Digital readers are evil

[Dark Jimbo]

You can't flick its pages and smell times gone past.

Fallacy. You only find these things nostalgic because you have done them for a long time. Once you do something else for a period of time, that thing becomes nostalgic. I've had my iPad for about two months and swiping pages has become second nature and familiar. I actually get annoyed with page turning when I read print now.

How is that a fallacy?! Books smell. Digital thingies don't. That's pretty unequivocal.

First thing I do when buying/opening a new book is take a big sniff o' the pages, and I can't do that with digital books. The smell/size/paper stock/cover/embossed lettering/weight of a book all add to the expierience in a way that words on a screen just don't. To me the move to digital translates as taking everything unique or tactile or romantic about reading and rendering it all down into something as bland and sterile as possible.

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

Over Christmas, Amazon did a Twelve Days of Kindle offer. Loads of books for under a pound for twelve days.

I got 16 good books for under a tenner.

Evil and smug

16 books for under a tenner. Yes, but at what price?

[Colin YNWA]

The day there's an e-reader that can show a full Mike McMahon centre page spread at print size, the Dredd episode still followed by a nostalgic Texan advert (or the like) I'm there.

Actually I do want to go at least part digital but not found a reader I like a enough, mind I still get vinyl so I'm not a man to listen to!

[Dark Jimbo]

It feels like 'they' won't be happy until absolutely everything I do involves staring at some sort of screen. Reading is one of the very few things I do nowadays that doesn't involve some sort of bloody electronic device, and it's lovely to take a break from the PC and sit down with a book in hand for half an hour. Now they want to take that too?

'Hey guys! Good news! We 'fixed' reading!'

Fuck off! It was never broken!  And what am I supposed to fill my shelves with when the e-readers have taken over, eh? Goodbye lovely books, with your lovely cover designs and colourful spines, with your unique smells and cherished memories, goodbye many many shelves, goodbye many bookcases - I'm going to spend the rest of my life in a bare room furnished with a chair and an e-reader and only my own tears for company.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

I more interested in the words being in the right order, I don't really care what they smell like.

E-readers will never replace books. My Kindle hasn't stopped me buying books. I will still go into charity shops and second-hand book shops to see if they have anything interesting. And you can't beat one of those big Coffee Table Books like the huge educational DK ones about Dinosaurs/The Human Body/Big Cats/Planes/&c, but I'm not taking them anywhere near the bath, never mind carelessly chuck it in a bag.

But I don't have room for a lot of those books.

I've bought more books since getting a Kindle. Books that I've really wanted, but couldn't find any affordable/still-readable second-hand versions

[The Adventurer]

How is that a fallacy?! Books smell. Digital thingies don't. That's pretty unequivocal.

First thing I do when buying/opening a new book is take a big sniff o' the pages, and I can't do that with digital books. The smell/size/paper stock/cover/embossed lettering/weight of a book all add to the expierience in a way that words on a screen just don't. To me the move to digital translates as taking everything unique or tactile or romantic about reading and rendering it all down into something as bland and sterile as possible.

I find nothing you describe inherent to the reading experience. I stand by my assertion that it is only a sense of nostalgia brought on by repetition (anything you do regularly gives you a sense of familiarity. Its hardwired into humans as part of our learning behavior). And in short, a fallac argument against digital reading. Which is just as valid as print.

Furthermore I postulate that physical print is in fact a limitation to prose (and by proxy comics), one that confines work to the demands of the financial requirements of publishers and how much it costs to actually print something of X length. (hence why we're paying $3+ for 20 pages of comics work. Its not just how much you pay creators, its literally too expensive to print more pages at that price point)

Whereas digital has no such limiting factors (at least in terms of potential volume). Or if it does, its much further out in terms of maximum length vs print.

[radiator]

Well the comics industry has made much more money out of me since I bought an iPad last month that's for certain.

It's actually lovely to be buying single issues of things again - I swore off monthly comics over a decade ago because of the hassle of getting them, too many ads and the expense, but the Comixology App is an absolute pleasure - I've tried out about 12-14 new comics since I started using it and it's lovely to have something new to read every night at bedtime! And they're usually between 69p and £1.49 each so if you don't like it, no great loss.

There's pros and cons (I'm sticking to print for most trade collections), but to rule out digital entirely is cutting off your nose to spite your face. There's something special about a lovely proper book I can't deny it, but comic art on the retina display has an appeal all of it's own.

In fact I'd probably go digital prog if the digital prog came out on the saturday like the print subscriber edition.

And as far as e-readers go, I don't really have an opinion as I very rarely read any books without pictures in them anyway!

[I, Cosh]

You can't toss it in a bag and be sure it will be readable.

Uh... I'm generally pretty terrified of my print books/comics/magazines getting wrecked in a bag. My iPad is of sturdy construction and is unlikely to be damaged due to typical motions.

You can't take an eReader in the bath.

What kind of madman takes any kind of paper book anywhere near a water source?

I'm not a complete technophobe but these two pretty much sum up my reasons for sticking with paper. If I'm heading out for the night, I will invariably stick a book in my jacket pocket to read on the bus or train. There's no telling where I might end up or what state I'll be in when I get there. I might get soaked walking home in the rain (if I get home), lose my jacket in a club or fall over and bash my side off the pavement. I'd rather lose a second hand paperback that cost me two quid than another expensive electronic device.

To be honest, I still find it quite extraordinary that so many people have absolutely no problem with wandering around with a £600 iPad in their bag, whipping it out on public transport or leaving it lying under a chair in the pub when they go for a piss. But that's just me.

I also have a more general issue with the nebulous idea that I can just download my purchase/data again at any point in the future. What happens when the company I originally bought it from goes bust? Or the company they lease server space from? And so on.

[radiator]

To be honest, I still find it quite extraordinary that so many people have absolutely no problem with wandering around with a £600 iPad in their bag, whipping it out on public transport or leaving it lying under a chair in the pub when they go for a piss. But that's just me.

Agreed. I have never taken my ipad out of the house, and would probably only do so if I were taking it on holiday or something. I feel awkward enough just carrying around my 18-month old iphone - and I have that insured against theft. Luckily for me I only ever read comics at bedtime.

Bog standard E-readers are hardly expensive though - and getting cheaper all the time.

[The Adventurer]

Reading comics on break at work is a wonderful experience. But I also have a locker that I can safely stash it when I'm not using it.

Of course I can also do other things with it, like browse the internet and doodle in Procreate. Which are major reasons for dragging it around everywhere I can.

[MercZ]

I like the feel of physical books, and I still buy them for stand alone books and certain comic collections. Basically stuff I feel good for showing on my bookshelf.

For other things though, I've been trying to transition to my reader for many reasons. There is the case that I want to cut down on physical clutter, as I have only so much bookshelves and space for everything. Being able to travel with books, and thankfully my battery lasts long enough even for an international flight as long as I don't make it obscenely bright. My reader for books uses e-ink, which I like because it's easier on the eyes and is a good fit for extended reading. Plus certain authors whose book series are too long to clutter your bookshelf with.

I use my ipad for comics, and this is pretty much the only way I can reliably read 2000 AD here in the US without waiting for it. I still by physical comics, but only collections (like complete cases files) and the occasional issue.

[maryanddavid]

Digital Readers may be the future,But im fightin' with Dr X Block!

[Mardroid]

I like both.

For individual comics I go digital. I used to read them on my laptop but a couple of months ago I bought a Nexus 7 tablet. Size wise, it's arguably not as great as an Ipad or Nexus 10 for comics, but it's more portable*, and it actually works out very well. I got used to it pretty quickly. I think I actually prefer it to the larger beasts, great though they are.

For collections I tend to go the physical route.

For novels and other prose, I'd go either way, although my lack of shelf space means I may go more for digital. There's nothing quite like a proper physical book. On the other hand, as someone on here said, it's really the content that matters, and if the story is good, after a while you'll be drawn in regardless of what you're reading it on! And you will often save a couple of pounds, although not always. For some reason the difference in price between hard and soft is often not as large with prose work as it is with comics where newer novels are concerned. Oddly I could often pick up a paperback much cheaper than the Kindle counterpart. (Often it's  between hardback and paperback price! I can never quite get my head around paying that much for a non-physical copy, but there you go.)  Even cheaper if I don't mind going second hand, (although that's probably to be expected) and often with books I'm happy to go that route.

For prose stuff I use a Kobo touch or (if it's not available for that, like The City Fathers) the kindle app on my Nexus 7.

*Yes, I take it most places with me. Then again I don't have a smartphone and it's my access to the internet while I'm out (not that it's all that important. Strangely, I never missed it much when I didn't have it but now I do, I find myself going online more regularly). If I'm in a wifi spot, I never went for the more expensive mobile-connected version. Also it's a good deal cheaper than an Ipad, but still way too expensive to lose. I find I'm extra careful for that reason though. So far, anyway.

[radiator]

I think digital is great for stuff that you've always wanted to read, but wouldn't go out of your way to buy.

I'd like to read long runs of stuff like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Frank Miller's Daredevil, The Boys, Garth Ennis' Punisher, and Hellblazer, but I don't want to have to buy volume after volume of (in a lot of cases out of print) books to do so - I can just burn my way through the digital editions instead. Of course, not all of these are available on Comixology (and there's room for improvement in how digital trades are organised and priced), but hopefully this will change in time.

You can buy The Boys, for example, in three 'omnibus' bundles, which are £25-30 each. Not bad, really.

It's nice to get free samples (or even free first issues) of stuff too.

[The Adventurer]

and there's room for improvement in how digital trades are organised and priced

Oh god yes. Some publishers are really good about how they handle digital collections. Other just don't both. DC is really bad when it comes to offering digital collections. Mostly in that they don't. You have to buy everything as single issues.