Actually, rather than having anything against you, I'm a little suprised at all the vehemence against E-books. I can understand that they aren't your cup of tea (to use an old cliche), but there is no need to repeat the "shock" point twice (OK, I'll admit books have an advantage here), add water and sand (where I just don't see the huge advantage of books) and then resort to the smell (really subjective here - I like books but the smell of old books is not always favorable to my senses) and flexibility (I've tried reading larger paperbacks on a train and quickly found myself wishing they were less flexible...)

Regarding the problem of searching and comparing text, if the E-book is properly OCRed or began its life as an E-book, I find the automatic word search capabilities rather useful. I've got The Naval Review from 1910-1997 downloaded as OCRed PDFs, and I can just find desired terms (such as AFO 1/56) from them easily. I can't see myself doing the same if they were still books (even if I can find the place to put so many issues).

I'll admit that the fact I live in Hong Kong may bias my appreciation too by giving me a fine value on the problem of SPACE. You might brag about deploying books side by side on your rather large desk, but the only place I can do that is on my bed, right next to the desk, none too comfortably. It also means if my present library can be crammed onto a few Flash Drives worth of space, I'm much happier to tolerate any small inconvenience...

Finally, should one insist on using paper for reading, the difficulty of just printing out the desired material from the PDF is insignificant compared to the efforts of the inverse process of forcing books onto the scanner, damaging them trying to minimize Gutter Shadow, groaning as the OCR blows it completely ... etc.

Well, that may be your taste, but to me - and many others - what I listed are real arguments speaking against eBooks. I admit, items like this may be comfortable for special uses, like the list of magazines you mentioned, but in everyday use for ordinary books, both fiction and non-fiction, and private reason as well as work-related research and comaring different texts parallel to each other, what I said are all very valid concerns. PDFs, somebody mentioned, and manuals of study sims. Well, I prefer them to be available in print (book or self-printed) - especially when it is a study sim. Here and with regard to any other kind of study material I think having hardcopies is superior in clarity and working ergonomics.

There is a another problem, with regards to digitising text-culture in general, and libraries who are in the business of needing to collect all publications in their nation's mother language like federal libraries or national libraries (speaking by the German example here) already can sing a song of it, it is a growing and serious problem: data conservation, which not only includes the physical quality of the media, but also includes compatability of hardware that grew old and gets replaced by new hardware standards and new data formats. Digitising analogue data may increase the access time to data, but that time saving is more than eaten up by the generally raised maintenance and regular investments that is needed to preserve such data libraries over longer period of times. We already have the symptom that software of the very early PC era that and is kept in museums and institutions collecting them, in parts can no longer be accessed and used because there are no computer around anymore able to run it, to decypher it, and no people around to repair or maintain the old hardware that still may be there and can run it. Some computer game classics for example are amongst these. There have been several books released in the past years that deal with this problem, and describe that already first symptoms are to be seen that by digitising our culture and let digital copies of the analogue original completely replace the latter, sooner or later sees our culture being "deleted" by content becoming unaccessible and simply "forgotten". That may sound like another paranoia, but as I said, libraries have hired even scientiifc researchers to examine and deal with this problem which has both a socio-cultural and a material component.

For this reason already, I see the digital version of analogue data always just as a supplementing option to the analogue original.

There also is the problem of DRM, which has spread in the computer world like a pest. and if the rights-holder of an ebook you bought goes off business, your precious ebook copies could just seize to exist in your ebook's memory, deleted by one central command that is beyond your influence. What many people do not see is that by the combination of networking and digitising, the concept of private property as it has been present in our culture since many centuries, all is about to be drastically altered and changed. You are giving up part of your independence and your freedoms that way.

I am not against technology in principal, by far not, there are plenty of things I use in everyday life that I do not wish to miss. But I am against the unneeded, and uncritical implementation of technology, the ignoring of it's costs and disadvantages in whatever a context (and there always are costs), and I do not subscribe to the idea that just because something is new, it must necessarily be better. Skills that we hand over to technology to let it do the work, are skills that we loose ourselves. In extremes it may lead to pupils able to handle a poicket calculator, but being unable to do simple math calcuation manually on paper, or in their brain. Nothing against the reasonable use of technology. But we behave like little kids who enter the candy store without their parents. I also have a problem with the modern day life of constantly updating items and gadgets and constantly replacing them with a newer version, which to me sounds not like enjoying to consume, but like pure stress (I am no big shopper). Especially cellphones on my mind. That some people, many in fact, enjoy to buy a new cellphone every one or two years although the old is still functionable, and they had spent time to tailor it's functions to their needs, is beyond me. and if a cellphone does not work longer than just two years, to me that is a good argument not to buy it.

I'm a bit consrvative in these regards, which means: stick with the old that has proven it's worth if the new has no obvious advantage(s) outclassing the older thing. and in everyday use for the ordinary consumer, I see little advantage for john smith to turn his porivate books at home into ebook versions. Special purposes like your example with huge collections of magazines where you may need to do term- and context related searches, are something different. But when you need to do close comparisons of several texts, or want to switch back and forth between several texts quickly, you already are better off again with printed copies. an ebopok always shows you just one single page, and pictures and graphics even in inferior quality, and the text volume per side also is limited. For most regular uses, that sounds like bad ergonomy.

At $200 I think your better off just bying a low end Acer laptop and using that. Plus you get all the functionaly of a laptop computer out of it.

I agree with both sides to a degree. Like most here I have no interest in them, but I also see that many of the negative arguments aren't really against ebooks themselves, but explaining why you wouldn't own one. Arguing this or that sounds to me like trying to convince somebody they're evil or something.

Me, I don't want one, but that may change in the future. I can see the OP's desire for one, and hope he finds the one that suits him.

I tend to agree with Skybird and August (heh, has that EVER been written?).

Traditional books are the only way to go for me.

After reading this thread, I have to agree with Skybird as well. Some of the best books I have are ones from eons ago, mandatory reading in grade school and college. Occasionally I like to grab an old classic and reread it. For me anyway, rereading classics like Moby Dick or War and Peace, gives one a new perspective on what it's all about when you read it again 35 years later.

I was able to walk over to the bookshelf, grab a classic, and read it. I can't see a Kindle working well after sitting on the shelf for 30 years. The hardback books I have now, will still be useful in another 30 years from now.

Along with almost everyone here , I also fall into the 'real paper' school.

There actually seems to be little benefit, other than storage (and thus transport) capacity, to the e-book. They also appear to be considerably more expensive, although that may change.

A quick check on the W.H. Smith website gives the e-book version of the latest Dan Brown 'masterpiece' at £13.49. Amazon are selling the hardback in the UK at £6.49. That hard copy novel could then be handed to other family members and friends to read, including those who have not invested £250 on a very breakable and loseable device to read it, then sold secondhand afterwards.

An e-book reader would certainly be useful for items such as software manuals, but as someone has already said, wouldn't a cheap laptop or netbook be better value and more useful?

if you have a PSP, you could try 'Bookr'. I never used to fancy the idea of ebooks but since getting that I've changed my mind. As much as I like a good solid paper book, Bookr is just so convenient, I've got the whole Hornblower series in my pocket!

A thread to remember :DL
I guess I'll wait until after Xmas, read some more reviews in the meantime and just hope that prices will have dropped by then.
Looking at all the scepticism here, I think I can see a bit clearer why readers haven't really met with a lot of success. I still think it's a neat idea, but maybe the execution at the moment is stilla bit half-baked, and of course I don't want books to be abolished - I just think it's a useful and sensible addition to what we already have.


In any case, thanks for all your replies, guys :ping: