Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader

Originally Posted by Britalian

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The much speculated decimation of the publishing industry would be a bad thing IMHO, yet inevitable if it went massively down the electronic path.
Also, one which I can't see: when/if ebooks become hugely popular, won't the publishing industry suffer from illegal download sites, just as the recording industry has with Pirate Bay et al?
I'm sure the storage capacities and novelty of e-readers is enticing, but who wouldn't prefer a durable, 'living' paperback?

I wouldn't, but e-readers are there yet for comfort and readability There's also the issue of typesetting. My Modern Library copy of "Of Human Bondage" is wonderfully readable; later versions I've seen aren't. The typesetting is changed to fit more words per page, and 20 paragraphs are pushed into one. If e-readers can avoid this, or let the reader choose, cool; if file size is all, I'll look elsewhere.

Originally Posted by milosz

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...compared to reading a good trade paperback, e-ink has a ways to go.

No kidding. For practical reasons, not to mention waste of paper, I should have bought an e-reader of some sort months ago. But the type is not black on white. It's gray on gray. I figure in a year or so...

I wonder if sometime in the near-future, paper books will become like vinyl records--the elitist way to read.

What I don't understand is that it is relaxing to read a book. At least for me, Reading a book creates a separation from my work where I look at a computer screen all day. Not sure why I'd want to change that in favor of looking at another computer screen.

Originally Posted by Britalian

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I'm sure the storage capacities and novelty of e-readers is enticing, but who wouldn't prefer a durable, 'living' hardcover?

My thoughts exactly.

I can't dog-ear an e-reader's pages, make notations and diacritic scribbles on words, smell the first opening of the book or hear the plosive close after the last sentence.

On a more practical level, e-readers are not organic and all the limitations of such devices eclipse their additional merits.

I would like e-reader for peridocals, too many magazine holding up spaces. As far as book goes, hum, for novel/fictiction what not I will keep in e-format, but for textbook I would want real book (have the tendency to write crap on textbook).

I saw a video a few weeks ago of a book printer (developed by Google and someone?) that could print and bind a book in minutes. That may be an option for those of you who want a "real live" book if eBooks become the default format (something I don't see happening for a while yet if ever as it's just another option).

Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated.


Eventually digital reading will be the standard, but the traditional method will still exist as an artisan good.

Originally Posted by Rambo

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Also, with the inclusion of USB you can upload your own eBooks. That's huge. If it only had a backlight I'd be all over it.

+1

Someday I'll buy an e-reader but I get the majority of my books from the library. So I really don't want to buy my books.

My main reason for an e-reader would be for trips. With an e-reader you can put a bunch of books in the space a single hard cover book would take. When ever I travel I always have 3 - 5 books with me.

I'll get one of these e-readers when they have graphic novels for download.

but the missus plans on getting one

There is something about holding a book that just isn't matched by a computer. Especially by those of us who live in hurricane zones: when the power goes off, books are de rigueur. If I had to use an e-reader device I would be SOL, since after the storm there is often several days of power outage and I have nowhere to recharge the device.

I think Neal Stephenson has the right idea in The Diamond Age. In short, he desribes a future where nano-technology has been mastered. This has distintegrated nation borders and allowed people to create their own associations, or tribes. One of the most successful tribes is called the Victorians. They have re-adapted the moral and social code of the Victorian era. Their most interesting idiosyncrisy in a world where materials can be forged from atoms and nanocomputers and screens can be put on anything is that they insist on making things by hand. The higher up in society you are, the more "real" handmade items you will have. The highest officials have the honor of recieving a newspaper, printed on real paper. The implication being that they can afford to retain the services of information analysts who sift through the enormous amounts of information available and compile a collection of pertinent items.

Originally Posted by The Swede

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I think Neal Stephenson has the right idea in The Diamond Age. In short, he desribes a future where nano-technology has been mastered. This has distintegrated nation borders and allowed people to create their own associations, or tribes. One of the most successful tribes is called the Victorians. They have re-adapted the moral and social code of the Victorian era. Their most interesting idiosyncrisy in a world where materials can be forged from atoms and nanocomputers and screens can be put on anything is that they insist on making things by hand. The higher up in society you are, the more "real" handmade items you will have. The highest officials have the honor of recieving a newspaper, printed on real paper. The implication being that they can afford to retain the services of information analysts who sift through the enormous amounts of information available and compile a collection of pertinent items.

Well, that sort of exists now. Not to the extent you mentioned, but handmade items tend to cost more simply because they are handmade. Take a quartz Timex and a Patek. The Timex will also be more precise than the Patek, yet the Patek cost infinitely more because it is for the most part handmade. The same can be said for furniture, etc...

this is going to be my birthday present this year. I need one for traveling - reading material is often more of what I carry, in terms of weight, then clothes.

Originally Posted by globetrotter

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this is going to be my birthday present this year. I need one for traveling - reading material is often more of what I carry, in terms of weight, then clothes.
Make sure to post up a review when you get it.