Comments on: Digital Reading http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2003/10/digital_reading/ A science fiction blog featuring science fiction book reviews and with frequent ramblings on fantasy, computers and the web. Thu, 23 May 2013 18:39:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Suzi http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2003/10/digital_reading/#comment-61896 Suzi Sat, 09 Aug 2008 15:05:29 +0000 http://beta.sfsignal.com/archives/2003/10/digital_reading/#comment-61896 Well I am new to digital reading. But I enjoy the thought of it very much. Yes, I understand the feeling of holding a book, and I understand the trophy feeling of books on a shelf. My problem is that I don’t find time to read the books on the shelves. They are bulky and I don’t like to read unless I can sit and be comfortable. But my life is so busy and so full of kids that I can’t get myself comfortable long enough to read more than a few pages at a time. It’s the pits to have to jump up after I just got myself, my book, my pillows and anything else I need placed all around me. Also,when the day finally settles down at the end of the day, I can’t find a good place to read because I have children sleeping in every room of the house (24/7 daycare). I can’t read with lights on. I’m looking forward to my new device I’ve ordered that will have back lighting and I’ll be able to read it in the dark or at least seriously low light. I’ve never found a book light that would be comfortable and work long and allow me to read in the dark.

So…let’s see.. I’ll have a device that is light enough that I can read it without feeling the need to nestle into an easy chair with my feet up and prop my turning arm with pillows….awe…I know I’m lazy LOL!… I’ll have one instrument to keep track of. When I take the kids to some indoor playground where I can read while they play I have sometimes left my book in the play area and not realized until I drove away. I certainly won’t let a 300 dollar instrument out of my sight!

Then there is the resell factor. When I am done with 20 books or so I can bundle them on a memory card and sell them to someone else for at least part of the money…I think. I haven’t looked into the legality of that. But if we are paying 15 dollars for a book and we don’t keep it on our computer or make bootleg copies, then we should be able to pass it a long. I’d never sell a regular book and I rarely give them away because yeah, I love my books! :) But my shelves are overfull and I’m tired of having boxes and boxes of books around the house needing to go to the thriftstore. Some day I’ll have to start my own used bookstore!

Look at the sony digital readers and the Kindle. At least according to what I see online the screens look nice and about the size of a small paperback.

Suzi

]]> By: JP http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2003/10/digital_reading/#comment-61895 JP Tue, 14 Oct 2003 16:12:31 +0000 http://beta.sfsignal.com/archives/2003/10/digital_reading/#comment-61895 I’ve read severl ebooks recently, well, not books really but short stories. I think the format works best with short fiction and I mean short. Even a novella or the featured story in Asimov’s is too long. The problem I have is that a PocketPC or Palm just doesn’t feel right, the screen is too small and the fonts are good enough for long term reading.

I did purchase two issues of Analog just to see what it would be like reading it on a PocketPC. Blah. I found that I missed the ads (I know…) and I really missed the pictures that are found in a magazine. I also think the layout of a magazine adds a lot to the reading experience. You don’t get that, at least currently, with the e-version.

I do think ebooks will take off once the electronic paper stuff is nailed down and we have an electronic device that looks and acts like paper with all the layout possibilities. Like the USA Today paper seen in Minority Report. That will be cool…

]]>