Farewell, paper...and a question about ereaders.

[holyschist]

I made a first crack at the massive paper backlog and recycled two grocery bags full...and in the process found an uncashed check (!) from last November. So that was nice. Hopefully the second crack will reduce the paper mounds further.

Like a lot of people in this comm, I also have a bit of a book problem. I'm doing better, but books still take up an awful lot of space for us. I could reduce the book space significantly if I replaced most of my fiction collection and part (probably not a very large part) of my nonfiction collection with ebooks...but while I own an ereader (a slightly older Sony), I don't use it much except while traveling. It's not the current generation of eInk, and I don't really like the gray-on-gray screen. It only charges while plugged into my computer, and only while my computer is open...which means not overnight. I forget to charge it. I forget to sync files.

I'm trying to decide whether it might be worth investing in a newer ereader, since the current generation of eInk seems to be much higher contrast, closer to paper (is this true?)...but then I'm not entirely sure that the ereader is my own block against using ebooks for pleasure reading. I do tend to flip around in books; I also read a lot in the bath. I find paper books more comfortable to hold. So maybe I'm hopeless and will never make a switch unless forced...

...but I could free up so much shelf space. Any thoughts?

Comments

[finch]

I like my newer Sony a lot compared to the book it replaced, but your concerns suggest it might not be the best fit for you. I mean, once I had one I knew I would use it forever, it was just a question of working the kinks out.

If you have the money to spare, I'd say go for it and see how you feel, but if a new one would be a significant expense, you might want to hold off. (I'll also ask if you've looked at colored screen options - my gf liked my Sony well enough, but since she got an iPad, that thing practically lives in her hands.)

[holyschist]

I am not sure I have the money to spare unless it's going to be great for decluttering...I did look at colored screens, but then thought eInk would be easier on the eyes. OTOH, I do a lot of reading on my computer anyway, so it might not be that much worse, and there's something to be said for not needing a light to read in the dark. (iPads are way out of my price range, though.)

Maybe it's time to go look at current models again.

[finch]

I have a friend who got a Kindle Fire for Christmas and pretty much thinks the sun rises and sets by it, so it's probably at least worth a look. I think you'd feel better about the investment if you found an ereader that you thought was a sufficient improvement over the one you have now.

(If it helps? My girlfriend and I went from thirty five boxes of books to three due to replacing paper copies with ebooks. Made a huge difference for us.)

[holyschist]

*nods*

That's impressive! I think step one for me at this point is probably going to be finding out how many of my books I am both willing and able to replace with ebooks...I know a lot of my older fiction isn't available, and a good chunk of my nonfiction is not ebook-appropriate.

[finch]

It's definitely a decision where you have to check your own needs - there's no easy answer, but it looks like we have plenty of opinions to go around! :) Most of what my girlfriend and I kept were her knitting books - though she has a few more good solutions for knitting patterns on the iPad now than she did before - and my metalworking books, because ain't no way I'm leaving my Sony next to a hot forge. XD

You do a lot of SCA costuming and the like, correct? So it makes sense that you'd have a lot of things that aren't well-suited to a black and white ereader.

[holyschist]

and my metalworking books, because ain't no way I'm leaving my Sony next to a hot forge.

Ha, yeah!

Most of my costuming books aren't just B&W-unfriendly, but BIG...and I like them coffeetable size. Shrink 'em down to your average computer or ereader and they would be unreadable or require a lot of scrolling (I suspect most are not available as ebooks).

And then there are the field guides, which I'm disinclined to switch to electronic in case I fall in a river or something while hiking....

So yeah, I should probably try to figure out how much I could reasonable reduce the paper book collection. I definitely like having an ereader, but I don't feel the pressing need to upgrade yet....

[adair]

I have an e-reader - a 1st generation Nook. I like it very much; it takes books bought from Barnes and Noble and therefore with DRM, and also epub format from other sources. I find reading on it a bit different from paper; I seem to concentrate on what I read a bit more, and it's not easy to flip around on the book. The eInk is very easy for me to read; it's not quite like paper, but much more pleasing to the eye than a computer screen, and the e-book is very portable. You will need a case for it, and you probably should be able to read it in the case. I use it for reading novels, mostly. A lot of the non-fiction I read has footnotes and maps and extra bits, and those don't work well for me on a basic e-reader. I have not tried any of the tables yet. I have not yet taken it in the bath

However, having the e-reader does not do a lot for replacing my paper book collection. Much of what i have, and what I want, is not yet available in digitized form. Older science fiction, mysteries, novels, general non-fiction - this has largely not been converted by the publishers, and therefore the books still take up space on my shelves, and I still buy them, used or new. It is possible that eventually more books that I want to read will be available in the epub format I prefer, but that day is not this day. Gaining space through e-books is not really a possibility for much of my collection. If you tend to read recent fiction of various genres, published in the last 4 years, you might find your situation different.

[holyschist]

Yeah, I have a lot of paper books that aren't available digitally yet (or are available digitally but in incredibly badly proofread copies I'd have to put hours of work into, or are available digitally but I'm not willing to give up a paper copy). Still, I could condense the shelves a fair bit by just replacing Elizabeth Moon, Terry Pratchett, and a few other authors with digital copies, and I expect some of my nonfiction collection is available as reasonable ebooks. (OTOH, there's also the money factor: I already OWN the paper books).

But that's also a big reason I haven't fully switched over as many people have--so many of my favorites just aren't available digitally.

[beachlass]

I found my ereader (2nd generation Kobo) replaced the books I would buy to read only once. And so I've tended to try out new authors on it. I can also load epubs on it, which makes it awesome for reading downloaded fanfic. And it is light enough to hold in one hand, like a paperback. It definitely reduced my physical book buying.

I now have a blackberry tablet too, and it has further reduced my paper, because there's so many things (mostly work, but also knitting patterns) I can store on it as pdf files.

[holyschist]

Most of the books I read only once are either from the library or super-cheap at library book sales, so I feel no guilt about giving them to Goodwill or whatever when I'm done. (I have enjoyed putting fanfic on my ereader, but that does nothing about clutter, alas.)

[sporky_rat]

I like my e-reader (I have a Nook Color) and when I want to read in the bath, hello there gallon Ziplock bag.

I have noticed that it's made it a lot easier to get books and get rid of the ones that I only read once but didn't want to get rid of in case I wanted to read again.

[holyschist]

I have a feeling the things about ereaders that annoy me ergonomically would multiply inside a ziplock bag. :-P

Yeah, I think that would be true for me to some extent, although I am not terribly inclined to buy full-price ebooks on impulse.

[yabamena]

I've much the same problem with books. I love them so much, but they're pretty much taking over every available surface in my apartment. I was resistant to ereaders at first (still am for the most part because nothing beats a real book), however my roommate got me a Kindle Fire for Christmas (insanity!) and I have to admit I quite like it.

I've gotten a large collection of ebooks on there already, books I never would have picked up if they weren't free digital. I would suggest upgrading since your current ereader doesn't seem to be doing it for you. And also, having a flip open case might help with the "sensation" of holding a book. The case I have for my Kindle Fire opens in such a way that it feels like holding a book with it's pages flipped back, something I would never do with a paper book no matter how much easier it would be to hold them.

[syntheid]

I've got a Nook Simple Touch for reading the black & white books, which I like a lot as it's much lighter than the first gen and is way better on my hands than my original Sony. The contrast has never really been much of an issue for me, though. I'm not sure it's exactly like reading on paper, though the contrast definitely has improved since early e-ink screens. I think the Kindle is supposedly better as far as contrast goes, from reviews I read.

My current Nook is incredibly light and has nice ergonomics to hold one-handed or two, so I'm actually enjoying it more than a physical book at this point. But flipping around isn't terrible, actually, sometimes easier than a paper book? Since there's search features, and you can bookmark pages you want to get back to, and jumping ahead to a new chapter or a particular page number is pretty simple, and I don't find the lag to be terrible. But if you mean like, flipping back and forth between two pages for referencing, I could see the lag getting annoying.

As far as syncing goes, I've actually rooted my Nook so that it also runs regular Android in the background, which allows me to not only easily sync my BN.com book library, but also what I happen to have on Kindle and use things like Dropbox/Aldiko sync and Overdrive (for library books) to sync other books without me even having to plug the thing to my computer. (Google Books installs, but I have yet to get it to really work for me, so I don't know.) So I do really love that the newer generations have wi-fi for that reason, since I have trouble remembering to sync it, too.

I'm not sure it does a lot for whittling down the library I had, since I have offloaded several boxes of books, but mostly they were books I read once and knew I didn't need or want around to reference anymore, and like you mentioned, a lot of the books I had were older, and I can't find ebook versions (yet). But it does remind me to not buy paper books unless there's a real reason I want the paper version (or it's unavailable otherwise), which I think has helped me actually keep the number down as when I find books I like enough to buy, I check for ebook versions first these days.