Litwit Lounge discussion

It's been a year since I received my Kindle, and several months since it was stolen on the airplane. So, a month ago I saw a Groupon deal for a Nook Color -- a deal so hot I couldn't refuse.

I never thought I'd take to an e-reader but it has become quite handy in several respects. Anyway, let's hear from the rest of you...

Do you have an e-reader? or are you holding out?

If you do own one, are you enjoying? using it much? for reading, or maybe like me, finding other ways to put it to use? (i-pad, web browser, games, music, etc)

I've got an iPod. It's not really an ereader as such, but I have the iBooks ap so I can read books on it. I enjoy it even though the print is small. Like you Reggia, I never thought I'd enjoy ebooks, but I have found them to be very fun and convenient. But I'll still always love paper books. They're so familiar and comforting.

I have two Kindles. One I use for reading all those inexpensive/free books. The other is used primarily for games, apps, the internet, and some magazine subscriptions. I was a big holdout, but I love them and use them every day.

I'm with Charlie --don't have one, don't want one. I only read paper books, (with very rare exceptions that prove the rule). Although I have the free Kindle app on my computer (long story), it's only been used twice and has been frozen for months.

But I'm really sorry to hear that your Kindle was stolen, Reggia! Glad you were able to replace it with your new Nook.

I'm a holdout, too. I can see the appeal of the e-reader in terms of storage space, but I'm still clinging to good, old paper books.

For me the e-reader question is primarily about accessibility, and people who take up against e-readers without considering how that might be useful for people with impairments really bug me. Pressing a button is far less painful than turning a page when your fingers dislocate easily, for one, and for another, if you read quickly they take up less space and weight than carrying several books with you would do, which is a godsend if you get backache!

Anyway, off my soapbox. I have a Sony PRS-505, bought secondhand, and a Kobo Wifi, bought on sale. There are some notable differences between the two and some things I prefer about each.

My Sony, named Idris, has enough base storage for about 370 ebooks (not much, but it is 4 years old). She doesn't take kindly to SD cards, despite having a slot for them. But she does take mp3 files and play them, with a headphone socket (even though music drains her battery *fast*).

Idris also has the Collections menu, which I find is one thing I miss immensely in the Kobo - it allows me to tag my files in Calibre with genre, country of origin, setting, authorial gender and type of medium, among other things, and find files using the tags. It's also very useful for finding series and their order, another thing the Kobo doesn't appear to do. Its font size range is excellent and it turns to landscape view if I need the font to be extra-huge - and sometimes I do - another thing I love about e-readers is I can change my font size to match my visual impairment without the embarrassment of being a twenty-something with glasses using a magnifying glass in public.

The Kobo (unnamed yet), however, has wifi (as per the variety name) and a store available for new books and samples and many free books in the public domain, as well as an easier drag-and-drop method of putting books on it fron my laptop. The storage is much larger, as expected with a newer model, and it cost a lot less than a new Sony would have done (though I'm keeping Idris with a view to possibly saving for a new Sony later on, as the lack of Collections is nagging at me). I also like the fact of being able to edit the display and main options without leaving the book, and that the Kobo goes into sleep mode after a long while without any activity.

Tl;dr? But in answer to the second topic query, I almost solely use them for reading - which is why I got the versions I did, with no distracting expensive extras bar background music on the one. The only other thing I use them for also involves reading - sheet music for choir practice, as it makes it easier to read it if the font is enlarged on horizontal view.

I do still have 3,000 paper books at home! But I find I can manage more easily in winter and away from home with my e-readers.

I have a Kindle, myself, and with the amount I read, I don't know what I'd do without it. I read dead tree books too, and for me there's nothing quite like shelves full of books to make me feel at home, but I do love Jarvis too (geeky names for electronics go go!). My mother has an ereader too, and has since her sight started failing; I can't imagine life without that, since the text in most print books is unreadable for her now. We're a family of readers, for her to be unable to read would be just wrong. And so many more books are easily accessible when you have an ereader.

Tria, I'm not, per se, "taking up against e-readers," and I'd be the first to acknowledge that they're a boon to people with physical impairments, like yourself and Nikki's mom. My interpretation of Reggia's question was that it asked for my own personal reaction to them (not necessarily my recommendation to other people), so that's what I gave. Thankfully, I don't have the sorts of physical impairments (yet) that would keep me from reading paper books easily, so I continue to prefer them. (Similarly, I think power scooters are a great invention for people with mobility problems, but right now I don't own or want one.)

Nikki, one of my Goodreads friends really resents the judgmentalism implied (maybe unintentionally in this case) by the term "dead tree books." The idea that reading paper books is anti-environment, and that using e-readers is not, is a serious fallacy. In the first place, the paper industry in developed countries gets its wood pulp from companies that practice sustainable forest management, replanting trees as a continually renewable resource. E-reader technology, on the other hand, generally is energy intensive and dependent on fossil fuels, and the discarded devices (which are deliberately produced with planned obsolescence in mind) are pitched into landfills where the chemical components leach into the soil and pose a mounting environmental hazard.

I call them dead tree books because I find it a slightly humorous term and it distinguishes them from my Kindle books/ebooks. Considering I am a pretty big consumer of dead tree books, I'd imagine it's pretty clear I'm not being judgemental about it...

All my family's electronic devices are sent to specific companies for recycling, cannibalised for parts (my father is an engineer), or handed on to friends or charities. Whatever happens, we ensure they're used for their entire working life. (My mother's Sony, for example, recently went to a close friend of mine; my girlfriend got my Sony when I got a Kindle; my old Kindle is currently being used as a backup drive for my ebooks and will be passed on when I know someone who wants it; I have my mother's old tablet...) It's possible to be environmentally conscious whether you read ebooks or dead tree books -- as long as you're willing to keep using something when newer, shinier models are out already, at least.

(We operate the same policy with our cars. It is much more environmentally harmful to destroy a car than to keep it running, so long as it is well-maintained. If we can't afford to keep a car running any longer, we find someone who can or we cannibalise it for parts.)

Nikki, I commend you and your family for making a conscious effort to be environmentally responsible in your use of both electronic devices and cars. Kudos for setting a great example!

P.S.-- I'm not personally as sensitive to the term as my friend is, so I wasn't offended. :-) (And figured that you didn't intend any offense!)

Werner wrote: "Nikki, I commend you and your family for making a conscious effort to be environmentally responsible in your use of both electronic devices and cars. Kudos!"

I was practically fed it with my baby food, haha. It's pretty natural to me, I don't think I deserve commending! My parents however...

Yes, it was a question merely of curiosity to how folks here felt/thought about them.

Personally, I did not think I would like one much preferring to continue turning actual pages rather than looking at a screen. However, it only took one presentation at Barnes & Noble to whet my appetite.


That may be due to the fact that I can do so much more than just read books. I love having the browser so the Nook Color is almost an i-pad to me. And the Kindle I had before it had a matte screen which was devoid of glare. Also, having an e-reader also makes it easier for me when attending local book discussions. One group I am in reads only classics, and its very nice to just have my flat e-reader when meeting together to discuss in restaurants. Best of all, when on a trip I no longer have to lug several different books not knowing ahead of time what 'reading mood' I may find myself in. :-p

Most classics can be obtained free of charge, and many e-books can be 'borrowed' from the local library. Despite my enthusiasm, I still read mostly books of paper pages (dead tree books, that is, lol) that are borrowed from the library or bought from their shop as well as the thrift stores.

Reggia, not having to carry several books at a time is a great help for me, too - I found a large reduction in the occurrence of my backaches after I started using my Sony. (And since I've double scoliosis and lumbar nerve damage, that's a Very Good Thing.)

I often read more than one book in a day, and I like to take a book with me to read while waiting at the bus stop, in very long queues, and at the coffee shop, as well as when I have long train journeys and weekend visits to my family (my dad watches lots of TV, so while he does that, I read).

Grr, comment cut off.

Having an e-reader means I don't have to worry about book space in my bags or pockets, damaging my dustwrappers, or decide what to take, as I can store all my e-books plus a whole sheaf of fanfiction on my Kobo.

I have to confess... I love the cover I got for Christmas almost as much as the e-reader itself!

I'd carry 3 or 4 books for a normal day, if it weren't for my e-reader.

Some of the covers out there are lovely. I have a plain burgundy leather one for my Sony, but it's pretty (the e-reader itself is the shade "Sangria Red", so they complement each other). I can't see yours from the app, sadly, but will look next time I'm online :)