snowboardchick9

I have never read an e-book or seen one. What are the advantages over e-books over real books? I have been thinking about trying one, but don't really see the advantage. It seems like it would be hard on your eyes to have to read on computer for hours at a time and you can't haul it with you to the dr's office, or vacation, or something. What is the advantage? Why is everybody into this? There must be something to it that makes it great that I don't know about....can you fill me in?

lemieux66c

I've read a few and as of this moment can't recall a good thing about it. I just know that my eyes were pretty much shot for the next few days after I finished the book. Granted, I read approx. 700 pages in about 3 days so that may have had something to do with it...

Aaron Campagnone

There are sooooo many great things about ebooks...

I use my Treo 600/650 to read them, so I can take them with me....to the dr office, to a business meeting, to the bathroom, to anywhere. I find I can get a few pages read while waiting in line at the grocery store.

I also like the fact that I have 53 books currently on an SD card, meaning that I have 52 books to choose from when I get done with the one I am reading, even if I finish with it while sitting in line at the drive trhu...

ALso, I have "found" a LOT of ebooks online. My library is just shy of a gig and has over 2100 books in it. Mostly sci-fi, fantasy, mil fiction. This is just the sorted good stuff. I have whole folders of at least that much zipped up that is unsorted and my not be in the proper format (mobipocket for palm os for me!)

I read almost all my books this way now...just bought my 2nd paperback since June of 2005 last week because I spent 2 weeks looking for an ebook version.
I used to buy/read 5-10 paperbacks a month, and was a VERY frequent visitor to my local Waldens...so much so that the manager started pulling out books she knew I read, or thought I would like when they came in. NOw, I hardly ever go in there. She asked me about a year ago, and I told her about ebooks and she was supprised someone who reads as much as me likes them.

It is kinda sad that they are becoming more mainstream. Back 2 years ago, I got ahold of an authors email and emailed him about a copy of his book as an ebook. He said his publisher "was not intersted", but since he owned electronic rights, he sent me a word.doc of the book. Nowdays, pubishers are a little more savy and its harder to find things like that.

I think if you give it an honest try, and you have a good portable reader (sony has a new one coming out, and old palm v and up are great for reading!) you will end up likeing it.

The only downside I have ever had is that some of the better fantasy makes use of maps and artwork that just do not translate well. That is the only time i have wished for a "real" book.

Anyone intersted in ebooks or converting various formats, feel free to shoot me a message.

benedict

To review what has been said in earlier threads:

• Electronic Books/Readers--Discuss them Here!
• How do you feel about ebooks? [merged]

There is a thread on page one concerning availability of free e-texts that may also be of some interest.

As for me, perhaps I'll jump aboard when they have one with a "screen" like paper; maybe something that I can roll up and put in my pocket with a solid-state memory of some kind that I can dock it to/download from.

darkside

Those threads pretty much cover the benefits. I have been loyal to ebooks since 1999 and have used mostly Palm PDAs to read them on. Never had a problem with eyestrain on an LCD screen. The new e-ink that Sony is using is basically the same as reading from paper so there is definitely no eyestrain with those since there is no refresh rate issues. Price could be an issue with them though.

snowboardchick9

Thanks for the info. I can see that to enjoy ebooks you def. have to have a portable reader for them. That makes a lot more sense. Plus you can have so many more books when you wouldn't have room for that many in your house in book form. Thanks for info!

cynthia

Do any of the dedicated ebook devices or readers have a dictionary built in? I'm looking into getting something for ebook reading, but I want one where I can double click on a word or something and have it go to the definition. Do any of them do that?

darkside

I know the software based ones like eReader, Mobipocket and Microsoft Reader support that feature and I use it all the time. I don't know for sure about Sony's new dedicated reader, but I'm betting there is a good chance it will. That is a nice option to have.

cynthia

Thanks. I was reading about Sony's new eInk reader, and it won't be touch-screen, presumably because the unit is "off" to save battery life when you're not turning a page.