James Barclay

Lizzy · Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 9:58 pm Post subject: eBook week

http://www.ebookweek.com/

So what do we think? Will books go the way of vinyl???

Will e-books get more people reading?

Drizzt · Joined: 07 Mar 2005 Posts: 1081 Location: Easington, UK

Will they get more people reading? Yes. Whether or not it gets more people reading fantasy is another matter but I would hope it's also a 'yes'.

Will paper books become obsolete? No. Not ever. Not a chance. Paper books have been around since before Christianity and, unless the PC-brigade from the EU go berserk and outlaw publishing (can't see it happening Razz

, although the idea of a black market for paper books is an amusing image) they'll be around long after the Chavs of the 23rd century stop believing God was a hobbit. Twisted Evil

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OLD NEW GUY · Joined: 10 Dec 2007 Posts: 129

I have had this discussion quite a few times, im not sure it will increase readers, if your a reader...then your a reader, it will allow a greater versatility for some people, i fancy a sony reader for holidays, it will cut down on luggage space and weight used.
I dont see paper books ever going out of print, look at vinyl its making a come back, poeople love the tactile nature of a book, and at opresent while the ereader is good its still clunky and annoying, and limited battery.

Lizzy · Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2009 10:30 am Post subject:

OLD NEW GUY · Joined: 10 Dec 2007 Posts: 129

Max Power · Joined: 06 Dec 2004 Posts: 467 Location: United Kingdom

I am a techie geek at heart (I love shiny things!) but books are great. I don't think I'll go down the route of e-books because I like my paper books too much.

I'm coming round to the idea of downloading music, however, as I've preferred CDs, but my last album was downloaded.
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If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

Milkman · Joined: 13 Mar 2008 Posts: 27 Location: UK

One of the first things I do when I go into a new library (or one I haven't been in for a while) is walk over to the fiction section and slide my hand casually over the tops of the books as I walk 'feeling their magic' and when I find one that grabs my attention, an old one where the pages have yellowed with age, I hold it up close to my face, flip through pages really fast and inhale deeply.

Ahhhh, love that smell. When ebooks can do this I may consider taking an interest in them.

Alia · Joined: 17 Sep 2007 Posts: 246

I love books - which means we should consider buying a new flat as we start to lack room to put them all. But e-books can be useful - you can carry hundreds of novels on an SD card and read them on a Palm or other PDA. I used to read a book during particularly boring meetings and the head teacher of course thought I was taking notes in my Palm.
I would be happy if I could get an e-book (plain .txt would be enough) with every book I read. Free of charge, preferably, or for a small fee. Some books are simpy too cumbersome to carry around and read on the bus (like the one I read last summer, a hardcover of over 1000 pages).
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butterfly · Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 47 Location: Ireland

Like most of you have had this discussion, particularly with family who casually ask do I want a Sony reader or some other version. I have the same answer - No because I can only stay on the computer for a couple of hours at most without 1) getting a headache 2) my children wake up and get curious.
My eldest son has already managed to pop some of the letter keys off my computer imagine the damage he could do to one of those books.
Anyway you cannot beat the half hour freedom (or longer) of browsing books, making your selection and heading to the nearest coffee shop to start reading with a decent cup of coffee. Bliss
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The mirror crack'd from side to side