin with. Merging the two seems like an anachronism.

Post of the day. :yeah:

The Borg are fiction but the way the human race is going makes you think. :hmmm:

[ReallyDedPoet]

I would have thought one of the major points of sitting or laying down and reading a book was to get away from computers to begin with. Merging the two seems like an anachronism.

I thought so as well. But to be honest I read much more than I used to with it. Just because of the diversity in one package :yep:

- books
- magazines
- stuff in pdf format ( I coach so there is a ton of stuff available in that format, drills etc., and it saves having to print off everything. Though for some stuff I do )
- comics and graphic novels are excellent with the retina display on the ipad. And it feels like a book, slightly larger, but not by much.

Just need to install the " smells like a book app " :D