Census Do you own an e-reader?

Re-do: I have a Kindle now. Echoing other sentiments, it really helps not lugging around huge books for class. My back and shoulders thanks me!

 

Does The Bible on an iPod Touch count?

 

Don't have one and don't expect to get one in the near future.

 

I work in a call center where a department had a chance to win a few different e-readers. I sadly wasn't one of them, and that was likely my only chance to own one.

 

No.

 

Still no.

 

No. I don't read enough books to justify the purchase. And for those that I do read, I prefer the look and feel of real paper.

 

I currently read ebooks on my computer and my smartphone. A dedicated ereader like a Kindle or a Nook is in my short-term future though. I like paper format for books, and I like ebook format too. Ebooks take up hardly any physical space, and my office is just about full of paper books. I'm looking forward to whittling down the paper books and getting them in ebook format.

 

Eh, no. I still prefer books. I love the physical act of reading them.

 

I'm just starting to get into my Nook. I really like it. Everyone mistakes it for a Kindle though.

 

Techincally, yes, my household has an e-reader. However, the only way I will be allowed to touch it is if I forget a school book at the house while we are out and have down-time, as it is my Mom's and she is fiercely protective of her kindle.

 

Nope but I want a Nook.

 

I am now seriously considering it...what's the best one?

 

I my Kindle.

IMHO it's the best e-reader out there - there's no touchscreen and you're stuck with Amazon's DRM'ed ebooks, but in terms of price and performance it is the best, hands down.

There's also the Nook, but I live outside the US so it's not an option for me.

 

I do, too.

I want to use it to download old books out of copyright. Will it do this?

 

Yeah - it comes with a USB cable, so you can connect it to your computer and load non-Amazon-bought ebooks onto it.

 

I have not the remotest intention of buying ebooks. That's what library reserve lists are for.

 

Other than the computer... no.

 

In that case, the Nook is probably the best for you. The Kindle still doesn't work with libraries, its all down to DRM issues. I've heard they're working on it, but as of right now, I don't think you can check library e-books out on a kindle.

 

I'm of the exact same mind as you and was going to post pretty much the same thing.

I also want to add that electronics are fragile and homogenizing our information is dangerous. Maybe it's not that way now, but what happens a couple of generations down the line if e-books become the uncontested dominant format and normal books become less and less commonplace? One big EMP and there goes civilization. It's not quite as simple as that but something that worries me is that with more information becoming electronic exclusive people will find real books less important and be willing to literally get rid of the existing ones because they "aren't needed" or "take up space" or whatever, and then actually start destroying them. One of my biggest fears, seriously.

 

don't really want one.

what i'm... concerned about, what if everything crashes and we've gone completely digital? that's a lot of books that we won't have access to anymore, a lot of art. digital is pretty much as non-permanent as it gets, since there's nothing actually physically there. that's a large part of why i want physical books. they can't crash or die and get lost in the same way a digital format can.

 

I didn't want to get an e-reader, but my life demanded one. I settled for the nook touch. I will most likely still buy paperback books though as the e-reader is just for while I'm under the sea.

Evil.

 

You bloody (or sappy, in this case) tree murderers.

Kindle. I have no preference between digital and real books, but e-readers work better for me since I don't have an easily accessible bookstore near where I live.

 

No, I don't yet. I prefer actual books, but i'll probably get one sooner or later.

 

I have a friend who I was discussing this with, and he gave a good argument why one of the supposed strengths of the e-reader- it's less harmful to the environment- isn't really valid. Since I think that e-readers and e-books in general are kind of evil and dangerous, I'm going to copy/paste it from facebook so you guys can see it.

So shut up about books killing trees already, you spreaders of chemical waste.

While I'm at it I'll post the other part of his comment here which he said before the environment thing, which was about bookstores and the impact of e-books on them. This makes me sad.

There. Now all of you owners of e-readers should feel ashamed of yourselves, cast down your evil devices and go buy lots of wonderful paper books.