EReaders: Love em or Hate em?
I have a love hate relationship with my kindle.
I love my kindle because…
- I love that I can read in the dark.
- I love that it tells me how many more hours I have left in a book.
- I love that is light and I can take it anywhere.
- I love I can buy a new book even at 2am when I can’t sleep.
I hate my kindle because…
- I hate that I can’t easily lend my kindle books. (I know this is possible in theory but has anyone actually made it work?)
- I hate that I can’t read my kindle in the bath. (Well I am not game to do it anyway!)
- I hate that can’t buy second hand or donate your books.
- I hate that I don’t get to see all the great cover art.
The joy of libraries and bookshops are at battle with the convenience of the internet and the fact that I am reading way more now that I have a kindle.
What do you think?
Do you have an eReader?
Do you love em or hate em?
And while you’re here, tell me what you are reading right now.
I don’t have one but think I would like one. It would be handy for travel and holidays, many books, one small thing to pack. I do love having my hands on a book though, the smell, turning the pages, etc.
I got mine last Christmas and love it so much more than I thought I would!
I love the convenience of a reader on my tablet. I love being able to take all the books I could ever want in one thin light package, but I love having a book in hand. I love the feel of a book. My husband and sons are completely sold on the e-readers and books on tablet, but I still love my paper books. That and I have a lovely chat with the owner of our local used book store whenever I shop. She has even been known to bounce a fussy baby so that mommy can shop.
I love spending time at the book shop and library… that is one thing I’d miss a lot if we went all digital!
We recently moved from Austria to China — so it’s a toss up: it would me much easier to get a hold of the books I want to read, but at this point the feeling of having an actual book in my hand still outweighs the benefits of the e-reader. In my eyes reading is so much more than just… what an e-reader can offer.
So long,
Corinna
The ease of accessing books is a huge plus with my kindle. We live in a rural area so our library is small (but awesome) so it takes a while for books to arrive, and we have to travel to a bookshop… but there is just something about paper books isn’t there…
I didn’t think I wanted one but was pleasantly surprised to get a lot of use out of the one I received a few Christmases ago. I love that I can read one handed (especially useful since baby #2 arrived, but back in the days I managed to exercise I also used to use it on the treadmill/exercise bike. I’ve been reading a lot of junk lately – four Southern Vampire Mysteries and all five Percy Jacksons – I think I’m all fantasy’d out for the moment!
Ah you sound just like me… I didn’t want one for a long time but slowly slowly changed my mind, and I really love my kindle now, and wouldn’t be without it.
I use the Kindle Reader or iBooks on my iPad mini, but my love/hate list is almost exactly like yours. The inability to buy used bothers me most, but the convenience and portability keeps winning me back over!
I wonder if one day… down the track… there will be a way to buy and sell used ebooks!?!
I just love looking and reading actual books…especially to my children. There may be some usefulness for information reading, but I prefer reading books with the whole book in hand rather than using a device. Just do not want to loose the availability to have actual books to look at, read from and flip through.
Do you think paper books will eventually become less and less common? Something most people won’t have in their homes? It seems so odd to even think about that, but I wonder…
Love and hate for all the same reasons (mostly, I would LOVE to have an easy way to borrow books from others, because I honestly won’t reread most of what I could buy so I’d rather save the money and just borrow the book). Also, there’s just something to the weight, feel, and smell of a real book that makes the knowledge (or fantasy) more tangible. Andshelves of books in book stores or libraries are seriously like therapy to me.
But my Kindle (which decided after three years to stop working…) or tablet with Kindle App makes it much easier to read while lying down in bed, or while breastfeeding.
Currently rereading the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. So good!!
I so wish they’d sort out the lending thing.
My twins read a book or two each a week and it’s very hard to keep up! I’d buy them a kindle each if I didn’t have to buy the same book twice so they could both read it!
I’ve heard that Amazon is starting a family sharing thing, but I wonder how accessible that will be? The ‘lending’ thing they have going now seems to be only for those who buy a ‘Prime’ subscription, which is just not worth it if you live outside of the US!
Another blog I follow just happened to mention using something called Oyster for e-book lending (30 days free, $9.95 after that). I’ve been a bit too busy and preoccupied with family things to check it out though, so I’m not sure if it would work for outside the U.S. just yet: https://www.oysterbooks.com
I go through stages. I’ll borrow books from the library on my iPad for ages using the OverDrive app and that’s really fantastic or I’ll buy a few through iBooks or the Kindle app but just now I am back to the real books I hold in my hand again. I’m rereading a few old favourites and when I was at the library with the kids last week I spied a few on the new arrivals table that I picked up.
When we go on holiday though I love to use my iPad because I can take a few books and only have one thing to carry. It also leaves me free to browse the local second hand book shop and pick up some ‘new to me’ paper books. ????
They really are great for travel, aren’t they!
I’m a bit of both person too… I read whatever I can get my hands on. If our library service can order the book for me then I’ll borrow it and read it in paper, if not I buy it for my kindle!
Like you, love the ease, and as we live overseas it’s much cheaper to buy books on kindle/ipad than in our local bookstores. I hate that my kids are not seeing me read books, they just see mom on the iPad when I’m actually reading a book! Great for disguising when I’m reading a really trashy book though!!!
Yes it’s much cheaper to buy kindle books for me too…
I hadn’t thought about the fact that my kids don’t see me reading actual books! My kids all know what my kindle is though, so I figure the fact that they see me reading anything is better than nothing! LOL