Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

I read books electronically for a while but I've switched back to mostly books

Posted on 04/25/2021 12:25:16 PM PDT by SamAdams76

Much hullabaloo was made of being able to read books electronically, such as on Kindle, Nook, iPad, etc.

For a while, I became an ardent adopter of the concept. I would download my books to read electronically. For a few years, I would do most of my reading this way. But it never did feel the same as the tactile experience of reading a physical book.

I'm one who like to flip back a few pages to re-read or to reference the maps and what not in the beginning of the book. It was always cumbersome to do this electronically. Technically you are able to move around the book in electronic fashion but for me, it was always a clumsy affair. You end up fussing around with it for way too long while running down your battery.

Maybe I'm just old-fashioned. But now I'm back on the train to work with a physical book and my Kindle is gathering dust in my laptop case along with the thumb USB drives that I have basically stopped using as well.

Call me old-fashioned but I just like the book experience better.


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: amazing; stupidvanity
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-77 next last
To: SamAdams76

I like real books for all the reasons others have mentioned. However, there is one big thing that I like about reading an e-book (I use my Apple iphone to do it, using their Books app). If there’s a word I don’t know, or a place I’m not familiar with, I can easily and very quickly click on the word and then “look-up” and it gives me a definition, or explanation of where the place is, etc. So I read both types.


41 posted on 04/25/2021 1:18:41 PM PDT by norcal joe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LibertyWoman

If you have a tablet from Apple or Samsung, you can download the Kindle app from the respective app store.
You can also use your desktop or laptop computer to read, by logging in to your Amazon account. If you’re new to Kindle, I would recommend starting this way, before you get a a Fire tablet or Kindle reader. There are PLENTY of free, or out of copyright books available to read.
Also, get on the BookBub mailing list, and check ALL the reading interest categories. You’ll get a daily e-mail of 6-10 titles, most only a few dollars. If don’t see anything of interest today, delete the e-mail.


42 posted on 04/25/2021 1:19:09 PM PDT by AF_Blue (My decision-making skills closely resemble those of a squirrel when crossing a road)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: BrexitBen

I prefer books but I read voraciously, five or six books at a time, finishing three or four a week. I simply cannot afford to feed my reading habit with printed books, whereas there are tens of thousands of free or cheap books available on my Nook.


43 posted on 04/25/2021 1:24:03 PM PDT by Hootowl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Jonty30

I agree, especially for nonfiction. I do like e-books for mysteries and light novels to read in bed or take along on a trip. Also, a few of the books on my reading list have been available only as ebooks.


44 posted on 04/25/2021 1:38:11 PM PDT by Jane Austen (Neo-cons are liberal Democrats who love illegal aliens and war.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: SamAdams76; All

45 posted on 04/25/2021 1:43:06 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AF_Blue

great information. Thank you. I just bought a galaxy phone and samsung had a list of ‘free’ items to choose from as part of the purchase and I chose a tablet. I haven’t even opened it yet but if it can do what I understand you are saying, I will get into it.


46 posted on 04/25/2021 1:44:20 PM PDT by LibertyWoman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: SamAdams76

Tried using a friend’s e-reader. Once. I’m a very fast reader. Having to constantly scroll the text drove me nearly insane. Especially so when I wanted to skip back a few paragraphs (or a few pages) to re-read something. Much of my reading is either technical or it’s histories, so I do that a lot. At the end of the weekend I handed it back with thanks, and have never touched one since. The only thing I might try to read on a screen now would be comic books, (or “graphic novels” as they are now styled).

I will admit that dead tree books are bulky. I often read two or three a week, (when I die, sell your Amazon stock), and storage is a problem, but I’d rather cope with that than an e-reader.

Is it true that e-readers don’t work if you’re out of cellular range? My grandson, who is a screen addict, tells me that e-books he “buys” are streamed from “the cloud”, not downloaded to his reader.

‘Nother thing. Since it’s so easy to self-publish on the Innertubes, the amount of TRULY godawful fiction that reaches the public square has increased exponentially. How to filter it out, since editors have been sidelined? The advent of “print-on-demand” technology that Amazon is using is even bleeding this junk into the hardcopy book market. Nobody has to judge whether a book is worth the cost of a press run anymore. Heck, nobody even PROOFREADS the stuff!

/rant


47 posted on 04/25/2021 1:47:41 PM PDT by Chad C. Mulligan (Deplorably Neanderthal)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: All

48 posted on 04/25/2021 1:48:42 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: SamAdams76

I almost exclusively only read books. I had an e-reader that I used for a few but gave it to my daughter because I didn’t like it. I have a few books that I’ve downloaded. I just find too much screen time is not good for my vision.

And you can slam a book shut!


49 posted on 04/25/2021 1:48:59 PM PDT by rfreedom4u ("You may all go to hell and I will go to Texas")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SamAdams76

I like books but I really like the ability to zoom in for bigger text and see photos better using my 10” android tablet. I have 3 bookcases filled with dust collecting books plus more books in storage. The magazines I get like Readers Digest and Air & Space I get physical copies but also kindle downloads. I have a few dozen ebooks.


50 posted on 04/25/2021 1:49:13 PM PDT by minnesota_bound (I need more money. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SamAdams76
I read a lot of reference material which really doesn't work with a an electronic book for the reasons other mentioned. But I do like my Kindle and Nook for fiction.

Currently, I'm just recently getting into Louis L'Amour for the first time which I could probably get on my ebooks, but it is cheaper to buy used copies and then trade them in when I'm done with them.

All things being equal, I do love the feel and intimacy of the printed word on paper between two covers. Always have been a real biblophile.

51 posted on 04/25/2021 1:57:03 PM PDT by fidelis (Zonie and USAF Cold Warrior)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SamAdams76

Will probably never read a “real” book again. Using the Kindle app on my iPhone, I can read in bed during the night without waking the wife; read in the car while waiting for someone; or wherever.

During our Bible study, though, it would be handier to have a “real” Bible so you can quickly flip to a certain passage. But that’s about the only advantage I see.


52 posted on 04/25/2021 1:58:09 PM PDT by DennisR (Look around - God gives countless clues that He does, indeed, exist.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SamAdams76

Electronic textbook and other student reading sources are DESTROYING learning.

Electronic reading is not only passive, it’s intrusive due to the screen light. (This is mitigated in Kindle, for example, or browser “read mode”) but kids are reading this online texts only and don’t even know how to change font size or screen zoom.

That said, I was never able to read digital books until I got a Surface Duo — MS’s two-screen, foldable cell phone. The thing was absolutely made for reading on the Kindle app.


53 posted on 04/25/2021 2:01:46 PM PDT by nicollo (I said no!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SamAdams76

Narrator (usually a professional actor), with his/her voice or attitude adds extra dimension to the text, distorting sometimes how it would sound to a book reader.


54 posted on 04/25/2021 2:10:38 PM PDT by exinnj
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SamAdams76

I love my kindle, it’s better for reading in bed and also for going to the park, pool, etc. I also love my audiobooks. But still like real books too!


55 posted on 04/25/2021 2:51:34 PM PDT by jocon307 (Dem party delenda est!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jonty30

My position is that books are more interactive, because you can write on the pages or highlight important concepts.

There is that. Was preparing a meal the other day using an old cookbook I have from my Mom. There are notes she’d written in the margins about this or that recipe. Touching the writing is like a connection to the past, although she is long gone.


56 posted on 04/25/2021 2:59:50 PM PDT by Flick Lives (“Today we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives.”)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: SamAdams76
People like you make me so happy!

:hug:

57 posted on 04/25/2021 3:05:26 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (May their path be strewn with Legos, may they step on them with bare feet until they repent. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Beowulf9

I’ve never read an internet book.. Hard copy all the way ... My passion is History books written from ~ 1880 to 1920 - no b.s....

King’s Bookstore on Lafayette in Detroit gets my business...


58 posted on 04/25/2021 3:13:25 PM PDT by dakine
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SamAdams76

Your children can inherit your books. Not sure if that is even possible with online books. It might not be transferrable.


59 posted on 04/25/2021 3:18:39 PM PDT by Tai_Chung
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jonty30
My position is that books are more interactive, because you can write on the pages or highlight important concepts.

The app GoodReader can do all that and more. The key is use PDF files and not Kindle or Apple readers. I use 7 different highlight colors, and 7 different underline colors. I can use boxes, ovals, freeform lines of various thickness and color with or without fill of various color and opaqueness. I can put text anywhere and use various sizes, fonts, or colors and add callouts with arrows to point to specific. I can create my own table of contents that captures the ideas I want to remember or pages I want to review. My markings look like works of art. With 128GB I can have thousands of books with me at all times. And I can extract pages and send them to others, like you if you’d like a sample.

60 posted on 04/25/2021 3:19:08 PM PDT by The Truth Will Make You Free
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-77 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson