QOTW: Do you read digital books?

[Safetytrousers]

Someone bought me a Kindle once... It got refunded.
I absolutely hated the idea of a large piece of glass like that getting broken in a bag or something... Still do.

Get a case for it! Mine cost about £10. There's no way my Kindle could get broken when in my bag. The case auto turns the Kindle off when you close it and turns it on when you open it.

[Korrorra]

I use FBReader for PC. I do want an portable nook or something like it. Haven't found one that seems good enough. I still get paperback because most times it's the cheaper option. Amazing how expensive ebooks are.

[Stu C]

Mostly read on my phone, have done for a few years now, primarily borrowing ebooks from the local library.

[Unique]

i only read digital. i can have a big pile of ebooks and magazines on my kindle and read what i want when i want. being digital i can have copies/backups and the book isn't marked or damaged in any way when i read it. a real book in my bag would get marked and have at least minor damage in normal day to day use, and having a mix of books would take up far too much space and weight in my bag. as i read only non fiction, the search and cut and past and copy facilities of digital mean it's easy to find what i want and google things

in some cases i will also buy the paper copy of the book but i won't read it and will file that as an untouched unread mint copy. similarly with music and sometimes other media, i will buy the hard copy and keep it sealed and play a downloaded digital rip, usually FLAC or HD audio. so the original is kept mint and i can play the media at my convenience. i prefer digital as having a large library it's much easier to find and play things and keep a backup copy and the original isn't damaged

[FRISH]

I don't read books at all, not sure why, I guess since it's kind of forced on you it ended up feeling like a chore. Though if I did I'd probably prefer flicking through a book.

[chj]

Really depends on what I'm doing with it. I tend to prefer text books / technical stuff in real life format as I have a very visual memory and so if I can't quite remember something I'll often remember the layout of the page it's on and so flicking through can help me find something very fast. You just can't flick as fast through digital. There are also some text books which I have digital in order that I have access to them all the time on my phone. For example the British National Formulary (drugs bible - you can never find one when you need it) and a GP manual which is great when someone is coming along with some disease that you're supposed to know about...

If it's a book where I'm likely to want to look things up then I much prefer digital. This is usually things like foreign translations where cultural references, etc need looking up (Metro series, for example) or philosophy or physics books. You can look stuff up very quickly using the e-reader software and it makes it a lot easier. The other kind of e-books I have are ones that were free or dirt cheap.

I also listen to audio books, so just now I was busy doing housework (yey) whilst listening to The Gulag Archipelago. They're useful for making mindless tasks less mindless but a pain in that in order to pay attention whatever I'm doing has to be utterly brainless.

I did once read an entire book (So Long and Thanks For All The Fish) on a mobile phone (an Orange SPV C550 with a 2.2" 320x240 screen) back in the day but that's when my eyesight was good... in fact, thinking about it, I may have a clue as to what ruined my vision...

I agree with you there, if it's a reference book i'm often flicking through the pages and looking at diagrams which isn't the same digitally. You lose your flow spending time trying to remember and find the right page, it's awkward to zoom in etc.

On the other hand reading fiction digitally isn't half bad; it remembers where you left off, you can look up words easily like you say, can carry a large library etc. However i do think the interface you use is important, the kindle screen is pretty great and non-fatiguing whilst some LCD phone screens are crap. My OLED phone screen is actually pretty comfortable with the bluelight filter on too but not ideal.

Never tried audiobooks, do you get the same immersion? I suppose the speaker is also an important factor too.

[hellig]

mainly e books, after getting the kindle, i started to hunt for the £1 or less books, would need another cloak room for books if it had all been paperback/hard copies.

[Moogly]

I read both.
I pick up new books digitally but I get old books physically.
Cheaper on digital but I love the smell of old books and reading fantasy on yellowing pages immerses me more.

[spacein_vader]

While I read almost exclusively on Kindle I'd never buy a digital cookery book. Not just because of the steam and splashes that can happen in a kitchen but because it's so much easier to add you own tweaks to a recipe using a pencil rather than adding notations to a file.

The same would got for Haynes manuals and the like.

[chj]

I also like the cover art of physical books, especially some like the discworld novels. A bit like cds and the lps beforehand, some artists put a lot of effort into the whole package which is nice.

[Dareos]

Read both, mainly kindle these days, although my reading has fallen off lately, cant find much in the way of good fantasy authors these days

[g8ina]

My Kindle was the best Xmas gift I ever received in terms of getting use of it Every single day.... Now I also have a tablet with a 128GB card so can carry my entire book library and music library with me wherever I go. Invaluable.

[DWhitley]

Bought a Kindle as soon as back-lighting was introduced, and an indestructible case from Timbuk2 (no longer available, I think).
I find the search facility particularly useful - forgotten who a character is, highlight the name and do a word search.
Wouldn't be without it, particularly when travelling. I can put some essential docs on there as well.

[deadcatwalking]

Do the books in Skyrim count as Digital? Haha

[TooNice]

I don't read a lot of books nowadays, but if I did, I think I would go digital as much as I can. I remember how heavy textbooks made my bags throughout my entire education and I've been impressed by how easy on the eye (not aesthetic, but the screen) the Kindle is. That said, for textbooks, I might miss the colour on diagrams etc. but for just text, e-book all the way. I am not one to miss the feeling of flipping the pages with my hand etc. Also, I move far too often to have a book collection, and it is the very reason I keep all my purchased music and other media into something I can actually take with me as opposed to having to ship several boxes by sea each time.

[adidan]

No.

I prefer to give my eyes a break from any sort of screen and read old styley.