How ebooks lost their shine(theguardian.com)
theguardian.com
How ebooks lost their shine
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/27/how-ebooks-lost-their-shine-kindles-look-clunky-unhip-
58 comments
I nearly cried laughing at myself the first time I put my finger against a page to get a word definition.
Also, people who dog-ear books are war criminals.
Also, people who dog-ear books are war criminals.
How do you feel about people who get the bottom 5% wet in the bathtub?
I have no idea what you're asking me. Is this wit? Are you implying everyone dog-ears books? Were you ruffled by my hyperbole?
I think you're getting ribbed a bit.
Oh I'm sure I am :)
It just seems like a total non sequitur from what I had said. Trying to figure out what they meant. Sadly, we'll probably never know.
It just seems like a total non sequitur from what I had said. Trying to figure out what they meant. Sadly, we'll probably never know.
Sorry, I always take books into the bath and the bottom bit gets soggy. Which seems far worse than just dog earring the pages.
Between that and the dogs my house is where books go to die.
Between that and the dogs my house is where books go to die.
As a Kindle owner of many years (I've owned 4 or 5), I have too much reverence for books to create dog-ears or cracking their spines. Sacrilege. I can't even throw away shitty books I don't like, because it feels so wrong.
> > "You can’t tell whether the end is really the end, or whether the end equals 93% followed by 7% of index and/or questions for book clubs."
> I guess, not that it's a real issue for me.
Agreed, but also, is that really not a problem with physical books? Lots of them have backmatter with preview chapters, indices, and "questions for bookclubs".
Agreed, but also, is that really not a problem with physical books? Lots of them have backmatter with preview chapters, indices, and "questions for bookclubs".
It's much easier with a real book to flip back from the end until you find the real ending, then estimate your progress based on thickness from there. This can be done with e-books, but it's not a use-case that the developers have really worked with, so its cumbersome.
I could care less about the percentage, however my Kindle Paperwhite tells me how much longer it will take for me to read the rest of the chapter. So I find that very helpful, easier that just flippin ahead on a physical book.
I'm a book aficionado. I just love books. Our house is filled with thousands and thousands of books. And I have a Kindle. 2 Main reasons:
(1) Travel. Going on a trip used to involve careful selection and (for longer trips) substantial packing weight and volume (I travel light), now I just take the Kindle, and don't even have to buy the books i want to read in advance
(2) Pint quality. I read lots of paperbacks, and frankly, the print quality on some of them has become so atrocious that it is almost impossible to enjoy the read. Blurred tiny prints on flimsy but coarse grained paper are no exception.
Still love the physicality of books, but i succumbed to the practicality of the e-reader
Still love the physicality of books, but i succumbed to the practicality of the e-reader
Amen to that. My eyesight isn't the best, and Ebooks are a god send for being able to read in large, clear print.
I'm reading a paper book now (Fortress Draconis, ebook is not available) and I find myself squinting for hours at a time.
I'm reading a paper book now (Fortress Draconis, ebook is not available) and I find myself squinting for hours at a time.
I recently set my dad up with an e-reader because the thing he was most excited about was being able to adjust the text size for his poor eye sight.
I find ebooks useful if the book is meant to be read from start to finish. I have yet to find ebooks useful for technical books, where I need to flip through chunks of pages and go back and forth between sections of chapters
as well as where I need to search by figure or equations rather than by text.
I'm the opposite. I only like ebooks for technical books because i can search for keywords.
I find pdf's of technical books workable on an old ipad2 i keep around for this sort of thing. Not as easy as flipping to the right page of a book but i can take more books with me so that kind of outweighs the negative for me.
I'm considering getting an iPad Pro just for this purpose. With a 13" screen, you can fit an entire 8.5" x 11" page on the screen at 1:1 scaling.
Alternatively, there are some really interesting 13" epaper tablets coming out soon that might fit the role more aptly.
Alternatively, there are some really interesting 13" epaper tablets coming out soon that might fit the role more aptly.
I wish they gave more clarity to this stat
* Overall digital sales up 6% to £1.7bn despite a continuation of the drop in eBook sales down 3%
I personally doubt that ebooks have 'lost their shine', I think this is more a matter of a journalist not being able to read into the numbers.
I haven't bought the report, but what little I know about the book market, I know that in 2016, adult colouring books became a BIG thing, really big! Are you going to buy those for kindle? No, so more money is spent on physical books and less on e-books.
If you're an ebook reader, you may also have noticed that Amazon has significantly raised prices on e-books in 2016. 25-50% on average it seems to me, and I often now see ebooks that cost the same as physical books. Now, I'm not going to buy a physical book because my ebook price has increased, but I do buy slightly fewer ebooks now.
Physical books have their place, but I don't see ebooks in serious decline in the near future.
I personally doubt that ebooks have 'lost their shine', I think this is more a matter of a journalist not being able to read into the numbers.
I haven't bought the report, but what little I know about the book market, I know that in 2016, adult colouring books became a BIG thing, really big! Are you going to buy those for kindle? No, so more money is spent on physical books and less on e-books.
If you're an ebook reader, you may also have noticed that Amazon has significantly raised prices on e-books in 2016. 25-50% on average it seems to me, and I often now see ebooks that cost the same as physical books. Now, I'm not going to buy a physical book because my ebook price has increased, but I do buy slightly fewer ebooks now.
Physical books have their place, but I don't see ebooks in serious decline in the near future.
I really don't get why ebooks are so pricy. If they were half the price of a book, I would actually consider buying them instead of borrowing them or only using Amazon Prime's free offerings.
Even when they are cheaper to purchase, ebooks often make more money for the publisher[1], as the author's share tends to be smaller. It's interesting to see that the costs to produce a hardcover book are only a very small part of its total price.
1: http://amazingstoriesmag.com/2013/06/a-publishers-perspectiv...
1: http://amazingstoriesmag.com/2013/06/a-publishers-perspectiv...
Partially because Amazon lost to the Publishers in 2014-15 - https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/14/technology/amazon-hachett... ? All ebook prices jumped after that.
I am not sure why no one is correlating the price increase to the the drop in Ebook sales, especially since Amazon at that point pointed out exactly this as a consequence - since ebooks have to compete with other digital media.
I am not sure why no one is correlating the price increase to the the drop in Ebook sales, especially since Amazon at that point pointed out exactly this as a consequence - since ebooks have to compete with other digital media.
I'm surprised no one is focusing on this as well. I believe that ebooks being overpriced is the main reason they aren't selling well. If ebooks were at least the same price as paperbacks instead of more expensive I would buy more of them. But right now it's cheaper to buy physical copies of books than ebooks.
> If you're an ebook reader, you may also have noticed that Amazon has significantly raised prices on e-books in 2016. 25-50% on average it seems to me, and I often now see ebooks that cost the same as physical books. Now, I'm not going to buy a physical book because my ebook price has increased, but I do buy slightly fewer ebooks now.
When I first bought my kindle, I could get tons of ebooks for a dollar or two less than paperback. Now the ebooks are often a dollar or two more than the paperback. Occasionally, I have run across books where the hardcover was cheaper than the ebook.
Fortunately, I can just use Overdrive[0] via my library to get books delivered to my kindle now.
[0]: https://www.overdrive.com/
When I first bought my kindle, I could get tons of ebooks for a dollar or two less than paperback. Now the ebooks are often a dollar or two more than the paperback. Occasionally, I have run across books where the hardcover was cheaper than the ebook.
Fortunately, I can just use Overdrive[0] via my library to get books delivered to my kindle now.
[0]: https://www.overdrive.com/
One of the reasons might be due to price, physical books are exempt from VAT in the UK, whereas ebooks are not, so ebooks tend to be either the same price as their paper counterparts, or more expensive.
I read mostly on my kindle out of convenience, it doesn't take that much room in my bag and is comfortable to read on my commute.
I read mostly on my kindle out of convenience, it doesn't take that much room in my bag and is comfortable to read on my commute.
VAT as a reason of e-books being expensive is complete bullshit. VAT is not
a tax of some absolute value, it's a percent of the price. Smaller the price,
smaller VAT.
I buy hardcopies. If they are heavy on graphics (as an example Krampus by Brom) or have a lot of code listings.
For fiction? No way. I sometimes read 5 books in a month. I really don't want to open up a private library or bother reselling them. When I travel I don't want to add several kilograms of books. When I reach the end of a book in a series, I don't want to have already bought the next part and have it lying next to me, instead I prefer to just click two buttons to instantly but it.
And for now, Kindle unlimited gives me some great value.
For fiction? No way. I sometimes read 5 books in a month. I really don't want to open up a private library or bother reselling them. When I travel I don't want to add several kilograms of books. When I reach the end of a book in a series, I don't want to have already bought the next part and have it lying next to me, instead I prefer to just click two buttons to instantly but it.
And for now, Kindle unlimited gives me some great value.
There is one general problem I have with ebooks that limits them for me when it comes to technical books, but is generally not a problem for things like novels.
There is also a problem specific to Amazon ebook readers that holds me back from many technical books I would otherwise buy in ebook format.
First, the general problem. Suppose I am reading a 200 page mathematics book. I'm on page 150, and to understand something I want to review some point that was covered much earlier. I can close my eyes and visualize when I read that earlier point, and I get an image of the page it was on, where it was on that page, and how far it was into the book. I can pretty quickly jump back and find it.
This is not some "photographic memory" type thing. I don't "see" the page word for word, and cannot read the page number to know where to go. But I will get that the page I'm looking for had a diagram on the bottom and was a left side page, and that what I wanted was near the middle...that kind of thing.
It is enough that when combined with the way the pages are laid out in a physical sequence to give a sense of "place" to each page and the information on it. It seems kind of like a weak form of a memory palace.
With an ebook I do not get that sense of place as I read, and so if I need to find something much earlier in the book I have to rely on the search function or the table of contents, and often have to do a lot of paging around (which is slow on eInk readers). It usually takes a lot longer than it would have taken in the paper book.
The second problem, specific to Amazon's ereaders, is very inconsistent handling of images. For example I have some chess books that make extensive use of images for chess diagrams.
On my eInk Kindles, the chess diagrams are about the size of a postage stamp.
On the Kindle application for OS X, they are about the size that they would be in the paper book (in other words, they are the right size).
On the Kindle application for Windows, they are postage stamp sized.
On the Kindle Cloud Reader, the are the right size.
On the Kindle app for iOS they are the right size.
Same problem for math books. They often use images for equations. If those get the postage stamp treatment it makes that book very hard to deal with.
For things where images aren't needed, and where I'm not going to have to do a lot of looking back, I've greatly enjoyed reading on Kindle. Harry Potter was fine, for instance, as was the complete Sherlock Holmes stories.
There is also a problem specific to Amazon ebook readers that holds me back from many technical books I would otherwise buy in ebook format.
First, the general problem. Suppose I am reading a 200 page mathematics book. I'm on page 150, and to understand something I want to review some point that was covered much earlier. I can close my eyes and visualize when I read that earlier point, and I get an image of the page it was on, where it was on that page, and how far it was into the book. I can pretty quickly jump back and find it.
This is not some "photographic memory" type thing. I don't "see" the page word for word, and cannot read the page number to know where to go. But I will get that the page I'm looking for had a diagram on the bottom and was a left side page, and that what I wanted was near the middle...that kind of thing.
It is enough that when combined with the way the pages are laid out in a physical sequence to give a sense of "place" to each page and the information on it. It seems kind of like a weak form of a memory palace.
With an ebook I do not get that sense of place as I read, and so if I need to find something much earlier in the book I have to rely on the search function or the table of contents, and often have to do a lot of paging around (which is slow on eInk readers). It usually takes a lot longer than it would have taken in the paper book.
The second problem, specific to Amazon's ereaders, is very inconsistent handling of images. For example I have some chess books that make extensive use of images for chess diagrams.
On my eInk Kindles, the chess diagrams are about the size of a postage stamp.
On the Kindle application for OS X, they are about the size that they would be in the paper book (in other words, they are the right size).
On the Kindle application for Windows, they are postage stamp sized.
On the Kindle Cloud Reader, the are the right size.
On the Kindle app for iOS they are the right size.
Same problem for math books. They often use images for equations. If those get the postage stamp treatment it makes that book very hard to deal with.
For things where images aren't needed, and where I'm not going to have to do a lot of looking back, I've greatly enjoyed reading on Kindle. Harry Potter was fine, for instance, as was the complete Sherlock Holmes stories.
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I think these are issues with formatting. Kindle has the ability to render any mathematical book or chess book with diagrams. One only needs to find a good epub/mobi.
On the other hand reading magazines on kindle is painful, because they're meant to be viewed on a larger surface.
I read technical books (programming) on my computer/ipad.
If you intend to use the book as a reference, kindle is hard. The ability to go back and forth highlight take notes, remember what you thought by looking at the page these are very important.
For example I cannot study efficiently without printed codexes. I tried converting the laws into org mode and they became somewhat manageable. But I still prefer printed copies.
On the other hand reading magazines on kindle is painful, because they're meant to be viewed on a larger surface.
I read technical books (programming) on my computer/ipad.
If you intend to use the book as a reference, kindle is hard. The ability to go back and forth highlight take notes, remember what you thought by looking at the page these are very important.
For example I cannot study efficiently without printed codexes. I tried converting the laws into org mode and they became somewhat manageable. But I still prefer printed copies.
"While ebooks, which are not things of beauty, have become more expensive; a new digital fiction release is often only a pound or two cheaper than a hardback."
I'm betting has more to do with it than romantic notions of people preferring physical books. Given the choice of a fiction book for $10 in hardcopy or $9 as an ebook, I'll take the hardcopy.
If ebooks (and movie downloads come to that) were priced the same as the physical copy minus the true costs of printing, distribution, warehousing, shipping, etc. they'd (I'm guessing) be closer to $2-5 and would sell far more.
I'm betting has more to do with it than romantic notions of people preferring physical books. Given the choice of a fiction book for $10 in hardcopy or $9 as an ebook, I'll take the hardcopy.
If ebooks (and movie downloads come to that) were priced the same as the physical copy minus the true costs of printing, distribution, warehousing, shipping, etc. they'd (I'm guessing) be closer to $2-5 and would sell far more.
I prefer PDF files rather than ebook formats. I don't like the idea of being locked into a particular technology, be it Apple's or Amazon's.
I consider PDF viewers to be superior to the experience offered by ebook viewers. For example, Having to tap the left and right side of the screen to move between pages is a pain compared to swiping up or down in a fluid motion.
Another issue is the waste of space by trying to simulate paper. On my iPad both Apple's and Amazon's ebook readers display almost an inch of white space margin all around the page. On the same device PDF viewer will zoom text to use the entire screen with a double tap of a paragraph.
And then there's zooming.
PDF's are easier to view on multilple devices. I keep all my books on Dropbox. They are instantly available no matter where I might be.
I consider PDF viewers to be superior to the experience offered by ebook viewers. For example, Having to tap the left and right side of the screen to move between pages is a pain compared to swiping up or down in a fluid motion.
Another issue is the waste of space by trying to simulate paper. On my iPad both Apple's and Amazon's ebook readers display almost an inch of white space margin all around the page. On the same device PDF viewer will zoom text to use the entire screen with a double tap of a paragraph.
And then there's zooming.
PDF's are easier to view on multilple devices. I keep all my books on Dropbox. They are instantly available no matter where I might be.
I hate PDFs basically for the same reasons you seem to like them.
It's far easier to configure FBReader to have small margins, nice colors and use gestures to flip a page, than to deal with the fixed page format issues of PDFs.
It's far easier to configure FBReader to have small margins, nice colors and use gestures to flip a page, than to deal with the fixed page format issues of PDFs.
> I consider PDF viewers to be superior to the experience offered by ebook viewers. For example, Having to tap the left and right side of the screen to move between pages is a pain compared to swiping up or down in a fluid motion.
> […] On the same device PDF viewer will zoom text to use the entire screen with a double tap of a paragraph.
I believe there are shortcomings of the ebook viewing software, not the ebook format.
> […] On the same device PDF viewer will zoom text to use the entire screen with a double tap of a paragraph.
I believe there are shortcomings of the ebook viewing software, not the ebook format.
> no matter where I might be
Well, with a few exceptions, such as an airplane and some other places (on a trail, deep in the woods) where you may not have an internet connection.
Well, with a few exceptions, such as an airplane and some other places (on a trail, deep in the woods) where you may not have an internet connection.
If that will be the case I take a USB stick or preload my device with what I'll need
Because they are e- so you never own them. You lend them- and the day the library is on fire- your books turn to ashes in your bag.
I also regret showing up at a friends place and at partys near his book shelve, and get the guy/girl to recommend me the books they lend from me and no returned.
I also regret showing up at a friends place and at partys near his book shelve, and get the guy/girl to recommend me the books they lend from me and no returned.
I only buy technical/developer e-books, and read them on my computer, or open them for a quick sanity check on a concept at work. I can take them everywhere rather than carrying 40 lbs of reference material.
However when it comes to pleasure reading, I usually like to buy a physical copy.
However when it comes to pleasure reading, I usually like to buy a physical copy.
> "You can’t tell whether the end is really the end, or whether the end equals 93% followed by 7% of index and/or questions for book clubs."
...um, you can't with a real book either? At least without looking, which is something you can also do on a Kindle?
That said, the Kindle Keyboard 3G was the peak. Knowing you need never run out of book; and also the ability, in a pinch, to get on the internet and check your email / look up a map, free, wherever you are in the world.
...um, you can't with a real book either? At least without looking, which is something you can also do on a Kindle?
That said, the Kindle Keyboard 3G was the peak. Knowing you need never run out of book; and also the ability, in a pinch, to get on the internet and check your email / look up a map, free, wherever you are in the world.
The first paragraph is alread bullshit:
Ebooks have full-text search, of course you have bookmarks and a progress bar (not as "nice" but does the trick) and usually pages render always the same on one device. For literature I also doubt I remember less, why would I.
Where paper actually excells:
- good for advanced layouts
- you can find something you know was "somewhere arround XY" but don't have a clear keyword for (More important for literature, but even there full text search often wroks better. I once read a book in print and than wrot about it, I mainly used the epub for quotations and not just because of copy and paste).
- some books are only available in print
- a used print is cheaper than an epub...
- you don't look like a mid 50s housewife in the train
If given the choice I still always take the epub.
Ebooks have full-text search, of course you have bookmarks and a progress bar (not as "nice" but does the trick) and usually pages render always the same on one device. For literature I also doubt I remember less, why would I.
Where paper actually excells:
- good for advanced layouts
- you can find something you know was "somewhere arround XY" but don't have a clear keyword for (More important for literature, but even there full text search often wroks better. I once read a book in print and than wrot about it, I mainly used the epub for quotations and not just because of copy and paste).
- some books are only available in print
- a used print is cheaper than an epub...
- you don't look like a mid 50s housewife in the train
If given the choice I still always take the epub.
>you don't look like a mid 50s housewife in the train
Stay classy.
I far prefer reading real books (on the train and off) myself - but am already having storage issues due to city living...
Stay classy.
I far prefer reading real books (on the train and off) myself - but am already having storage issues due to city living...
I can totally understand how one could prefer paper books.
The last one was a joke :) (And I have no shame sitting in the train with my reader).
The last one was a joke :) (And I have no shame sitting in the train with my reader).
One thing I miss in a physical book is the ability to look up a term immediately.
For practical reason, I prefer e-book nowadays. They don't take much physical space, easy to search, and so on.
The only reason I buy hardcopies these day is photography books, which rely heavily on graphics.
The only reason I buy hardcopies these day is photography books, which rely heavily on graphics.
I find graphics looks much better on a computer screen than it does on paper these days.
It is the multitude of form factors on the internet that keeps absorbing and reducing the total value of books. For what subject is a 300-page collection of "pages" still the best form factor? How can it compete, for example, with a StackOverflow page, when answering technical questions? Maybe a book is still useful for fiction, but how long will it take before people design better form factors even for novels?
Indeed. Being stuck with the fixed page format is like being stuck in the "horseless-carriage" mentality. A4 or whatever paper sheet format should be completely abandoned in favor of dynamic text formatting - not unlike what browsers can do when displaying HTML.
That only applies to PDF.
Most e-books are in epub or mobi format, and those are essentially HTML.
Most e-books are in epub or mobi format, and those are essentially HTML.
Actually, dynamically flowing text works great for novels. It's a lot worse for most technical content though, where diagrams, tables, etc. designed with both readability factors and the specific target page size in mind remain important.
Which is why novels are popular in the HTML-based e-reader formats, technical content less so.
Which is why novels are popular in the HTML-based e-reader formats, technical content less so.
As I read the article I remembered that I would rather read a magazine article online --- an ezine? --- than flip through a real magazine. The same goes for newspapers. And I remembered I would much rather look up a function in an online reference than a thick, heavy book. I would rather get my mail electronically. But I would rather read a novel in paperback.
I read around 70 space operas a year on my kindle. Before getting my kindle 3 year ago? Nothing.
Kindle is amazing for reading at night when my partner is sleeping or while travelling.
I use amazon prime and "borrow" the books, only buying a few series I'm hooked on. Overall costs are much lower than other forms of media.
Things you can't do with a book (though I still love them): tap words to get a definition; carry thousands in your back pocket; highlight text non-destructively; write notes non-destructively; change the font size; read in the dark; know how long until you finish the chapter/book ....
Minimalism might be trendy but I have to say, I love the look of a home library.
Of course, that doesn't mean I horde books :-)
Of course, that doesn't mean I horde books :-)
I find it very hard to read traditional books now because I'm so used to being able to drink a cup of tea or eat a snack while I read. Or read outside on a warm but windy day.
I use the PRS-350 which is an old sony model that fits comfortably into one hand and can be used one handed. I recommend it.
I use the PRS-350 which is an old sony model that fits comfortably into one hand and can be used one handed. I recommend it.
[deleted]
I don't care about creating dog-ears or cracking spines. Really, who does?
On my kindle I'm able to highlight passages and/or make notes (which are saved to my amazon account) and I can look them up later. I can create multiple bookmarks. Some books have support for the "X-ray" feature, a reference tool, in which there might be entries on such things as characters, locations and so on.
I'm able to highlight words and look them up on wikipedia or the oxford dictionary. Very useful.
I'm able to "flick" pages back and forth and easily return to wherever I started out.
> "You can’t tell whether the end is really the end, or whether the end equals 93% followed by 7% of index and/or questions for book clubs."
I guess, not that it's a real issue for me.
And maybe best of all... I'm not dealing with mountains of books taking up space in my home anymore.