My husband brought me home an iPAQ 5455 which is very exciting for me as I read many books in e-format, particularly those in the public domain. I get them from sites like Project Gutenberg and The Literary Gothic. I also used to get them from Black Mask, but it's been missing in action, and I'm hoping for its eventual return.Prior to receiving this lovely new toy, I was using a monochrome, handspring visor (cobalt blue), which worked wonderfully for me. It had some limitations due to its age and operating system. For example, I didn't have the ability to read microsoft reader files and the graphic capabilities were unimpressive to say the least, but I was able to read many amazing books on it, and it had the ability to take a large amount of abuse. I periodically fall asleep during late night reading sessions and drop my handheld computer on the floor which never seemed to phase it. This machine seems to be a bit more fragile, and I'll have to take greater care with it, but I'm really excited about the prospect of color, the ability to play music, and internet connectivity!
I know many people who just can't fathom the idea of reading a book on a computer screen. It lacks the tangibility and the romanticism of paper, but there are advantages as well. Reading in the dark without having to worry about waking anyone up is great, and I like to be able to store many different books and take them with me. It works well for rapidly changing moods.
Of course, there are some books that I still feel the need to own in a more tangible form, and I don't think I'll ever get over that, but there's something to be said for paperless communication.
4 comments:
I'll never give up paper. I know the I book thing is really practical, but I don't care. I don't read to be practical and I love my book shelves. If I could get away with it, we'd have them on almost every wall!
Oh, don't get me wrong, I'll never give up paper books either. There are some books that I want to own in hard copy. Anything by Caitlin R. Kiernan, Ray Bradybury, Shirley Jackson... Those all end up being displayed proudly on the bookshelf, but I have an extensive e-library as well. :)
Whats the dividing critiera?
If it's in the public domain, I generally read it in e-format. If it's still under copyright, I buy the book in hard copy.
Now that I'm able to read microsoft reader books, I could start buying e-books. The problem with that is the lack of selection when it comes to speculative fiction. I'll likely continue to read only public domain books in that format.
I don't keep all of my hard copy books once I've read them. I don't have room. I only keep the ones that I really love, hence the list of authors. I've never met a book by any of them that I didn't like.
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