hell even in Dr Who they have a library world with real paper books... granted it tried to kill a lot of people, but the point remains the same. >.>

To be far that was not the library's fault, there was some sort of flesh-eating microbe that liked lingering in dark places.

No, it was flesh eating insects that nest on wood (and what is paper made from?) and they linger in ALL dark places. That explains the instinctual fear of dark woods that all species on all planets share.

Hey? Who turned out the lights? :)

It is Dark.
You will most-likely be eaten by a Grue.
>_

A Grue-some fate indeed. :)

Actaeon has left the library. Actaeon has been saved.

*grin* As long as I don't end up looking like Miss Evangelista. :)

Ah yeah.

To be noted the fact that it was the little bugger's home world and it was mentioned in there that it was clear cut and milled into the books in the library...soo books kill people and eat their flesh. (or at least the flesh eating parasite that still resides in the paper will)

Some of us out there are addicted to the old Penguin paperbacks, either the black-back classics, or the 30s-early 50s orange/violet/green/yellow series of books. Wonderful to read, wonderful to see on the shelf. (Plus a lot aren't available in e-form.)

Yeah, Penguin has some great stuff available.

Funny, sitting in front of me right now is a copy of ERB's 'A Princess of Mars' by Ballantine books, dared 1964.

I guess technology can't do everything.

Silly, modern technology is what gave you the books you know enjoy typed on a computer transmitted via the internet and edited on someone else's computer and art for cover and/or the inside is added in digitally and printed on computer controlled presses .......

AMEN! When friends start showing off their e-readers, I simply smile and say "That's nice," and go back to my REAL book. I love the scent of the paper and printing, the weight of the book in my hand. No way am I ever trading any of my actual books for an e-reader. They're like old friends. But I can use the money I saved on NOT buying the e-reader device to buy another bookshelf. ;)

I would agree with you on almost all counts but for people with very limited space they are very nice for casual reading. I still keep reference books and the like on paper, but for my fantasy and sci-fi collection I love being able to pack my whole library into less space than 1 paperback.

Just butting in to say I'm with ya on this comment. And they've said books and magazines are on the way out in this computer age. Chyuh, right. Not completely. (though I regret to say there's no free online newspaper viewing anymore. :( Newspaper printers see that people read them online and want to regain lost revenue that way. I'm NOT going to shell out $70 a year just to view ONE stupid newspaper but would rather save trees, power, ink and water. When ya win, ya lose. LOL) sorry for long rant ^^;

Well there's still local book stores, I know the two locations of the book store in my city. Too bad I don't have money for any.

I have the Kindle and absolutely love it! having all of my books with me (from the great Paul Kidd to the obscure Friedrich Nietzsche)
That being said, I love books and i cannot get myself away from the feel of book with the autograph of Bernard Doove or a comic with an inscription from Kadath. just knowing that the author that i admire had held it in their hands makes me feel honoured to hold it in mine.
Yes I love my Kindle, but i Take pride in my book collection.

Yeah, I can relate to the sentiments in panel three. Most of my reading is STILL done the old fashioned way, with paper. Been wading through my collection of unread books... one recent read I was definitely glad I got used for about a buck...

If my time using my DS as a cheap e-reader at times has taught me anything (Yes, really), doesn't staring at a screen for too long sting your eyes? Maybe a Kindle handles that better somehow, but it's a screen emitting light RIGHT AT YOUR EYES, so I'd be impressed if no one ever complained about this.

And you have noooo idea how much I miss Borders. I practically grew up going to Borders, using it to not only catch up on my youthful reading material (coughmangasandartbookscough) but to meet people I never would have otherwise, to sample foods and other products I wouldn't have considered otherwise, to just...explore the world with every new book you find. The problem with an e-reader is that it's trickier to "accidentally" find a book on a subject you never thought existed, in fullcolor pages that keep your eyes wandering for a long time. Borders was a hobby, a source of inspiration, a lifestyle, a snack bar, a world of wonder, a social circle.

Borders was a part of life that I dearly miss, especially since Borders was pretty much it as far as big-chain bookstores in Puerto Rico are concerned. There's a rumor of someone here buying the rights to Borders to re-open something similar here on the island again (even if it's sans its name), but as far as I know, nothing yet has been confirmed with that. One can only dream.

Sorry for the rambling, but...yeah, your comic hit me right in the heart, and for that I thank you.

"screen emitting light RIGHT AT YOUR EYES"

Nope. Wrong. Way off. Not true at all. (except the LCD ones)

Ah, thanks for clarifying that, then.

Get your hands on a good one with an e-ink pearl screen and then you can consider talking trash.

Uh...that was uncalled for.

Both the B&N "nook" and the Amazon "kindle" use whats called "e-ink" I don't know how it works really but neither device emits any form of light from the reading screen. The nook does have a small lcd screen but its for menus and things, not the actual book. I have spent 8+ hours straight reading from my nook without any eye strain but you have to have an external light source like any other book.

See now that's fascinating to hear. I confess, the idea of getting a Kindle has crossed my mind, but there were several worries that kept me from fully investing in the idea, this being one of them. Do I still prefer real books? From a purely nostalgic point of view, yes, but I will confess that an e-reader would be tempting to have someday, moreso if it'd let me read any sort of text file I want (should I feel urged to, say, read fanfiction or something).

I don't know about kindles but with a nook you can view ePub PDF and Graphic: JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP files. You can also adjust the font size and the font itself of anything you're reading. I have no regrets about buying mine even though I got it when they first came out (and where about twice the price) because of how much I use it. I travel a lot so having a compact library is great and even with the old model and heavy use I can go over a week before recharging and I guess the new ones are even better about battery life.

Awesome to know! Thank you very much!

Anything using a backlight, or labeled LED emits light. But there is a huge difference in the phrase " right at your eyes" and simply emitting light. TV's aimed the light it created AT YOUR EYES. LCD's with backlights and LED's simply emit period, they don't aim anything. Secondly, All devices emitting light have controls to turn done the BRIGHTNESS. All my devices never make it over 50% until age starts to factor in and it needs to be turned up. People never seem to consider that it's ok to change the settings on something, and it'll still work right. So instead they go blind or deaf due to laziness and/or stupidity. I just wish the natural culling of the herd would happen faster.

This is also partly the fault of manufacturers that set the default brightness and contrast to maximum. When I first got my current monitor, I had to turn both settings WAY down so I could stand to look at it.

What do they think we're using these things for, stage lights?

pffft...Lighthouse beacons! Didn't you know that already?

I have to agree there is just something about having a book in my hand... With a new book you open it for the first time and you smell the ink... Then the fun starts.

femm

Besides, you can't scribble marginal notes in an e-book..... 7X=Q

Actually, you can, on most of them. (Kindle, for sure)

True, but after a while, the screen is too scratched to read. :)

*facepalm*

I miss Borders myself, and I vastly prefer real words-on-paper books. You can read them whether or not the computer is working (and with some of the nonsense that happens in my house, that's a major concern).

I never really understood the whole e-book reader thing. My father-in-law has one and...I dunno, I'd just prefer a real book personally =P

I lose nothing on my Sony Reader. With the amount of websites and txt's and pdf's my instructors give out, I would have to get new ink in the printer more than once a quarter. In a year or two my Reader pays for itself just with that. With the new ebook loaning at libraries, I save even more. Yes, reference books need to be in paper format just for quickly getting info. No, reference books are not a good thing to curl up with in bed. If I fall asleep reading an ebook I can't ever lose my page. I'm independent from the grid for two weeks minimum. My standby image is the famous gas mask/flower photo from the first Earth Day. :P

Well I'm not a techno phoebe, I just like reliability, not to mention, I don't think it's necessary. People are all just to attached to gadgets.

Ah Borders, a big box super store with incredible discounts, undercutting local book sellers and book stores and causing them to go the way of the Dodo. A less successful Walmart, so to speak. /That said I have hundreds of physical books, and both a kindle and the worlds first mass sold ebook (that still works) the REB 1200.

Still. I love both formats. One for traveling and one for home.

If I pay good money for a media product, I want something physical in my hand to show it's actually mine and I can do what the hell I like with it.

I love this, because I'm in 100% agreement!

While I'm sure those digital books are fine for short travel or maybe for collegiate studies, but not for true readers.

My grandfather (Mom's side) read all the time. I saw Mom reading all the time, and I picked up the bug as a teen (now my library's nearly as large as Mom's).

I love the feel of a book in my hand (paper and all). Besides, with my eyes, the electronic screen is too small, flickers and tweaks my eyes out.

I would have to agree with you on the type of books being distinct. I have an E-reader (nook) and while it is great for planes or road-trips I use it for reading sci-fi and fantasy type books. For any sort of reference book or something that you don't read as a straight page-turner I prefer real paper.

The wise author makes sure their books are in e-format as well as traditional ink and paper. But, I'd would rather have the book in hand to fiddle with the pages while I read rather than some cold, lifeless metal and plastic thing which could suddenly lose power or get caught in a power surge while charging. Books are more easily replaced when lost, too (unless you have one of those rare one of a kinds).

sooner or later I'll get an e-reader, but I like my paperbacks. I too like the feel of paper in my hands. The amount of damage to the covers lets me know how many times I've re-read certain passages. And for the books I write in for notes, you can't do that in an e-reader.

I really, really, really got to know where the anti-kindle hate comes from

If people are buying and reading books, that's ok right?

I mean, nobody freaks out that a cell phone takes power, or that modern board games often have electrical devices or are electrically powered

The hatred I don't understand, its like, you are thinking less of somebody simply because of how they are reading, not what they are reading. They are reading all the same books as you are, why does it matter how they absorb it?

I know this message is going to get TONS of misdirected rage and hate, just by looking at the previous comments, but a book is a book is a book, why does it matter if you read it on a screen or on paper?

*gives you love* This is a very good point. I think more people should realize this.

I publish books for writers. e-readers SUCK.

I know what goes into getting a book to convey what the author WANTED to be seen. Fonts to enhance the emotion. Formatting on the page to give a certain feel.

ALL of which is lost on an e-reader. They use the plain vanilla serif and sans serif fonts only and format the text the way THEY want and the hell with the author.

But then a lot of people are perfectly willing to settle for mediocrity.

I've read plenty of books on a nook that use a number of fonts, italics, bold, and indentations on a single page. I've also read books from series by a single author both on the nook and paperback without noticing anything lost on the e-reader. Maybe other readers are different but there's still plenty of emotion in mine.

I know nothing about Nook myself only Kindle since my Android phone had a free app for it and I could get a free reader for my PC.
One of the best selling books I used to publish, they would sell out before I could even get them from the printer, was turned to Kindle.

I know very intimately how the book was meant to look and after getting the sample from Amazon what Kindle did to it.
It was a 3 book trilogy of near 2000 pages. There is only one comment on Amazon for the Kindle edition and it says the first book was not worth anymore than the $2.99 being charged. People stood in line and pre-ordered the actual print version of that book for $20.99. I could not keep them in stock.

I have gotten a few free 'classics' from Kindle and find monstrous errors in them due to the fact that all must be first converted to HTML. Any symbols like the cent sign or the British pound symbol turn into unreadable garbage like *%(# when they convert because the 'stock' fonts do not contain those.

Sure you can bold, italic and underline but try something like Lucida Blackletter, Calligraphy, or old German fonts. They will all be converted to plain vanilla.

Oh, and the cost of a Kindle version is NOT cheaper. I looked up one book and the Kindle version was $20 more than a new real book version. And the Kindle one they can delete from your device at any time they choose. All you buy from Amazon is the permission to read it as long as Amazon chooses to let you and no more.

I see, the nook is nothing like that then. Nooks you can chose whatever font you want and there are a great many supported fonts and I have never had any problems with symbols or signs. I was disappointed that books cost about the same as a paperback or sometimes a little more if its brand new but I have never had the problem of books disappearing. As far as I know when you buy it from B&N it's yours to the point of I can take books out of the nook on an SD card and read them in PDF on a computer or other device.

I suggest not buying a Kindle. The Sony Reader is awesome in that it will allow you to read in a wide range of formats and fonts. The major problems you bring up are the fault of the publisher, not the e-reader. Typically the publisher includes a special font pack with the file if it is needed. I've never seen any problems like that on any purchased e-book I've gotten. In fact they have been gorgeous and well done. I've only seen those sorts of problems with pirated books.

Sony doesn't exactly advertise it, but the Reader (at least the prs-x50 versions) allows you to change the font all by yourself.

Most of the books I own are references for doing my art, like I have books with pictures of cars, clothes, planes, etc. I would not want to draw stuff from a computer screen it's just too difficult. I am also very sad to see Border's go.

Preach it brother.

After Amazon.com came in, and removed 1984 from all Kindles cause some publisher threw a hissy fit, I vowed never to have a kindle or any e-book reader unless I can keep the books I buy, DRM free, and ON a CD/DVD for storage.

I'm not letting some 2bit company tell me what I can do with devices I buy, and internet I pay for. (That goes for Apple too.)

Yes, I'll keep all my 4,000+ comics, and nearly 1,000 books where they belong. In my home, on dead trees!

- Shado

Don't know about the DRM since all ebook publishers use some form or another but you don't lose the books you buy (unless there is a copyright problem like 1984 but it is essentially the same as a product recall) and you can certainly keep a copy of your books on a cd/dvd/bluray or a damn 3 1/4 floppy if you want but since a copy is retained on the seller's website, it's not typically vital to do so (although a good idea). As for DRM, you can read pirated books on e-readers too you know.

Not all e-publishers put DRM on their offerings.

Baen Books (admittedly somewhat of a niche publisher, focused more on fantasy and Sci-Fi) sells their e-books (through https://www.webscription.net ) without any DRM whatsoever in multiple file formats (in a quick glance at one of the books I've purchased from them: rocket, mobi, epub, MS reader, Sony digital reader, RTF, HTML, and even an option to read the books online on their site if so desired).

Hell, they even allow people to pass around the CDs they sometimes put in with books as long as no money is charged for it, and there's even a fan's site that archives all the CDs with Baen's explicit permission, that anyone can download without paying money or giving up any personal information.

Baen has a free ebook library that also does not use drm.
http://www.webscription.net/p-465-werehunter.aspx

Mentioning it might work a little better if you also point to the library.

(also accessible directly through webscription.net's left column menu, but baen.com/library is easier to remember )

Hey, I linked to actual furry content. That's good enough. :P

While I do love the smell and feel of real books I do not have the space for all of the ones I want. I have both a vast library of real books (including manga, comics and magazines), as well as my Nook library. I have yet to lose any of the books I have bought and have been able to get many for free.

I have also heard that Nook is working on making a drawing/sketching function for the new Nooks coming out. I am quite looking forward to that.

I'm not willing to completely give up my real books, but having a Nook can be quite handy as well.

There is already a couple of apps you can buy for that on the Nook Color. Since the Nook Color is basically an Android device many android apps are available since the last update. You can also root it and make it a pure Android tablet as well.

Yeah, I only have the standard Nook though. I didn't think about using it for anything other than reading when I bought it. I'll probably wait until the official version comes out and then do a trade in with mine.

I am one of the least "OMG NEW SHINY GADGET MUST HAVE" people around.

If in dire circumstances, Kindles make lousy toilet paper.

Also try and get an author signed copy of your Kindle or other e-book.

you forgot the big one No Batteries! not to mention you don't have to turn a book off on the plane or wait to read it until after you reach 10000 feet

Oh yes I did, reread the strip.

Ah, missed the bit about plugging in.

My mind is not all there I guess, figuring out what long-gun in 308 to get :)

I miss borders to :(

Amen

*headdesk, headdesk, headdesk*

Um, Borders shut down because they opened too many stores right before the recession. This has been well documented. B&N is still around and so is Half-Price Books. Go there.

As for why I have a Kindle:

1) I like to read, and I like to read lots of things at the same time. If I'm reading a novel but suddenly want to read that non-fic I was enjoying earlier or a magazine, instead of having to carry all those materials with me just in case, they are all right there. Handy for bus rides, long trips, and change of moods.

2) As above, I like to read, but I don't have a lot of space. Like, any. My floor and shelves and closet are already full of books, books I love and re-read and share (can't do that with a Kindle, but I know that, and obviously that wasn't enough for me to not get one) so I don't want to get rid of any of them at this moment. An e-reader is great because it can hold thousands of books on something that takes up less space than a single paperback.

3) I have a very, very small paycheck, but books keep getting published that I want to read, or there are classics that I would love to own. I bought the whole Fall and Decline of the Roman Empire for $5. The whole collection of Sherlock Holmes for less than a buck. The latest best seller for $10 or less. This is a beautiful thing for someone on a budget, and the initial cost of a Kindle is more than worth it in the long run (got mine when they were $400; you can now get one that does more than what mine can do for $140).

4) I didn't get it because it's a fad. I got one because it has what I need.

5) This is the short-short-short list.

tl;dr The reasons why I have a Kindle are not reasons why you don't.

"A lot of those books vanish within a certain timeframe or after you read them." I'm going to have to see some kind of citation for that one, barring the small handful of books with copyright disputes, all of which resulted in credits to those who bought them. Kindle books do not expire.

Say you prefer paperbacks, sure, but if you're going to dislike Kindles, at least choose a reason that actually exists.

(Also, oh noes, I have to plug my Kindle in for a couple of hours every few weeks.)

Yeah, I have to agree with this. Buy one, use it in every way you can think of then you can honestly critique them otherwise you just sound like a Luddite.

My eyes just aren't comfortable with large amounts of text on any kind of screen. If I want to read a multi-page newspaper or magazine article that I find online, I almost always print it out.

I'm not sure about the Kindle but my Nook Color and Sony Reader both never has had any books disappear.. in fact it's a pain in the ass to get them off and all purchased books stay on the website too so I can re-download them anytime. Since we have a local Book a Million I make it a point to buy all my ebooks as possible from them since they wisely embraced the ebook and made a deal with B&N to sell Nooks and sell in compatible formats. I don't nor will I ever own a Kindle, too much like Itunes and Apple.

I love books and I love my e-reader, it's not an either or situation. I read lots of paperbacks and the e-reader makes perfect sense. I put my service manual for my car on my Nook Color and can easily reference it even in bad light. It's handy and indexed.

I agree, and would like to add my own 2-cents. I stare at a screen while I work, I stare at a screen when I watch TV, I stare at a screen when I surf the internet, I stare at a screen when I play video games... If I have stare at a screen when I'm reading too, my eyes are going to start bleeding.

I miss Borders, too. They were so cool! Borders was my first foray into the megabookstore scene. The day a friend brought me to my first Borders and I saw TWO FLOORS of delights I actually zoned out and got dizzy.

Borders had their issues, but their book selection was always way better than B&N. They'll be missed.

I have a couple of ebook aps on my iPad, which I mostly use for travel because I can have half a dozen books at hand that way without filling my carryon, etc. But when it comes to books, I still prefer a good old paperback. I also have trouble dropping ten bucks or more on an e-book, a non-physical item, considering how fast I read. Thus, I mostly download crappy free romance off Amazon, because that's generally the stuff that doesn't cost me anything. I haven't touched the iPad since our last trip, though, because I've got a ginormous stack of paperbacks from Borders' closeout sale that I'm slowly and happily working my way through.

Lots of great Graphic Design magazines have left the shelves since borders closed...

-_____________________-

Makes me want to hit the lottery so I could open a chain of bookstores up.

It would be some kind of improvement, if the ebooks where cheaper than real books. But at least in Germany, they aren't. So I would pay paper and printing for something that isn't printed at all. What kind of business model is that supposed to be?

I honestly love my Kindle - its been great for going on vacation and saving the weight of six or eight reading books. I've never seen any of my books vanish from the Kindle without my first choosing to delete them, so not sure where that one comes from.

Comes from the infamous 1984 ebook (paired with Animal Farm). When Amazon realized they didn't have the right to publish it (through the editor), they promptly connected to all Kindles in the world with that ebook and deleted it. The news was famous because it did appear like a "defacement of history" as described in 1984.

As much as Kindles are cool, I'd still prefer an actual book over them. Actually being able to flip a physical page rather than just a button.

When you have volumes of repair and maintenance manuals for things like airliners, a larger version of an e-book would make more sense. It make it easier to search for things.

I find my ipad very handy for reading both reference books and other things. But Ill Not give up having paper copies too.

Also if you want your paper books so much, you can come in France where the ebooks are seen as a threat to health (and wealth) of publisher, book stores and the likes.
Where no book is both released in paper and electronic format.
Where publishers claim they need to buy new hardware in order to make ebook from their paper books.
Where a law has been voted to sell ebooks at a unique price of 20€ because it's the price of the paper book it was made from.
Where great authors are all dead but you are not allowed to read their books because you need to feed their lazy great-great-grand children with the books revenues (and don't forget the publishers.)
Where bookshop wish you'd buy and not ask question, and grumble when you ask for a difficult book to find.
Where you get no coupon at all and if you ask for one you get weird looks as if you were a Jew entering a Nazi shop.
And finally where if you want anything else but French books (hell if you can find a single GOOD one!), you are immediately deemed non patriotic and should be exiled!

Can I keep my Kindle now?

I don't mind eBooks, but I'd never use propriority readers and never give a company like amazon control over my library. My lapop can do that job thank you very much.

And paper books do come with disadvantages. Especially wehn they play 'mario'. "I'm sorry, the actually useful version of the article you were after is in another $80 reference book!" Yeesh!

I miss the Albert Britnell Book Shop in Toronto.

Also - those disappearing books are part of the DRM scheme of kindle. Now you know why there's pirating.

*listens to audiobooks on his phone*

Barnes & Noble...I turn my lonely eyes to you.

Still not buying into their membership for 10% off and 4 coupons a year.....I'll glance what book may interest me and order off Amazon.

I've been avoiding B&N's membership card offers for awhile as well.

Two of the closest B&N stores are in malls a long distance away from home. B&N shut down the only store within my city limitsa few years ago.

Some cool discount books but I relied on Borders for their coupon offers and that the stores were closer to home than B&N's.

I prefer Brick and Mortar bookstores when I wander into a different section and find a title or topic I have interest in that I didn't think of before...and most likely wouldn't think of when typing in the "Search" box at Amazon.

I just like the look of the books on the shelf... Especially the hard covers... I got lots of Steven Kings, Most of the redwalls and a whole load of others..... Never did break the bind on them though.. Don't got the patience to read.

As a librarian, I totally approve
Neysa's definitely got that right about reference books!

<_> You'd think nobody bemoaned the days when educated scholars had to re-print everything by hand, especially not those well-paid scholars for whom it was their livelihood.

I didn't mind. I was charged with taking down the PC's and 37" flat screen monitors from the walls of the Border's in Monroeville, PA. With stereo sound. And I got to keep both monitors!

Never got to thank you for this, so thank you very much.

I love Lani's expression. That's about how I feel when I see someone opening a Kindle up next to me. ^^

In my case, I have lots of hardcover and paperback books in my collection (including Garry Kilworth's 'Welkin Weasels' series, several novels by Paul Kidd, and the entire "Redwall" series by Brian Jacques), and will probably never partake in obtaining a Kindle or any other E-book device. Of course, I have an advantage over everybody else; I work part-time for 'minimum wage', so I couldn't afford one in the first place!

Meanwhile, I already miss the Borders and Waldenbooks in my area, and have to go a little bit more out-of-my-way to get to a Barnes & Noble and/or Books-A-Million. Although, nowadays, the only places I can buy any interesting titles is at garage sales, flea markets, and the occasional used book store (if any are left)!

I reckon E-readers might not be too bad as long as no 3rd party can delete books from it, they might be good for documentation libraries so you can quickly skim through them but yes as you say nothing really beats paper.