eBooks outsell real books at Amazon for the first time ever!

[The Mike]

I understand those who love books more power to you but I'd much rather have the option to listen to music, check my email and flip the pages of a novel in one device on the go. Whether it runs out of batteries or not.

 

[The Ringer]

Newspapers are old school.

 

[tomandshell]

I agree there. Newspapers and magazines are both something that I would be willing to read digitally instead of flipping through them once and throwing them into a landfill. But I am always going to enjoy a collection of my favorite books sitting on the shelf.

Would any of us settle for a digital version of a Sideshow statue that we could look at any time we wanted? No, because there's more to it than just what it looks like. There is the experience of having it right there sitting on your shelf on display. I have a similar shelf with different hardcover versions of Lord of the Rings that I have picked up over the year. There's more to collecting books than mere access to the words themselves.

 

[The Mike]

See but that is in the eye of the beholder. Thousands of people wouldn't think twice about tossing out action figures and comic books from their youth or for their children while there are thousands who collect them mint in package or board and bag them in pristine conditions.

Would any of us settle for digital versions of a Sideshow statue? Of course not we are collectors on a board dedicated to statues, figures and dios amongst others but then how many people look at us crazy when they find out the hundreds of dollars we spend on said collectible?

Collectors will always be collectors but if you're talking about the general public the more the generations embrace technology, the more books will be looked at as antiques and relics of the past. Which is how they move from practical to collectible isn't it?

 

[automaton]

Why would you need both?

And wouldnt that just make the real book cost more?

it is about options... i love books and will not choose an ebook over them. if a newly purchased ebook included a digital version, i may even buy more than i do now as all of a sudden, i have options...

a digital version shouldn't be an additional cost, it should be an incentive to get more people reading.

 

[Razor Hanzo]

I'm going to go camping. I'll take my Kindle and a real book and we'll see which one runs out of batteries first.

My Kindle goes three weeks with the 3G turned off.

 

[Kabukiman]

I love it when emerging useful technologies gain popularity and all the old fogies come out of the woodwork to tell everybody to get off their lawn.

 

[The Ween]

How many of these eBooks are selling right now because someone has a new toy?

BTW.....some schools are going to netbooks for their students that can be loaded with their books instead of buying textbooks. This sounds like a good idea, but I have to wonder what the costs will be in the long run. How many kids are going to break these things or lose them. Too many of the kids in our district are on welfare so if something happens to the netbook, there's no way they'll buy another one. (Even though they could really, but that's a rant for another day).

 

[The Ween]

I love it when emerging useful technologies gain popularity and all the old fogies come out of the woodwork to tell everybody to get off their lawn.

Until the price of Kindles and such drop, and the ebooks are actually cheaper than a real book, I just can't see using one of these things. There's nothing "old fogie" about that.

As for newspapers and magazines. Most other them don't have the same content on their websites.

And I recycle.

 

[ShadowX81]

I love it when emerging useful technologies gain popularity and all the old fogies come out of the woodwork to tell everybody to get off their lawn.

I love it even more when people jump on the bandwagon of the new and expensive technology simply because it is more advanced. Even though it isn't fully established. And then when it doesnt catch on they are quickly stuck with a useless antique.

Becuase of them there are landfills stuffed with palm pilots, N-gages, sega saturns, those computer/tvs that gateway used to make, zunes, laserdisks, recycable DIVX dvds, Audrey mini-computers, smart appliances, video phones, voice recognition devices, webvans, and Segways.

 

[ProgMatinee]

eBooks are fantastic. I can carry a ton of books on the go instead of being weighed down by physical books. Using torrents I have over 600 books on my iPad already which means realistically I'll never really have a need for a book both current and classic. It feels great just like it did when I carried my first iPod where I didn't have to drag around a ton of CD or sit there and make mixed CDs trying to get burning software not to fail and lose CDs.

Those who do not evolve are meant to be left in the past as memories and examples of stubborness. Bring on more tech.

Yeah, why carry the 1 book you're currently reading when you can carry 600 at a time and put them in shuffle mode so that it randomly brings up a different book every 5 minutes just like the iPod does with music. Exactly the same.

 

[Kabukiman]

I love it even more when people jump on the bandwagon of the new and expensive technology simply because it is more advanced...

Yeah? Well I love it even more times infinity when people love it more than how much I love it.

 

[Cryoguns]

I got a few ebooks when I first got my iPhone. While I prefer physical books, I generally just get a few books here and there to kill time while waiting in line, for food at a restaurant, etc. I do like that there's a lot of free ones through Project Gutenberg as well.

 

[Agent0028]

There is no denying the ebook readers are convenient. I'd love to have one for vacation. It would be much easier than packing a stack of books to read. But I would have to go back and rebuy the book to put on my shelf so in the end it isn't financially worth it.