On Books(tbray.org)
tbray.org
On Books
http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2010/09/26/On-Books
9 comments
This is definitely a downside but the major upside of a digital library is that I have it with me wherever I go. If I'm somewhere where I only have my Droid or my laptop I have all my books. If my Kindle falls in the sink or is lost I lose nothing. Most importantly, I don't have to lug around 20 heavy boxes of books every time I move.
On the whole the tradeoffs lean to ebooks for me, and this will be even more the case if the price of the digital versions come down a bit more.
On the whole the tradeoffs lean to ebooks for me, and this will be even more the case if the price of the digital versions come down a bit more.
Since this is a prominent argument may I humbly ask, why would you want to take a library with you? You can only read one book at once. The only use-case for a portable library would be writing a scientific paper at the restaurant or coffee shop. I have my doubts though that this would improve the quality of the paper.
I actually have a Kindle and seldom use it any more: http://jseliger.com/2010/04/13/kindle-land-with-requisite-ru... , but as someone with ~1,000 books I can answer:
1) Moving is a pain in the ass, to put it lightly. No, excuse me: to put it heavily. Very, very heavily. Especially cross country, though I've acquired a lot of books since starting grad school.
2) Shelving is expensive.
3) At scale the right book can become harder to find. The other day I spent 15 minutes looking for Tom Perrotta's Election because it wasn't quite where I thought it was.
4) Most of us don't have infinite room and therefore eventually run out of space.
5) Searching is still pretty nice.
That being said, why do I still read paper?
1) The note-taking function on the Kindle sucks ass, and I compulsively fill margins.
2) Page turning is still too slow.
3) I actually flip back and forth between pages quite a bit.
4) I'm not convinced that DRM isn't going to bite me in the ass 1 to 20 years from now.
5) Anachronistic attachment to paper.
6) I'm a grad student, and the citation / edition situation hasn't been sorted out for the Kindle. This is very important when writing academic papers.
Note that I'm not making some kind of moral argument about whether electronic reading is good, bad, or indifferent. To me, it just is. I foresee eventually moving chiefly to electronic reading, but I'm not sure when or how that shift will happen. I'm also not interested in the iPad because I spend enough time staring at LCDs as it is.
1) Moving is a pain in the ass, to put it lightly. No, excuse me: to put it heavily. Very, very heavily. Especially cross country, though I've acquired a lot of books since starting grad school.
2) Shelving is expensive.
3) At scale the right book can become harder to find. The other day I spent 15 minutes looking for Tom Perrotta's Election because it wasn't quite where I thought it was.
4) Most of us don't have infinite room and therefore eventually run out of space.
5) Searching is still pretty nice.
That being said, why do I still read paper?
1) The note-taking function on the Kindle sucks ass, and I compulsively fill margins.
2) Page turning is still too slow.
3) I actually flip back and forth between pages quite a bit.
4) I'm not convinced that DRM isn't going to bite me in the ass 1 to 20 years from now.
5) Anachronistic attachment to paper.
6) I'm a grad student, and the citation / edition situation hasn't been sorted out for the Kindle. This is very important when writing academic papers.
Note that I'm not making some kind of moral argument about whether electronic reading is good, bad, or indifferent. To me, it just is. I foresee eventually moving chiefly to electronic reading, but I'm not sure when or how that shift will happen. I'm also not interested in the iPad because I spend enough time staring at LCDs as it is.
Interesting list. I do want to highlight this one:
Moving is a pain in the ass
It's worse than that, at some point the physical books actually affect your willingness to move - which is just wrong, books are mean to be empowering not restrictive.
Of your six down sides, at least four of them (1, 2, 3 and 6) are technological issues that I can only believe will be solved soon - it's kinda like calling a circa 1995 PDA "clunky". Sure it was, but one day the iPhone came along.
As to 4 (DRM) - I understand and espouse all the arguments, but I can't help looking at my attitude to music. 10 years ago I bought music and DRM issues really vexed me. Now I subscribe to Pandora and.... I just can't quite care as much. It's not that I don't have the same issues with DRM as I did, it's just that in a subscription model they don't get in your way. I look at Netflix and Spotify and wonder how long before the same service exists for books (yes I know it's called "a library", you know what I mean).
Can't help you with 5 - it turned out not to be a problem for me.
Disclaimer: happy e-book convert (I have a nook)
Moving is a pain in the ass
It's worse than that, at some point the physical books actually affect your willingness to move - which is just wrong, books are mean to be empowering not restrictive.
Of your six down sides, at least four of them (1, 2, 3 and 6) are technological issues that I can only believe will be solved soon - it's kinda like calling a circa 1995 PDA "clunky". Sure it was, but one day the iPhone came along.
As to 4 (DRM) - I understand and espouse all the arguments, but I can't help looking at my attitude to music. 10 years ago I bought music and DRM issues really vexed me. Now I subscribe to Pandora and.... I just can't quite care as much. It's not that I don't have the same issues with DRM as I did, it's just that in a subscription model they don't get in your way. I look at Netflix and Spotify and wonder how long before the same service exists for books (yes I know it's called "a library", you know what I mean).
Can't help you with 5 - it turned out not to be a problem for me.
Disclaimer: happy e-book convert (I have a nook)
Yeah -- I think the problems I'm noting are chiefly technological / price. But it's not obvious to me if they'll be solved in a year or two or five years or longer. I didn't use a PDA until I got an iPhone in 2009 -- a long time after 1995.
As for the technology, I wrote this bit with the tech issues in mind: "Note that I'm not making some kind of moral argument about whether electronic reading is good, bad, or indifferent. To me, it just is. I foresee eventually moving chiefly to electronic reading, but I'm not sure when or how that shift will happen."
It's worse than that, at some point the physical books actually affect your willingness to move - which is just wrong, books are mean to be empowering not restrictive.
Very true.
As for the technology, I wrote this bit with the tech issues in mind: "Note that I'm not making some kind of moral argument about whether electronic reading is good, bad, or indifferent. To me, it just is. I foresee eventually moving chiefly to electronic reading, but I'm not sure when or how that shift will happen."
It's worse than that, at some point the physical books actually affect your willingness to move - which is just wrong, books are mean to be empowering not restrictive.
Very true.
2) Shelving is expensive.
This is so true. Or if it's not expensive, it's not strong enough. I have a wall of Ikea shelving, and have to stabilize it using old Oracle books (our floors aren't totally flat, so I use the books to adjust the lean angle against the wall). I guess that proves Oracle is good for something though.
2) Page turning is still too slow.
This is a big problem. I have a Kobo, and the slow startup time and page turning time are the biggest issues.
This is so true. Or if it's not expensive, it's not strong enough. I have a wall of Ikea shelving, and have to stabilize it using old Oracle books (our floors aren't totally flat, so I use the books to adjust the lean angle against the wall). I guess that proves Oracle is good for something though.
2) Page turning is still too slow.
This is a big problem. I have a Kobo, and the slow startup time and page turning time are the biggest issues.
>> Shelving is expensive.
> That is so true.
It is, but it's missing an even bigger cost. Walls are expensive. Housing space is expensive. Space for all our books has been a major consideration every time we've moved house. Crudely, I estimate $1-2/book for good shelving and $5-10/book for the space to put the shelves in, even taking into account the fact that the rooms whose walls you fill with books will have other uses too.
Of course it depends where you live. I'm in a part of the UK where housing costs are heinous. In San Francisco or New York it would be even worse. In, say, North Dakota, I expect it's a different matter.
> That is so true.
It is, but it's missing an even bigger cost. Walls are expensive. Housing space is expensive. Space for all our books has been a major consideration every time we've moved house. Crudely, I estimate $1-2/book for good shelving and $5-10/book for the space to put the shelves in, even taking into account the fact that the rooms whose walls you fill with books will have other uses too.
Of course it depends where you live. I'm in a part of the UK where housing costs are heinous. In San Francisco or New York it would be even worse. In, say, North Dakota, I expect it's a different matter.
On shelves, the best solution I've found is the Elfa shelves from the Container Store: http://reviews.containerstore.com/1626/3/elfa-reviews/catego... . See mine here: http://jseliger.com/2009/09/07/bookshelves-offices-and-neil-... . They are better looking and more convenient in real life than in pictures. The only real way to understand how they work and which ones you want is to call the Container Store (they're insanely helpful) or walk into one.
I just returned from two months living in a different country, where English is not the native language and any English-language book costs an extra 50%. I can take all my books and buy new ones on my iPad just fine. Now I got home and my house is covered in dust, a large portion of which comes from my books. A large library isn't just a pain to move, unless you have a cleaner or sealed cupboards, it's a pain to maintain in a clean manner.
Other advantages to eBooks that I found: I want to read a book. I don't need to go to the store or wait for it to be delivered - it's there right now; I want to find a particular passage but I cannot remember the book - I can search through the entire library in the time it would normally take me to search a single book; It's dark - not a problem with an iPad.
The drawbacks are obvious, but the advantages are not until you give it a try with a portable device. I bought an iPad, but I'm thinking of buying a cheap Kindle as well to take on camping trips - despite never using eBooks before three months ago. To a certain extent, one can't persuade you that it's a good idea; you really must just try it.
Other advantages to eBooks that I found: I want to read a book. I don't need to go to the store or wait for it to be delivered - it's there right now; I want to find a particular passage but I cannot remember the book - I can search through the entire library in the time it would normally take me to search a single book; It's dark - not a problem with an iPad.
The drawbacks are obvious, but the advantages are not until you give it a try with a portable device. I bought an iPad, but I'm thinking of buying a cheap Kindle as well to take on camping trips - despite never using eBooks before three months ago. To a certain extent, one can't persuade you that it's a good idea; you really must just try it.
"You can only read one book at once"
Well, yes, I can really only hold one book and give it my eyeballs at any given moment, but I;m usually working my through several books over any given time span.
Most of my serious reading is happening in the bathroom, and I have five different books in there. Oh, and I usually my G1 with me as well (with assorted PDFs on board).
Having a choice of what to read at any given moment is a Good Thing. If nothing else, having a Kindle might save some trouble in deciding what books to pack for a trip.
Well, yes, I can really only hold one book and give it my eyeballs at any given moment, but I;m usually working my through several books over any given time span.
Most of my serious reading is happening in the bathroom, and I have five different books in there. Oh, and I usually my G1 with me as well (with assorted PDFs on board).
Having a choice of what to read at any given moment is a Good Thing. If nothing else, having a Kindle might save some trouble in deciding what books to pack for a trip.
I'm going to be travelling for the next several months so this is actually essential for me but it's also a big plus for anybody that reads a few books in parallel.
If you travel a lot, its nice to allways have books with you.
In most cases I have found paper books to be a lot cheaper than ebooks, especially when using Amazon Marketplace.
Also, what DRM people should understand: if I can not give away or sell the product, it is only worth half. In former times, I could assume that I could sell the book/game/CD after growing tired for it, recouping about 50% of the costs.
Also, what DRM people should understand: if I can not give away or sell the product, it is only worth half. In former times, I could assume that I could sell the book/game/CD after growing tired for it, recouping about 50% of the costs.
But given the current arrangements, I’m being charged just a little bit less than I pay for paper and getting a whole lot less, and it just doesn’t feel like a good deal.
Speaking as someone who's moved more times that he'd like to count, I enjoy getting a whole lot less--less weight, fewer boxes, less room taken up in my home. My Kindle's lighter than a thick magazine and takes up way less room in my bag. When you compare it to a hardcover (especially a fantasy hardcover) the difference is amazing. Try reading a Wheel of Time book one-handed for an entire afternoon in paperback or hardcover. Then try flipping the pages one handed, too.
For me it's a question of convenience, and I'll take my convenience over that of my friends in this case. If they don't trust my recommendation enough to track a book down in a library (or download the free sample from Amazon, if they've got a Kindle), then I really don't care what they're reading.
Speaking as someone who's moved more times that he'd like to count, I enjoy getting a whole lot less--less weight, fewer boxes, less room taken up in my home. My Kindle's lighter than a thick magazine and takes up way less room in my bag. When you compare it to a hardcover (especially a fantasy hardcover) the difference is amazing. Try reading a Wheel of Time book one-handed for an entire afternoon in paperback or hardcover. Then try flipping the pages one handed, too.
For me it's a question of convenience, and I'll take my convenience over that of my friends in this case. If they don't trust my recommendation enough to track a book down in a library (or download the free sample from Amazon, if they've got a Kindle), then I really don't care what they're reading.
He didn't address what the screen is like for reading on (compared to an eInk reader like Kindle etc).
I have a Kobo Reader, and it's pretty good. The DRM is a hassle, so here's my workflow for buying a new ebook (and yes, the fact I have workflow to buy a new ebook sucks, and says a lot about where my time goes):
Prerequisite:
You'll need Adobe-eBook-DRM-shit-whtaever it is called installed before you begin. Otherwise you'll download the book and won't be able to use it. OTOH, it does run on Linux, so that's something.
1) Find the book you like. I find http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/ because they have a good range and good prices on ePub books, and give you 3 copies
2) Download the book.
3) Using the following search, find the python scripts to remove the DRM: http://www.google.com/search?q=python+remove+epub+drm+script
4) Use http://calibre-ebook.com/ or the KoboBulkFixer program to remove fixed font sizes from any styles (the Kobo won't scale those, so everything appears in about 8pt writing)
5) Put my eBook in dropbox so I don't have to do this again
6) Copy the eBook to my Kobo.
I should note that I need to remove DRM to fix the font problem.
Like I said, this sucks. But OTOH, ebooks are good.
I have a Kobo Reader, and it's pretty good. The DRM is a hassle, so here's my workflow for buying a new ebook (and yes, the fact I have workflow to buy a new ebook sucks, and says a lot about where my time goes):
Prerequisite:
You'll need Adobe-eBook-DRM-shit-whtaever it is called installed before you begin. Otherwise you'll download the book and won't be able to use it. OTOH, it does run on Linux, so that's something.
1) Find the book you like. I find http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/ because they have a good range and good prices on ePub books, and give you 3 copies
2) Download the book.
3) Using the following search, find the python scripts to remove the DRM: http://www.google.com/search?q=python+remove+epub+drm+script
4) Use http://calibre-ebook.com/ or the KoboBulkFixer program to remove fixed font sizes from any styles (the Kobo won't scale those, so everything appears in about 8pt writing)
5) Put my eBook in dropbox so I don't have to do this again
6) Copy the eBook to my Kobo.
I should note that I need to remove DRM to fix the font problem.
Like I said, this sucks. But OTOH, ebooks are good.
I love ebooks, but I prefer to read paper books. The haptic and olfactory experience of reading a book is something that I've enjoyed as long as I can remember, and I won't give it up lightly. However, all those classics I've neglected to read are now a few clicks away and available for free. The cost of building my library of paper books versus the wide availability of free ebooks has made me a happy ebook adopter. There is one other problem, however.
I use linux at home and so cannot use Adobe Digital Editions or other DRM system. So, I have to rely on freely available, DRM-free files that I find on the Internet. Legally, many classics are available; illegally, many more. The upside to this is that not being encumbered by DRM, I'm free to share my collection. The downside is that it's been all too easy for me to become a criminal in the eyes of the law.
I use linux at home and so cannot use Adobe Digital Editions or other DRM system. So, I have to rely on freely available, DRM-free files that I find on the Internet. Legally, many classics are available; illegally, many more. The upside to this is that not being encumbered by DRM, I'm free to share my collection. The downside is that it's been all too easy for me to become a criminal in the eyes of the law.
I think the publishers are probably factoring in the effects of piracy. In the past they couldn't stop people from lending/sharing printed books but they could stop mass produced counterfeit printings. Now it's the exact opposite. They can't control the digital counterfeits in the form of piracy but they can stop digital lending/sharing. Maybe they hope to break even in the end. I can see from their perspective that having both sources of lost revenue combined is a nightmare scenario. I think as readers we probably need to accept that $10 or $15 for a book that is going to bring you many hours of enjoyment isn't a bad deal. We have the Internet to research books, fairly generous samples to read, social networking to spread the word.
But we have the pirate bay. Piracy just will be widespread, like it was for software for 35 years, and for music for 12 years, and movies for almost as long.
Now that there are several options for reading digital books comfortably, I think the publishing industry is going to face tons of problems with piracy. A book that takes hours to consume can be downloaded in minutes. Furthermore, we're already seeing torrent files of hundreds of DRM-free best sellers, making it easy to download first, decide later.
In the short term, the best solution seems to make the official process more convenient than pirating (Amazon does this quite well). In the long term, the best solution will probably be to combine the convenience with a subscription model. Lending books becomes a non-issue if all your friends have a $10/month subscription to Amazon's entire catalogue.
In the short term, the best solution seems to make the official process more convenient than pirating (Amazon does this quite well). In the long term, the best solution will probably be to combine the convenience with a subscription model. Lending books becomes a non-issue if all your friends have a $10/month subscription to Amazon's entire catalogue.
Books are still better, IMO.
I can lend one to a friend. They don't need a $300 compatible reader. I can lend it to as many friends as I want. I can leave it on a park bench and share it with a complete stranger.
I own the copy. I can sell it. Burn it. Press leaves in it. I can scribble in the margins. Fold the corners. Donate it to a library.
I can have two pages open at once. I can flip to indexes, important tables, and chapters without fiddling with buttons and menus. I don't have to recharge my book or replace batteries. If I drop it or get it wet, it's probably going to be fine. I know that in 50 years I'll be able to read the thing.
I've come to be of the opinion that unless I own a physical product, I don't own anything. Digital goods are meaningless and ephemeral. They come with digital locks and stupid restrictions that I don't really care to bother with. I don't want to pay a subscription or find some hack to work-around their limitations. Books are cheap and work just fine. And I get to own them.
I can lend one to a friend. They don't need a $300 compatible reader. I can lend it to as many friends as I want. I can leave it on a park bench and share it with a complete stranger.
I own the copy. I can sell it. Burn it. Press leaves in it. I can scribble in the margins. Fold the corners. Donate it to a library.
I can have two pages open at once. I can flip to indexes, important tables, and chapters without fiddling with buttons and menus. I don't have to recharge my book or replace batteries. If I drop it or get it wet, it's probably going to be fine. I know that in 50 years I'll be able to read the thing.
I've come to be of the opinion that unless I own a physical product, I don't own anything. Digital goods are meaningless and ephemeral. They come with digital locks and stupid restrictions that I don't really care to bother with. I don't want to pay a subscription or find some hack to work-around their limitations. Books are cheap and work just fine. And I get to own them.
The whole sharing issue is major in my opinion. If a new technology brings new benefits but takes away some key benefits of the paper medium, I would bet that the users community will quickly question the future of e-books with some serious hacks and p2p challenges to the publishers and distributors.
Everyone in our house gets to read all the iPad books.... First off most of them are drm free books from orielly and pragmatic programmers or PDFs that can be emailed. But even the ones from the AppStore are just in iTunes and itunes syncs our book libraries, so if she adds one to hers i get it immediately on mine. ITunes supports sharing of drm encumbered media this way. Also it means we have a backup in case one of e laptops dies.
I see a new definition of family emerge - are you in my Apple home network?
Thats a very interesting point about books as apps and sharing them. Amazon allows upto 5 devices too. So other people in the family can use the same registered device ID and share all the books.
It is not the best solution though.
It is not the best solution though.
As it stands If i know a book is just for me and/or my wife, I'll pick it up on the Kindle, otherwise it's the dead tree route.
I really hope that one of the major ebook makers will at least add the ability to 'gift' books to others, but I think it's unlikely. They have little to gain and I'm sure publishers would put up a hell of a fight. The best we're likely to get is the nook's crippled lending function, or something similar that publishers have the option of disabling, and thus do so for every title (much the same way as most books now have the Kindle's text to speech feature disabled).