# Kindle V Real books



## graham1981 (Jan 1, 2016)

I had a look through the forum and this doesn't seem to have been discussed in any detail (a few posts in what are you reading?) -

So the question for all you readers on here which do you prefer to read a Kindle or a paper book?

For me now it's a Kindle (Voyage) - I swore for years I would not convert to e-books as I love the feel/smell of real books and the physicality of holding a book, bending it back to read etc. But after years of collecting books I was starting to run out of room to store them (with over two hundred books in my collection) so decided to buy a Kindle. I bought a 4th generation Kindle and a few books for it from Amazon - tried it for a few months couldn't get on with it so in the drawer it went. There it sat for a few years while I carried on reading paper books, it then got to the point where I had filled up all of my bookshelves (which cover one wall floor to ceiling and has books on top of books on shelves) and literally did not have any more room for books, so out came the Kindle again. This time I got on much better with it, so much so I did stop buying paper books and only bought Kindle books. This led to me upgrading to the Kindle Fire a while later - a mistake as it turned out.

The Fire being a tablet did not have anywhere near the battery life of the Kindle 4th generation, hours as opposed to weeks. This shortcoming (to me) very quickly led to the Fire being passed to my dad as he wanted a tablet to play around with (he's used it once lol) and the purchase of the Kindle Voyage. What can I say about the Kindle Voyage? The perfect e-reader for me, great adaptive lighting, page press is excellent, so to is battery life - probably around a week/ week and a half for me, and I find it comfortable to use/ hold.

As for the actual books themselves, yes I miss holding real books sometimes, but I love having my whole library at my fingertips all the time, wherever I am (dependent on internet access). The proof is in the pudding so to speak - since going back to e-readers I haven't picked up one of my paper books, a shame in a way but they will always be with me as I will never sell them so I can always go back to them if I wish. Oh and the Kindle library stands at 138 books with more added each month :laugh:

What are other peoples thoughts and experiences when it comes to books v e-readers?


----------



## Rotundus (May 7, 2012)

would never go back, buy a few books every now and again on amazoononononon and pop 'em onto which ever kindle - got an older one which i bought used for bugger all a few year ago and use when away for work.

also go a paperwhite the 710 got me as she wanted the light off in the bedroom (no sniggering at the back) if she wanted to sleep when i was reading - swmbo has a paperwhitr too.

can also email stuff to the kindles which has yt to prove useful but handy perhaps for some.

cant fault them - better than shelves and shelves of paper - cant even shift books to the charity shops near us now they are overrun and wont take anymore...


----------



## scottswatches (Sep 22, 2009)

Love my Kindle. I have an older version, but the battery lasts a month, i have never run out of space on it, and it has proved robust. as a person who travels a lot, it is indispensable.

But you know what sells it more than anything to me? I can lay it flat on a restaurant table and use a knife and fork without the book closing, which a paperback would do. I know it is rude to read at the table, but when you eat alone in restaurants as often as i do you stop caring!


----------



## hughlle (Aug 23, 2015)

Not in my lifetime. Can't stand reading anything of length off a screen be it LCD, e-ink, led. Makes my head hurt.

I also like the history of things. I want to be able to turn around at 80 years old and pick up a book I purchased half a century ago.


----------



## graham1981 (Jan 1, 2016)

scottswatches said:


> But you know what sells it more than anything to me? I can lay it flat on a restaurant table and use a knife and fork without the book closing, which a paperback would do. I know it is rude to read at the table, but when you eat alone in restaurants as often as i do you stop caring!


 That is a very good point @scottswatches I have also found it an unexpected advantage not having pages that turn over and not having pages to turn full stop. It opens up the way you can read a book, one handed (no sniggering) is doable now (especially with the Voyage and pagepress) and as you say you can lay it down, prop it up etc and still be able to read it easily!


----------



## gimli (Mar 24, 2016)

Never used an e-reader. Never want to. Either books or the computer (for non-book related reading such as articles and research).


----------



## Gpts (May 24, 2015)

I use the Amazon app on an ipad and don't miss "real books"at all apart from two things:

If I'm not getting on with a book it's too easy to give up on it and just grab another off amazon.

It's very easy to get distracted by the other things on the ipad and not concentrate on the book. Things like emails and watch forums. :yes:


----------



## graham1981 (Jan 1, 2016)

Gpts said:


> It's very easy to get distracted by the other things on the ipad and not concentrate on the book. Things like emails and watch forums. :yes:


 That's one reason I don't use the Amazon app on my pc to read, I just use it as a 'front door' to my library, the interface is really good for looking at what books you have :yes:


----------



## Will Fly (Apr 10, 2012)

I have several hundred books scattered through 3 rooms and still buy them. I also have an original Kindle for bedtime reading because I can lie down on my side and read in comfort next to the bedside lamp. I read mainly classics (free) and light, old fiction on the Kindle. Half an hour of that each night and I drop off to sleep beautifully - perhaps helped along by a wee dram around 9pm or so...

The one thing you can't do on a Kindle is stick your fingers in a couple of pages simultaneously and flick back and forth between them. So, for anything more serious, it's paper for me. As an ex-librarian, I shall never do without paper.


----------



## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

I`ll be sticking with my books, I can`t imagine any circumstances where I`d prefer to use a Kindle.


----------



## graham1981 (Jan 1, 2016)

Will Fly said:


> The one thing you can't do on a Kindle is stick your fingers in a couple of pages simultaneously and flick back and forth between them


 You do have the option on the Voyage to scan through the book whilst staying on the page you are on, a smaller screen opens showing the page of the book you can then 'flick' through pages on this screen without affecting the main screen, but no continuous back and forth flicking I'm not sure is possible

Seems to be a fairly even divide between e-books and books so far!


----------



## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

I love books and reading and read a lot, I started out with a Kindle but when it broke ( which is pretty common I think ) I just use the Kindle app on my IPhone and its brilliant, love it.


----------



## dapper (Jun 18, 2004)

Paper for me. One of my favourite pastimes is nosing around old bookshops :thumbsup:


----------



## artistmike (May 13, 2006)

The joy to me is that it's not either or, you can in fact have both and that's what I do. I still have some books that I had fifty years ago and love them but wouldn't be without my Kindle which is just great for carrying about, hospital etc. where you can have a whole library with you. To me the important thing is the reading and the medium to me is secondary....


----------



## Caller. (Dec 8, 2013)

rI have a kindle paperwhite and love it! Living in Thailand it's a Godsend, I still have an amazon UK account linked to my UK bank account and just download a new book in seconds whenever I need it. On saying that, I still buy real books and have an account with the local branch of Asia Books, which seems an odd name for a company specialising in western books, usually English with some Germans and French. I also brought all my large size, mainly art books, to Thailand with me and I too love the smell and touch of books, being very tactile.

Kindles are at their best when travelling, 6 years ago, I spent 6-weeks in a very quiet, isolated area of Thailand and twice had to undertake the 2.5 hour drive to the nearest book shop, staying over for a couple of nights in the town as well, before heading back to my hidey-hole. No need to do that with a kindle.


----------



## SilentBob (Jul 15, 2015)

Never looked back after buying mine. I used to read about a book and a half a week when I commuted into London.

Now I have a 15 minute drive to work and a new baby, it hasn't been turned on in months :aggressive:

It's great for holidays, when my bag would weigh too much because of the books I was taking. Not to mention the ability to lie by the pool without getting soggy pages :swoon:


----------



## BondandBigM (Apr 4, 2007)

I've got a couple of e readers, never used them.

I like books even on holiday where most hotels usually have a few shelves of them and I've never failed to find a few that interest me.

I'm also a big fan of the local library and we still have a library bus comes round every fortnight with a driver that actually has a bit of a passion for what he does and know that he knows what we like usually has something good set aside or a recommendation to something.


----------



## xellos99 (Dec 17, 2015)

I bought a very good kindle on here several months ago. When you factor in the ability to press on a word and get a dictionary up, yes they are better.


----------



## dobra (Aug 20, 2009)

Mmmmm Kindle Fire versus Nook? Still prefer books, mainly because I don't read fiction and I can't find title I like. I have reset the Kindle and it sits in its case in a drawer, and the Nook is a play toy.....

Mike


----------



## dobra (Aug 20, 2009)

Forgot the Sony Reader. Nice job, but Sony driopped out of the project, so few books available. Just charging it.

Mike


----------



## Biker (Mar 9, 2013)

Resisted the kindle for ages, Anne has had one for years, then I was given one as a present, now I couldn't imagine not having one. I do still read paper books, however, that is only until I have cleared my bookshelf.


----------



## Mr Levity (Feb 24, 2013)

Funny you should ask. I have a book or 2(000) in my man cave. The book cases they are in are overflowing. My problem is that I just can't walk past a charity or secondhand book shop. I try to be selective and only buy a book by an author I know (though I have most of the books written by my favourites), but often fail and come out with at least one book.

I bought a Kindle Fire HD a couple of years ago, which quickly got nicked by my kids, and I rarely used it. As their phones got more sophisticated, they used it less and I got it back. Trouble is it's a big lump and would only fit in the inside pocket of my winter coat, so again its use was limited to indoors (where the real books are) and I tended to use it more for surfing.I had a few freebies on it which I used to read if we went in to town and I hid in Costa while Mrs L was shopping.

Then two things happened that changed things considerably.

Firstly I bought an e-book by one of my favourite authors from an Evilbay seller. This lead to a weekly e-mail with brand new titles at ridiculously low prices. Not sure how he obtains them , but several have had spelling mistakes, page gaps etc,which doesn't bother me. I asked him if he had any books by a particular author and he did 10 for £10. Anyway, I soon had a good stock of books to keep me going.

Then my eldest bought a Kindle Fire for £50 just before Christmas. Much smaller and pocket friendly. A super little machine that seems to be as good if not better than the Fire HD . Boy was she pissed when they were up for £35 on Black Friday :laugh: . I bought one and my youngest bought one too. Now I carry it everywhere and always have a book to hand.

Real books will always be my first love, and I always have one in my work bag, but if we're going out I take the Kindle as I can browse the Forum etc and then read if I want to. I also have the Kindle app on my phone and read a different book on that when the Kindle isn't suitable (f'rinstance I always have lunch at the local cafe on a Tuesday. Goes well with scampi and chips  )

We will certainly all be taking our kindles on holiday with us in July.

And then of course, there's audio books.....................


----------



## SBryantgb (Jul 2, 2015)

I had a long post thought out which would have destroyed the none Kindle users making their arguments invalid within at least ten paragraphs, but it also would have considered their luddite tendencies with a goodly amount of understanding. However I couldn't be bothered.

So instead I will tell you I normally have a couple of books on the go both on paper and within a kindle. Both have a place... Both allow me to enjoy a good read under the right circumstances. it's a simple as that :thumbsup:

I do however find the anti kindle argument amusing within the confines of an internet forum. Perhaps we should meet at the village hall and pass around polaroid's and have a weekly mail out newsletter.

As the great WW says

Later


----------



## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

I've the Kobo, works fine, can use it in sun or shade - - but I still prefer a real book, a Kobo doesn't have the "smell" of the paper and ink :nono:

OTOH, you can carry a helluva lot of books on holiday, and all that lovely old vintage scifi from Doc Smith and Murray Leinster and the likes - - freebies in the right place like Project Gutenberg :yes:


----------



## pauluspaolo (Feb 24, 2003)

Have an ancient Kindle (1st generation one I think) - battery life is good & it's absolutely fantastic being able to take loads of books on holiday. I also have the Kindle app on my phone & tablet too. The last actual book I read was, ironically, whilst on holiday in Santorini last year. The hotel had a bookcase full of books that had been left/given to them by guests & I read a thriller by Mo Hayder. I liked it so much I bought the rest of the series on Kindle when I got home


----------



## graham1981 (Jan 1, 2016)

I do like the instant availability of e-books as well. Several times I have finished a really good book and wanted to start straight away on the next in the series - with a Kindle you can! No more waiting for the postman to deliver your book from Amazon or trying to find it in a local bookshop. Finish your first book at 11pm buy and start reading the next one by 11:05pm!


----------



## lebaron (Mar 8, 2009)

Tried an e-reader thingy, dont like it.

I have books my brother gave me back in the 70's; early heinlein, Arthur C Clark, long out of print. I love the feel and smell of an old book, and the cover art etc etc. I will be keeping my books, and re -reading when I fancy.


----------



## Nobbythesheep (Apr 23, 2016)

SBryantgb said:


> I had a long post thought out which would have destroyed the none Kindle users making their arguments invalid within at least ten paragraphs, but it also would have considered their luddite tendencies with a goodly amount of understanding. However I couldn't be bothered.
> 
> So instead I will tell you I normally have a couple of books on the go both on paper and within a kindle. Both have a place... Both allow me to enjoy a good read under the right circumstances. it's a simple as that :thumbsup:
> 
> ...


 Books for me ('wanders off mumbling "bloody Kindles"…….').


----------

