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eBook week

 
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will paper books become obsolete?
yes
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no
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Total Votes : 11

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Lizzy



Joined: 02 May 2005
Posts: 674
Location: the wilds of the West

PostPosted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 9:58 pm    Post subject: eBook week Reply with quote

http://www.ebookweek.com/

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

Will e-books get more people reading?
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Drizzt



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

PostPosted: Thu Mar 12, 2009 12:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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

PostPosted: Thu Mar 12, 2009 9:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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.


Last edited by OLD NEW GUY on Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:19 am; edited 1 time in total
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Lizzy



Joined: 02 May 2005
Posts: 674
Location: the wilds of the West

PostPosted: Thu Mar 12, 2009 10:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

OLD NEW GUY wrote:
I dont see paper books ever going out of print, look at vynal its making a come back,


Actually the come back was part of my point. I can see e-books getting very popular and I think it might get a few more people reading as it may be seen as cool. So paper book sales may decline at first, but then we'll go all retro and bring the sales back up, as is the case for vinyl.

I suspect die hard readers will always want a proper book, in the same way we still want an actual CD not a download.
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OLD NEW GUY



Joined: 10 Dec 2007
Posts: 129

PostPosted: Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
in the same way we still want an actual CD not a download


odd one there, i prefer download to CD, its simple and easy and fits with my MP3 and i can burn disks for the car.

I will be happy buying and keeping ebooks, but would always by paper copies of authors i really like, im also buying audio books of books i have read so i can listen to them while working.
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Max Power



Joined: 06 Dec 2004
Posts: 467
Location: United Kingdom

PostPosted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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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Milkman



Joined: 13 Mar 2008
Posts: 27
Location: UK

PostPosted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 2:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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.
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Alia



Joined: 17 Sep 2007
Posts: 246

PostPosted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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

PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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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