eReader Cons?

[*bejeweled*]

Hi, I'm thinking of getting an eReader, and I've heard all of the pros. Anyone on the other side? What are some of the cons? Do you miss turning pages? Do you miss the physical beauty of books?

[Arduinna]

My number one is the format wars, ebooks being device limited and only having a right to use and not actually own the book. Unlike with print books where I buy it, I own it, I take where I want, use it where I want, loan it, sell it, whatever. A part of of me is disgusted that I "own" as many ebooks as I do because I don't really own them. 

Additionally, there are a lot of books not available in ebook form. ebooks are also not great for art, photography, design, dictionaries ect. The beauty of a books typeset is generally lost and often times it's just basically reading a wall of text. Many ebooks have very poor navigation and  often times lack a TOC for instance and searching within them can be really cumbersome. 

I still buy print books because I refuse to limit my reading options to just ebooks and some of favorite books are out of print and not available in ebook. I have some limited edition and collectable print books that I also have in ebook.

I read ebooks every day and I'm fast approaching having as many ebooks as print books but I'm not giving up my print. They both have their place. I like the ease of use and erasing highlights and bookmarks in ebooks for instance. 

[tinuviel_k]

I really like my eReader but it has definite cons.


I dislike that with an eBook you don't actually own the book. You own the right to read the media. Hence not being able to resell you books or give them away: you simply spent $10 on the right to read a book. I like that when I buy a paper book I can resell, give it away, hold it in my hand, whatever.I dislike that you can't resell the book to anyone else, or buy used books, or trade a title to someone if you don't want it any more. 9 times out of 10 I can get any book cheaper than the eReader price by buying it used. I only buy a book for my eReader if I have read it before and know I will want to read it several times again. Otherwise I feel like it is a waste of money.

I have a Kindle and right now you can't check out library books. That is changing in the near future, I hear.

For certain books like like to have a hard copy. Books with beautiful pictures, different formatting, books that I want to share with friends, etc.

I also dislike the accessibility of my books for people other than me. There is just something lovely about visibly perusing a bookshelf, especially for kids and guests. Because my eLibrary is inside a little computer I feel like it is not as available to other people to casually flip through.

[rachelsmama]

All the e-books smell the same (I like to sniff my books), you can smash spiders so much more effectively with a good heavy book, you can use real books for papier mache, and various other crafts, you can press flowers in a real book, etc....  You don't need to recharge a real book, or worry about whether you'll be able to read the books you have "bought" if you upgrade to a newer reading device....the list goes on.  I have an e-book reader (Kobo) and I like it because I can "borrow" library books without worrying about returning them or anything, and I LOVE Gutenberg, but I still much prefer the real thing.

[Arduinna]

9 times out of 10 I can get any book cheaper than the eReader price by buying it used.

Boy is that the truth!

A lot of times I don't buy the ebook version because I get it in print for much cheaper. In fact I can often get the hardcover cheaper if the book has been out long enough. 

Another con, the instant gratification can be dangerous to the pocketbook LOL

[*bejeweled*]

Very interesting. I didn't know that you don't actually own the ebooks. So that means you can't share them. Hmmm.

[zebra15]

Originally Posted by *bejeweled* 

Very interesting. I didn't know that you don't actually own the ebooks. So that means you can't share them. Hmmm.

I can 'share' on my nook.  While its not like a paper book to share the concept is there. Nook also has 'free fridays' where they offer a free book every weekend. I LOVE it and while not every book is in my genre many of the books are. I've found some new authors this way.  Nook also is compatible with library loans.

Nook- the barnes and noble answer to the e-reader/tablet solves some of the cons listed above.

Oh and the color screen is To die for!

[Arduinna]

Well I do share them, with my dh and dd because I added their devices to my accounts. 

[*bejeweled*]

Interesting. That Nook sounds nice........

[*bejeweled*]

Thank you for all of the wonderful replies. Gives me a lot to ponder.

[Aillidh]

I like the feeling of the actual pages in my hand and the smell of a book as well.  I also like the freedom of going to the library and not really caring about the value of the book or if you're really going to like it before you check it out.  I tend to get a lot of books, and I'm not always 100% sure I'm going to like the author before I purchase it.

But the Kindle is good for travelling, which I've been doing a lot of lately.  I don't have to pack down my suitcases with books.  I think you can share on a Kindle though I don't know how to use it yet, my Uncle recently shared his books with me so that I could read them without having to purchase them.  

[Owen'nZoe]

Zebra - Isn't there a limit on how many times you can lend a Nook book, and for how long, though? I thought I read you could lend it out once for a couple weeks? Like Aillidh, I've heard that Kindle now has a similar program, but I haven't tried it yet.

My number 1, like others have mentioned, is not actually owning the books. I love sharing and giving away books I've read. I don't like that I can't do that with my ebooks.

My number 2 is that it is nearly impossible to orient yourself if you need to "flip through" an ebook. With a paper book you can say you remember something happening about halfway through the book, flip to that spot, and find your way to the passage you wanted. Try doing that in an ebook - I know I can't! It makes some books pretty useless in eformat. For example, I had a travel guide on my e-reader for a trip recently. Completely useless. I could never find the information I needed when I needed it, and the maps were impossible to read. I've also had really bad luck with reference books for the same reason - I don't want to read them cover to cover, I just want to find the info I need, and that is hard to do in an ebook. For fiction books that I want to read from beginning to end, this isn't a big deal generally, but twice now, I've turned the page in an ebook, the device hiccuped, and I ended up pages ahead of where I ought to have been. Finding the right spot wasn't easy either time.

[zebra15]

I dont know how to 'share' on Nook. I know the capability is there.  And I know the staff at Barnes and Noble is very helpful..  I like that about nook, having an actual store with staff to help you.  I know kindle is sold at staples and target etc but they really don't offer support for the device, Barnes and Noble does. 

I guess I equate buying ebooks to buying itunes music.  I don't really own the album for itunes either.  

[Arduinna]

With iTunes you do own the music though, there is no DRM and you can burn it to cd, or transfer the music to any device. Even back when iTunes had DRM you could still burn the music to cd which stripped the DRM.

[goinggreengirl]

I do kind of miss a lot of what other people have said- the smell, the feel, the page turning, the look, etc. One of the other cons I've found is that I miss a lot of sleep- it's SO easy to stay up and read late into the night on my Nook!

[Kerynna]

I don't think I've seen this particular 'con' in the thread so far, so I will chime in to say that I love my Kindle, but one of the issues I am having with it is that it is distracting to have so many books at my fingertips. I'll start reading one, and then I get impatient, and I skip over to a new book, and then I end up having several books in varying states of semi-read. Before Kindle, I took pride in being very monogamous with my books - only one at a time, please! Or sometimes 2, a fiction and a non-fiction. But with my Kindle, I don't feel as loyal to each book, or as bonded to it, in a way. It's just one of dozens vying for my attention right there at my fingertips.

That said, I agree with others about missing the smell, and feel, of a paper book. Still .... I love my Kindle. I still buy some books in hard copy, though. Especially if I know I will want to browse the pages or flip through it randomly. I can't do that so well on my Kindle.

[swede]

running out of battery would be a huge con for me.

[TiredX2]

I have a Nook and love it.  It was especially great when we were camping for a week--- no more hauling two bags of books to keep me reading!

The biggest con I have hit has been with fantasy/sci-fi: if a hard book has a map in the front, it's not in the ebook.  And you can't orient yourself throughout the book (I like to look at the map to see where, physically, the action is occurring).  The same thing with definitions of unknown words (that are from the fantasy/sci fi world).  Can't just flip to the glossary at the back (though, you could probably do a bookmark).  It's also much harder to glance back (who said that before?) or forward (how many more pages in this chapter?)./

[Owen'nZoe]

Originally Posted by swede 

running out of battery would be a huge con for me.

In a year and a half of using an eReader, I've run out of battery twice, and both times it was because I forgot to turn off wireless, so the battery drained fast. It really doesn't happen as often as you'd think.

[Subhuti]

I've tried to read on my iPad, but I found that it was hard on the eyes.  or at least my eyes.

Also, I found the selection of what is offered is poor. I tend to read very few popular/mainstream best sellers (maybe that's 10 percent of what I read) and I instead like:  books on buddhism, history, parenting, etc.