Ebooks

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I just finished reading Dreamthief's Daughter on ebook (including a rather nifty interview at the beginning) and I was just wondering what everyones opinion is of ebooks? Am I the only one that actually reads them or is there actually a market for the things?

And most importantly, anyone know if there are any more Michael Moorcock books going to be released like that, I know I'd buy them!

Simon

[Michael Moorcock]

Sadly Warners found that ebooks didn't sell and closed down that whole department. A shame, but I couldn't altogether blame them.
No plans at the moment for further ebooks of my stuff, I'm sorry to say.

[Bill]

Mike, that is indicative of the format in general, no? I was under the impression that ebooks as a group are not doing well. I can understand that; there is an asthetic to holding (smelling, touching) a printed book that I know I can't give up.

[PsychicWarVeteran]

...there is an asthetic to holding (smelling, touching) a printed book that I know I can't give up.

Me too, Bill. I gotta have the book in my hands! And there are too many reasons to list for this leaning.

But then, as Mike and others have mentioned, moving them is a true hassle! :)

[Bill]

They get heavy, don't they??????

[Anonymous]

oh well, it's a real shame, I've been doing most of my reading off my PDA just recently, I just don't have the space in my house for the amount of books I want to read! And I've never been all that bothered about having an actual physical book, to me its the words inside that're important, the media its stored on isn't all that important.

Simon

[PsychicWarVeteran]

I guess it's us old-fashined types who are blowing it for you... sorry, sjpainter! :(

[Bill]

Actually, call me a big baby, but I can sit down with a book and read 100 pages or more in a night no problem. But I remember trying to read Stephen King's "Riding The Bullet" on line (on my computer, not a PDA) and could only stomach about 10 pages at a time, sometimes less. I got a headache and felt nauseous.

No can do.

[DeeCrowSeer]

Well, I just spent all of yesterday afternoon trying to shift and dust the books I keep under my bed, but I wouldn't give them up for the world. I suppose I am old-fashioned too, but I like to have the physical object in my hands or in a big stack that makes me look clever. Although surfing the web can be fun, it's nowhere near as enjoyable as discovering a bargain in a second hand books shop or charity shop. I had to buy a copy of Catcher in the Rye for my degree course, and found it in a church yard sale for 15 pence! Love that.

I also disapprove of MP3s. I was never a big fan of vinyl, and was overjoyed when CDs took over... but I still enjoy looking over the artwork and staring at a huge stack of plastic. I'm not ready to give that up yet, I'm afraid. On the other hand, for out of print or hard to find books/albums I think that the internet is probably the best place for them.

D...

[PsychicWarVeteran]

...or in a big stack that makes me look clever.

Ha! So true, DeeCrowSeer! My wife once told me that her first impression of me was based on the amount of books I had everywhere (she had come over to my apartment as a guest of a mutual friend). She says the books definitely helped pique her interest in me. Somehow, I don't think all those books being on my hard drive would have impressed her as much. :lol:

[Michael Moorcock]

I am one of those who, though allergic to old book paper (a pretty irony) really needs to be in a bookstore to look at and handle a book when buying. I'll only buy online when all other avenues have failed. That said, it's a great avenue. Linda bought me a wonderfully illustrated early edition of The King of Schnorrers (highly recommended) by Israel Zangwill for Christmas. I'd been completely unable to find it elsewhere.
I collect (or I think used to collect would be a better description) first
editions. I have first editions of many of my favourites, including Conrad, Stevenson, Meredith, Dickens, Elliot and so on, together with
much more obscure writers. I keep deciding I'm going to sell my library, since I can't imagine moving with it. Yet every time I think about it I change my mind because I just can't get all those books, even at a good
academic library, in paperback. So I'm thinking of selling just those I
could easily replace (the Conrads and, I guess, the Wells -- though some of those are hard to come by, these days) and probably the Dickens.
It will have to be done, since I don't want to drag another container-full
to another address, but it still hurts. It's the instant availability of books that makes us want to keep them. Maybe, however, if some of those rarer titles were online, it would help me decide. I think we will continue to have a mixed series of delivery systems for a long, long time yet.
I wonder if any university has developed a system for putting all the
minor Victorians, for instance, online. Would that mean I could get rid of all my Harrison Ainsworth's ? I have trouble reading off a screen for
any length of time. Unless I can download it, I almost never read a long short story on screen.

[EverKing]

I love books. I couldn't imagine not having them around me. I'm with the rest of you, it's the feel, the smell, the sound of turning the pages....hmmm. There's nothing quite like an old book. I try to avoid bookstores for this reason. I love them too much I think, I'm a compulsive book buyer. The worst and best job I've had was working in a bookstore. I loved working with the books, but I blew every pay check before leaving the store. Every year I have to buy more bookshelves, and that's just to keep my piles of books that don't fit on the shelves at a managable level. Now, I can't buy any more bookshelves because I have no more room to put them. So sad. I actually afraid to think about how much money I've spent on books. The worst of ones like yours, Mike...I'm trying to get complete collections so everytime I see one of your books in a used bookstore or even in a regular bookstore, I have to buy it...I think I have about seven copies of Sailor on the Seas of Fate alone! And all of them are mass market paperbacks! :lol:

[Jules]

I've read elsewhere that people are working on PDA displays that will have the same visual quality of paper - i.e the resolution and reflection - which they think is the main thing holding back the ebook - making something you can read as comfortably.

If you could make something the same size/weight as a paperback . . . I still couldn't see it replacing books altogether, but would be good as Mike was suggesting for an archive library, or if you were a researcher, or students - or the blind (brail displays already exist).

What I can't imagine doing is taking it down to the beach on holiday. The good thing about paperbacks it's not that bad if you lose one. Personally I have to keep my collection pruned, due to fixed size of living space and shelving. And cupboard space. And suitcases that are in storage. And under the sofa.

[Bill]

"I've read elsewhere that people are working on PDA displays that will have the same visual quality of paper..."

Bob: "Hey Jim, good to see you. What are you up to?"
Jim: "Well, I'm working as an insurance salesman. How about you?"
Bob: "Oh, I am trying to come up with a PDA screen that looks like paper".
Jim: "Oh".

I'm all for science and progress and all that (in fact quite adamantly), but sometimes I have to shake my head.

[Anonymous]

Harrison Ainsworth

Is Harrison Ainsworth the same as William Harrison Ainsworth? If he is, then you can find a couple of his books for free here:

http://www.gutenberg.net/index.shtml


As for PDA screens I've never had a problem reading off it, I can't read for all that long off a computer screen, but my PDA isn't a problem, possibly because I can turn the brightness down on the screen, the fact that it isn't pure white seems to help.

I could never imagine buying more than one copy of a book, though, I'd never know what to do with the other copies, and there's not much point in reading each and ever copy when I could just read the same one over again.

Simon