Vanishing Bookstores?

[Lützow]

ORIGINAL: Perturabo

It has a LCD display, not e-ink, though.

Well, the plus about e-ink eaders is the long battery duration, but in return they come with a gray scale display. I'd rather plug in over night, like I have to do with my other devices, than purchasing outdated technology.

[Perturabo]

AFAIK, e-ink is about making reading comfortable for eyes, not about battery duration. With LCD, it's no different from reading from a computer screen.

[Lützow]

The eye argument doesn't necessarily apply to screen workers. Actually, I prefer backlighted devices, as they let me read in dimly lit environments.

[Perturabo]

I'd say that it applies especially to screen workers.

[rhondabrwn]

ORIGINAL: Lützow

The eye argument doesn't necessarily apply to screen workers. Actually, I prefer backlighted devices, as they let me read in dimly lit environments.

I have a little "Mighty Bright" clip on that I use to read my Kindle at night. Works beautifully. I have never liked back lighted electronic devices, way too hard for my old eyes to read. I am eagerly awaiting my Kindle Fire tablet to be delivered in about two weeks and I'll report back on how readable this device will be. Will it replace my beloved 2nd generation Kindle? Or will the two devices peacefully co-exist in my household?

I really love the freedom of my long-lived Kindle that only needs charged once a month. The Fire will be more traditional with an 8-10 hour battery life. I have trouble remembering to keep my phone charged up [:D] so we'll see how this works out.

Some form of e-reader is in your future, I assure you.

[parusski]

ORIGINAL: michael1776

I really hate how everything is done on the Interweb now. I miss my local bookstores. I like going in to find something new. I liked talking to the people that worked there....for the most part. You can probably tell by my overall lack of posting on here that I am not an Internet fan. I use it because I have to, not really because I enjoy it. I think it's a real shame when I see places like book stores and small coffee shops going out of business because people prefer to lock themselves into their homes and sit on the PC for hours on end. Don't get me all wrong I enjoy firing up the PC to play some of the fine Matrix titles that I actually did purchase online. But I also like to get out there, and DO something.

I can't stand e-books. First of all, unless you enjoy pop-history books you very often can't get what you are looking for in e-book form. Then you are locked into the proprietary format of the device you decided to purchase. And you miss out on the whole experience of reading an actual book in the first place. The feel of the paper, the smell...I don't know maybe I am becoming an angry old man but I just enjoy the "antiquated" practice of cracking open a book and reading it instead of turning on my Kindle. They also look really nice sitting in my library....

Oh and BTW I recently met the most amazing woman in a book store. Try doing that on your Kindle.

MJ

Wow, very eloquent. Great points.

[Perturabo]

I think that what may happen with paper books is paper editions moving to more ornate, more illustrated forms, with stuff like embossed covers and ribbon bookmarks and e-books being basically just "poor mans books". I already saw some Polish fantasy books starting to get published this way. I think that it's a way of tempting readers into buying a physical book. It certainly worked on me.

It's possible that soon most of physical novels will look like this.

[Lützow]

ORIGINAL: rhondabrwn

Some form of e-reader is in your future, I assure you.

Some form, yes.

Anyway, today I was holding out for a e-book reader in my local megastore. Allowedly, they don't offer Kindle's there, but I had the opportunity to play with some devices from Sony, Trekstor an alike - all around 150-200 bucks. What I saw couldn't convince me. Slow speed, tearing while turning pages, low resolution and a background as environmentally friendly paper. The look and feel simply can't keep up if one measure it against iBooks.

Guess I have to take the plunge and go for an iPad 2. Even I had prefer a smaller (and less expensive) gadget. [:(]

[rhondabrwn]

Got my Kindle Fire tuesday and it's quite nice. Beautiful color display, took me a bit of time to figure out the right moves for the touch screen interface as I haven't used anything like it before, but I got the feel of it quickly.

Useful for getting online without a computer running to check email, facebook etc, but I still prefer a desktop PC for any kind of serious communicating.

Seeing the full color covers for all my books was cool, Kindle e-ink doesn't do justice to them. Comfortable to read with it (with some reservations - see below).

Cons - As you would expect for a color device with a large battery pack to get 8 hour charge, it seems heavy to me (though lighter than the Nook or an I-pad). I read with it sitting on a counter so I don't have to hold it. Sitting in bed and reading is fatiguing (as it would be for any tablet computer). I shift back to my 2nd gen Kindle reader that I can curl up in bed with. As for reading in bright light... no way. Like any LCD or LED screen it is impossible to read. Again, back to my old faithful Kindle e-ink reader for those situations.

Bottom line - great value for $199 and I've just skimmed the surface of it's capabilities. If you are primarily looking for an e-reader, I'd go for one of the new Kindle Touch e-ink readers for (I think) $79.

Once again, let me assert: An E-reader of some kind IS in your future! (Dedicated Luddites excepted, of course) [:D]

[Aurelian]

My sister in law is trying to get me to move to e-books.

I brought up two things.

1: What if I lose it?

2: I buy used books. I got Chandler's Campaigns of Napoleon for @$25. The e book, last I looked, was @$65 or so.

I'll bet that my hard back "The Franco-German War of 1870-71" written by Moltke is worth more to a collector than an ebook or pdf.

[Perturabo]

One thing that I hate about these ebooks, download games, etc. is that they prevent reselling. You basically pay a full price and have no way of retrieving a cent of it when it's no longer needed.

[wworld7]

But I believe they are cheaper than buying the actual book. Me I prefer a real book, one that I can add to my collection.

[jomni]

ORIGINAL: Perturabo

One thing that I hate about these ebooks, download games, etc. is that they prevent reselling. You basically pay a full price and have no way of retrieving a cent of it when it's no longer needed.

I hate ebook DRM and region restrictions!!!!

[rhondabrwn]

ORIGINAL: Perturabo

One thing that I hate about these ebooks, download games, etc. is that they prevent reselling. You basically pay a full price and have no way of retrieving a cent of it when it's no longer needed.

Ya got me there

But, personally, I've never sold a book anyway and have given many away because I got tired of carrying them around with me. I really prefer having my library in electronic form.

Collector's item "out of print" editions are just that... collector's items... and not really relevant to a discussion about the value of e-books (although you always have the risk that some group will convert a valued collector's item and put it out in ebook form on the Guttenberg site for free LOL).

Well, no one is forcing people to embrace e-books [:)]

[Gilmer]

ORIGINAL: flipperwasirish

But I believe they are cheaper than buying the actual book. Me I prefer a real book, one that I can add to my collection.

Depends. Are you buying a paperback of a new novel? Paperbacks are usually cheaper in that case. [:(]

[Gilmer]

ORIGINAL: rhondabrwn

ORIGINAL: Perturabo

One thing that I hate about these ebooks, download games, etc. is that they prevent reselling. You basically pay a full price and have no way of retrieving a cent of it when it's no longer needed.

Ya got me there

But, personally, I've never sold a book anyway and have given many away because I got tired of carrying them around with me. I really prefer having my library in electronic form.

Collector's item "out of print" editions are just that... collector's items... and not really relevant to a discussion about the value of e-books (although you always have the risk that some group will convert a valued collector's item and put it out in ebook form on the Guttenberg site for free LOL).

Well, no one is forcing people to embrace e-books [:)]

I let people borrow mine a lot. When I gave my copy of the Alienist to my mother and sister to read and return, it came back in pieces. [:(]

They claimed it was not their fault, so I let them off with a stern warning. I just loaned a copy of "Pale Horse Coming" to a friend and he gave it back in one piece. But I still have a Kindle. I don't necessarily like going to the bookstore for one reason. It is very hard to find a good book just by browsing titles. On the website/Kindle you can read reviews by regular people and read excerpts and see "titles that are similar to what you bought before".

So, I like all that. Plus I have read some classics I never would have bought at the store. I finally read Ben-Hur - My favorite movie so I have always wanted to read the book. That book cost about $1.50 USD, which was cool and a lot cheaper than you'd get it at the store.

[rhondabrwn]

Got the Kindle Fire plugged into the computer today and transferred all my game manuals onto it.

Results....

Anyone want to buy printed manuals in binders for about 30 Matrix games? (Seriously... I'll sell them, I can't see myself ever looking at them again).

Yea, the Fire just made them totally obsolete in this house! It's that good [&o] The graphics are much clearer than the printed version, I can double touch and zoom them up for closer view or turn the Fire sideways and look at a larger partial page display. Standard view is quite readable for a full page. In zoomed mode I can move the page around easily with a fingertip.

I can now see that my Fire will be sitting next to me whenever I'm playing a game with the manual open. The same goes for keyboard layouts for flight sims and other supplemental charts.

A standard Kindle e-ink display just isn't up to the task of handling manuals, you really need the Kindle Fire for PDF's. I assume the new Nook will probably do as well, though it was just revealed that the 16 gig Nook only allows you to use 1 gig for "non B&N materials" which is limiting if you don't pay extra for a micro SD card. Not a deal breaker, but it does make the Nook about $70 more than the Fire.

For standard book reading though, I'll still hold onto my old Kindle... it's just the right weight to hold up one handed for reading, is great in sunlight, and I can read it turned onto my side without the display switching around on me (I think there is a way to disable that feature on the Fire, but haven't found it yet).

Oh yea, and I put a few albums of music onto it and that played nicely. I also took advantage of the free movies as part of the Amazon "Prime" membership and streamed one onto the Fire. Even with my quirkly and erratic Verizon wireless data connection out here in the boonies, it played perfectly (surprised me!). Of course, the 5 gig cap on my Verizon account effectively prohibits me streaming movies, I already bust my cap every month just reading news, but the Fire is a great little video player. If I want videos I'll just download a couple off my computer. I've got a program called DVD Fab that will convert any movie into a compressed file for display on small portable displays so I could probably store at least six movies at a time on the device.

Not a tablet computer, doesn't have Microsoft Office on it, but a heck of value for the money with a lot of utility. And... I see that I can even buy "Angry Birds" or "Plants and Zombies" to play on it [:D]

[Cmdrcain]

ORIGINAL: Joe D.

I've already lamented how hard it's become to find retail computer games on the store shelves, but now bookstores are disappearing from my community, or so it appears.

When Borders recently closed, a local Waldenbooks bought their books, but now it went out of business to make way for a new Toys R Us.

Although I've seen more Kindles during my train commute to work, I can't believe ebooks are putting bookstores out of business.

No retail computer games, no books: what's next to go?

I don't believe it has anything to do with Ebooks, since many best selling and other Ebooks are close in price to print ones so its not always cheaper to buy ebooks.

Part of it is the economy of past 2-3 years, on top probably increasing lease/rent costs.. I know some local used bookstores closed when leases ran out and renewing would been at a higher cost..

People also with economy are going to librarys more... they also have DVD's .. I have several TV seasons from library... books, Dvd's and even e-books from librarys

Then If you look around you find less cost books for instance with BOMC2 I can setup a book list/want list and get one a month off list for 9.95, with no shipping cost.. So i get hard backs via it at 30-75 pct off list
at that price..

And with more buying and ordering over internet...brick and mortor bookstores with their expense are closing up, with their online sales surging... through one has to look careful...sometimes a book isn't a bargain...its price seems so then you pay $3-$5 shipping on top..

What really hurts is the increasing closings of used bookstores..

If Economy turns around...perhaps some stores will return... the used book and individual owned ... however I think brick and mortar big book stores except in metro-urban areas with good sales are a thing of past...

You can look more to librarys... and many you can online search the whole system, put holds on and their sent to branch near you to pickup, so not limited to whats on nearby ones shelves...
Thats what I do... i online search...put hold... check when status is ready to pickup and get...
books and dvd's..

Librarys also have sales of books/dvd's of excess accumulations/donations... I've picked up at mine books for $1

[Cmdrcain]

ORIGINAL: Perturabo

I never understood the concept of bookstores selling coffee. Wouldn't it risk damaging the books by any accidental spill?

You spill... you bought it [:D]

[Cmdrcain]

ORIGINAL: Perturabo

Generally, from what I've seen, ebooks tend to be unreasonably expensive. They tend to cost the same as physical books. I don't think they'll be able to replace paper books unless they'll get to the point when they cost less than the cost of a paper book - cost of printing and cost of long supply chain.

There ARe free ebooks... you need to google around, I have many free classics for instance,
there are free e-readers for the PC... its the portable ones that cost... but I expect the prices on those to drop... like how DVD players were $100-$200 and now can get for $29

However e-books aren't going to grow in sales till they price many more reasonable.. if they price ebooks at or near print...why but electronic...

ebooks should be lower cost due to no printing/binding, shipping costs..