books: e- version or the real deal?

[SilverSurfer]

Having grown up on a steady diet of comic books and pulp SF and fantasy novels, I still crave the sensory experience of the real deal.

I have tried the digital format a few times, but I have a more difficult time becoming immersed in what I'm reading. There is always an underlying awareness of the device. I don't get that with books.

 

[belamyi]

Assuming your battery is removable, what you need is this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKsxq8SeN3Q

I have a spare one that I've only used once. If you're interested in buying it, message me.

I'll have to try that, but still whatever you consider, software, CD-ROMs, tapes, cars, whatever sort of device you consider must rely at least on a parallel line of development to provide the components or some sort of replacement compatible with the original. I have even archives of books in a format that I downloaded to an old computer where I had installed that software, but incredibly now I can't In those cases I don't care much because I have other, even better editions in pdf format or in paper or in whatever format, but the fact is that there are electronic archives whose information I can't use without a mediating application or appliance.
That's my point about paper books (please remark that I don't mean "printed", in fact not actually "paper") and ebooks: writing is complicated and "technological" enough... conceptualizing, conveying and transmitting information is hard enough already before starting making it even more sophisticated and nifty with newer technology.

Again, I am not saying anything against what you all are commenting about ebooks, in fact I'm on that side too: I am only taking the topic beyond the common and usual practice of speedy and convenient handling and storage of documents and considering the possibilities of mere survival of them in an extreme situation in which the production and renewal of the current technology would be discontinued, and that doesn't point to some going back to the Stone Age: simply about the superseding of that technology, as it has been happening during the past hundred years with every device supporting our modernity, from the transportation to the entertainment field.

You must be sociable - those are the things that turn me OFF about libraries!

As for art, though, I will take a high-res photos or scan (12megapixal minimum) over a static print any day. Nothing like being able to zoon in and see the individual brush strokes!

It's funny because in my experience with libraries I don't usually get that sort of annoyance, even when the premises are actually relatively crowded.

As for the images of art, individual brush strokes are like cross-section samples: they are useful to study and appreciate aspects of the work, like particular attention to some words or expressions in a literary work, but the sense of all works is more holistic than that.

 

[FanofFiction]

So I finally read a book on a digital device and.... hated it. It felt naked somehow... or empty? I can't explain it. Other than the good feeling of people coming up to me to ask about my "cool toy" the experience was dull. I'll stick to real books.

 

[72-Jay]

Its rare that I read books anymore, but I would want a real book if I was gonna read one.

The only way I would even consider getting an e-"book" (not a book, but a computer file in my opinion) is if it was free.