I do prefer reading physical books, but I almost exclusively read on my ereader because of easy availability of whatever I want, and it doesn't take up tons of space like books do.
Compared to my kindle, I hate real books. No worries about lighting. Page always flat. Lighter. Never lose what page you're on. Less space and hundreds of books can be kept right there. Still looks like real paper. Font and size to your own preference.
There's really no downside at all for me. I never cared how a book "smelled". That's for sure.
If you have an ereader with an eink screen... it's a no-brainer. Digital books are soooo good.
- virtually no weight
- virtually no space
- waaaaay cheaper
- your local library has probably a way bigger and more accessible catalogue of ebooks than physical ones
- tap and hold a word and get an automatic definition/translation
- adjust text size or font
- dark mode, if you into that (in some models)
- Text-to-speech (in some models)
- highlight text and write notes without f-ing up pages
- literally translate entire phrases or look particular information from Wikipedia or similar with a simple gesture.
- backup all of those and do crazy stuff like an automatic daily email to yourself with cool notes you took months/years ago.
Physical books nowadays are like vynil music... it's for the artwork and having a physical "certificate" of something you love. Like... if I discover a book I really enjoy, I'll probably buy a physical version so I can, you know, have it there on the shelf, like you have family pics or something.
Just got a kobo libra 2 a couple of weeks ago and I'm loving it. You forgot to mention the dictionary native to most e-readers too!
I used to prefer physical, because I read on my phone and never really paid attention. Used my phone to read for a year and read a ton of books but don't remember any of them. Couple years ago I bought a kindle and ever since I haven't bought a single physical book, opting to buy them instead through amazon.
Don't think I'll ever go back to physical, honestly, it's just too convenient. Digital is less bulky, not just in storage but in my hands, pages don't wear down from turning, and I can fit my kindle in my front pockets and read anywhere, any time.
I dislike having to give money to amazon though.
Just in case you didn't know, you don't have to buy books through Amazon (actually that's the worst option). You can buy the books in epub format from the publishers website or other stores usually (and if all else fails, pirate it in epub format). Epub is DRM free, which means you actually own the book, and, although I wouldn't have recommended buying an Amazon Kindle, now you have it, according to another commenter, you can email the epub to yourself and read it on the kindle.
Oh yeah, I've pirated stuff before. WotC stuff though, no way I'm giving them money for handbooks.
Pretty sure this is asking about entertainment literature like novels. I have no real opinion, as I very rarely read those.
Now, technical books like school textbooks and reference texts, physical. Absolutely no contest. I loathe clunkily scrolling around on two separate axes to negotiate pages where the content is nonlinear, broken up by interspersed photos, figures, and tables.
Support your planet, package handlers, and delivery man by going digital. I worked for a shipping company couple years back to pay for school and let me tell you, I would literally load up a half truck with 50 pound boxes of books. Now imagine the carbon footprint of that, not just the amount of trees that had to be cut down, but the emissions from the manufacturing of the paper, ink, glue that goes into the book. Then imagine the carbon emissions from the planes, semis, and delivery trucks that go into delivering that book to a bookstore or library or your home.
Libraries are funded from local and municipal taxes so you renting a book from them is not support, and honestly they do offer digital rentals of ebooks so please stop murdering the planet with your physical books. mmkay
Data centres and “the cloud” are not great for the environment either. DRM forcing people to have their files constantly deleted and redownloaded makes it even worse.
Also, “support” doesn’t have to mean a direct financial transaction. Libraries operate a bit differently from a McDonalds. Even just going in and sitting in a library reading a book without ever taking it out can help to support your local public library.
You understand that the carbon footprint of a 20 mb book on your computer or the cloud is miniscule compared to physical book productions though, some data centers are actually carbon neutral too.
Perhaps. Or perhaps what uses more over a lifetime is an ebook that is bounced around from device to device which all turn to toxic e-waste after a few years, constantly communicating with always-on servers for account data and DRM authentication hosted in a data centre based in a region powered by fossil fuels. All while a paper book just sits on a shelf causing no further environmental impact - potentially for hundreds of years.
To be fair, nobody’s preference for paper books or ebooks will change the environment in any meaningful way - the problems are much more systemic and require radical action from an unwilling corporate and political elite that has been ignoring the problem for decades.
I think e-ink readers are incredible. My eyes feel like they're reading a normal book, but it's got a backlight, doesn't take up a bunch of physical space I don't have, and it's a lot easier to read using only one hand at a time (even turning pages).
Not for every kind of book, I'd say but digital... 8.5 times out of 10. E-ink screens are amazing and just as good as paper, but having your books also available on your phone, and thus always in your pocket, is transformative. So, digital on a platform that syncs between devices.
Do you prefer digital or physical books?
Digital. I live in 76ft2 and can no longer store thousands of physical books like I did in a "sticks and bricks" house. But there are ~13,000 easily stored between the e-ink kindle and waiting in the wings in calibre.
Reading is a big part of my retirement plan.
I almost always start digital, either ebook or audiobook then buy a physical copy later if I liked it. It's just a lot less friction for starting something new, no needing to go out of my way to a library/bookstore or wait for something to be delivered. Sometimes I'll just take a gamble on something physical if I'm looking for a new travel book or I'm killing time in a library/bookstore though.
I used to be always for physical books. Then in 2018 I ran out of space in my bookcase and shifted to reading on my phone. Now I am so used to it I can't read physical books anymore... especially since a lot of books I read sometimes are doorstoppers and my phone is definitely smaller and lighter than any physical book I may read.
Physical. I love the smell of paper.
I do occasionally use a Kobo, which is a very convenient little device. However, I prefer a paper book.
I prefer digital books. Not only can I have an entire library in my hands the books are also cheaper making them easier to buy.
I'm more likely to read digital on my phone since it's usually nearby.
- The <1% of books I love: physical
- The >99% of everything else: digital
