It would be interesting to know how often people ultimately decide to go back to reading paper books after using an ereader.
Obviously I’m a bit biased in this regard, but I haven’t wanted anything to do with paper books in a long, long time. I don’t like all the space they take up, and I don’t miss them just sitting around gathering dust.
Sometimes I’ll try to read an old paper book that I have laying around, but I usually just end up reading part of it before moving onto something else in digital form.
A lot of times I’ll finish a book (or half finish a book) and decide I don’t want to read it again so what’s the point of keeping it around anyway?
For the most part I don’t miss the reading experience when it comes to paper books either, except for stuff like manuals where it’s just easier being able to flip pages back and forth to different sections.
Not having adjustable font types and sizes is annoying, and having to hold a thousand-page book is more cumbersome than holding an ereader. Using a Kindle, a Kobo, or other dedicated ereader just makes the reading process a lot more convenient.
The only thing I miss about paper books is the ability to buy them on the used market for a fraction of the list price, especially older books. There’s also the fact that books last longer than ereaders—ebook readers become useless when the battery dies so that isn’t great either.
Have you ever switched back to reading paper books after using an ereader and found the experience less enjoyable?
A lot of people still read paper books, but it makes you wonder how many of them have actually used a dedicated ereader for a length of time and then decided against reading ebooks.
I prefer ebooks. However there are books not available or too expensive in ebook format. Fortunately I can often find a hard copy available from my wonderful public library in those cases.
There are 5 full bookcases in my place. I would guess that half are not available in ebook form due to age or special topics. Some are preferable in hard copy due to photography or instruction (e.g., crafts, gardening, home repair, etc.). Old favorites are personal treasures to be pulled out again.
So I enjoy both because they each have their own advantages and disadvantages— just like people.
I collect special edition books of ebooks that I’ve read that I really enjoy. I mainly do it to support the authors I enjoy as well as build a collection of beautiful books on my shelf.
I do try to read a paperback or hardback book from time to time, but I just can’t enjoy it. It’s silly, but I love how I can hold an ereader with one hand to read, I can take it in my bathtub to read without worry about it getting wet, and the features of easy highlighting and word definitions.
I have not committed to going paperless. Honestly, I like the feel of a book in my hand.
Though, if I’m being frank, the difficulty of finding a freaking BOOKSTORE has more influence on whether I’m getting paper than anything else. I can’t just wander the aisles and grab something that looks interesting anymore. If I have to buy it online, I may as well get the eBook and start reading now.
I move between both with ease. I am comfortable with both formats.
I will buy ebooks, paperbacks and hardback books.
The ease of the ereader hasn’t removed the pleasure holding a book.
Not me, but my SO does combine reading in paper and ereader. When at home, he usually reads a paper book, except when he goes to bed, there he usually reads in the ereader, because he usually falls asleep, so it’s easier not to loose the page 🙂 He normally takes the ereader for commuting. He doesn’t reads the same books in paper and the ereader, so this can change if he is engaged (normally finishing) with the book.
I still buy paper books, but usually they are books with illustrations, and it takes ages for me to read them. I have a full shelf in a bookcase for the paper books still to read, and some books have been there for years.
I absolutely struggle with reading a regular book. I am still surprised that ebooks don’t dominate book sales. As I tend to prefer sans-serif fonts, I find it annoying to be limited to the publisher’s font and form choices. Throw in lighting control, whole library availability, weight, minimal storage, built in dictionaries!! price and search functions…etc.
I actually find ebooks easier on the eyes.
Well, I’ve gone back mostly to paper because I’ve found a lot of edited eBooks, paragraphs removed (can be a reader device bug, for example, MoonReader used to slip entire pages), but worse than that: edited books to change the content. My last finding was a Spanish Asimov translated eBook. I started reading it and it was in neutral genre (Spanish equivalent of hir, etc.), but I have it in paper, and found that original was not neutral (and cannot be, as in Asimov ages that didn’t exist).
And finally, current times are dangerous ones and Newspeak , neohistory and doublethink is here. I cannot be confident that the eBook has been modified in any way from the original one. I’m Spanish talking, but read English without problem, and I’m replacing my Spanish from English translated books for the original ones in English.
Rarely buy paper books anymore. Only exception is coffee table books or something I want to collect. I would have a hard time finding room for all the ebooks I have acquired over the last 15 years.
I definitely prefer ebooks, other than my Bibles I never reread and thing I ever read. I see physical books as destroying our forest. We should be protecting our natural resources.
I haven’t the slightest wish to go back to paper books. Been using an ereader for 12 years now and I very, very seldom read paper books these days. Only when something is not available as an ebook and I absolutely have to read it.
I’d like to more consistently read paper books, especially since I have so many of them from years past & also books that are too expensive to get in ebook format. But one of my main reasons for sticking with primarily ebooks, besides convenience & wider selection of books, is older eyesight. It’s just too hard to read small print on a page for any length of time.
I can only read Large Print books now, so I primarily read on my Kindle or Galaxy Tablet.
I do still get Large Print paper books from the library. Mostly these Large Prints are really new.
I currently have over 3700 ebooks to be read so I doubt I will be running out of things to read anytime soon, as long as I can charge up my devices.
I definitely prefer e-books and I’ve noticed I have read a whole lot more since purchasing my first eReader, which was the Kindle Voyage back in 2014. However, there are downsides, for one it can be a distraction. Going through so many downloaded e-books on your eReader can be cumbersome, which one do you choose? Sometimes I find myself getting too curious, and flipping through ebooks because it’s so easy and convenient. So while I am reading a lot more, I find myself finishing books a lot less. However, what bothers me about physical books is usually the font type and font size. Normally the font size on physical books are too small 80% of the time and sometimes too big. Rarely do I find a font type or size with proper line spacing just right. However, in those rare instances where I do find the right font type and size, I usually prefer nice quality hardcover books. Nothing beats a solid hardcover book with nice opaque paper, font type and font size. Those I definitely keep around. Also first editions that are rare, and usually collectors items which only raise in value. For everything else definitely an eReader.
I usually know what page I’m on while reading a print book, and for that matter whether I’m turning the pages in the right direction, and I love having and holding older, hard-to-find books, and passing them on to friends. Taking the kids to the public library and reading tons of picture and chapter books with them is definitely most enjoyable with print books.
On the other hand, I appreciate being able to adjust ebook font sizes and reading in the dark next to my sleeping partner.
What are the latest stats on print vs ebook sales? Seems like independent bookstores have been holding up, even after the pandemic.
I read both. I exclusively read Kobo books but several authors I read who have written most of their books in a series on Kobo have suddenly signed exclusively with Kindle Unlimited. For those authors I have bought the paper version from Barnes and Noble. I tried boycotting the authors but I really like their books. At least I am happy that I am not giving Amazon any money and am helping BN. All in all – I prefer ebooks due to being able to enlarge print and easily hold.
I have five different ereaders, but I still love reading paper books. Last year I bought twenty three of them. I mostly buy books from my favorite authors like JK Rowling, Stephen King, Joe Hill, Haruki Murakami or TJ Klune as I want to have all their books in my home library. The rest I buy and then gift to somebody.
On ereader I mostly read books that I’ll probably never read again. In the evening in bed I prefer paper, until my partner goes to sleep, then I switch to eink. And while commuting or reading in bath I only use ereaders.
I honestly do not miss physical books.
For the past few years it’s been mostly ebooks for me. I find physical books just too difficult to hold comfortably in my preferred reading position (reclining). I mostly read on a 10″ tablet using Moon+ and love its customizability. I use a stand so I don’t need to physically hold it. My tablet stand holds it in any position/angle that I like. I haven’t been able to find or build something that does the same thing for physical books, so ergonomics is a main factor for me. I also like how I can keep a copy of my entire ebook library on one device if I choose, and it takes up very little space.
I would MUCH rather use an eReader than read a paper book. More convenient, no worries about lighting, no figuring out where I was when the bookmark slips out. Plus I read while eating lunch and it’s way easier to put a reader in a stand and turn pages by pushing a button (I like buttons) than to try to keep a big paperback open. In fact, some years ago somebody loaned me a paperback of “Dune”, which I had never read, and I eventually got so irritated trying to manage that Bible-sized tome that I gave it back and bought the ebook to finish it up.
I mostly read ebooks, but I have never fully given up on all paper books. I never quite got why it’s seen as an either/or; it’s all part of the reading hobby. There’s the occasional book that’s hard to find in a digital edition, or that I received as a gift, inexpensively, as a souvenir, owned before e-readers, etc. Sometimes I like to read a very long book on paper, too, to physically see the progress and be able to more easily flip back if I missed or forgot something.
I would not be eager to go back to reading all physical books, and I certainly don’t collect them in the same way. But I have read some physical books all along.
I prefer my ereader for reading fiction. Even my Kindle feels heavy to hold. with my rheumatoid and osteo arthritis in my hands. However, for some of my non-fiction books, I will buy the ebook first and then I might buy the physical book to make it easier to follow steps (like crafting or a cookbook).
Both of my parents (late 70s-early 80s) are now converts and only read on their Kindles. My dad’s favorite saying is that he can have as many books as he wants on his Kindle and it never gets heavier. 🙂
I have no desire to read physical books.
Due to my poor and declining vision, I rarely read printed books and love my ereader! Have been using ereaders about 13 years and thought I would miss reading regular books but I definitely don’t. Lighter than a paperback and can hold thousands of books in a compact size, can adjust the font and intensity of the front light, can read in the dark easily and more.. I do still buy a few printed books because I collect art/craft books which are not available in e-format.
I’m not a fan of paper books anymore. It’s to the point if I can’t find a legal ebook, I’ll buy the paper one so the author makes money, put it on the shelf, and then go find a PDF online so I can read it on my Boox or Pocketbook e-reader.
No, I donated all my physical books to a local used bookstore , years ago, as far as I am concerned the majority of pro-physical book arguments are emotional or whatnot. I am nore logical than emotional.
I find that I mostly do digital, but still do some hardcopy books (25% of my purchases). When I buy hardcopy, it’s because I want to OWN the book, rather than more or less renting it under DRM. Most often in that case I shell out the bucks for both digital AND hardcopy.
I just liberate my ebooks and back them up. No need to purchase a paper copy (unless one actually prefers paper, of course).