Kindle vs Real Books

[Norm]

I have around 130 books on the kindle, most of them military related. I am glad they are not on my bookshelf!

but in truth, I find the kindle better for a straight page turning read, such as fiction.

For military and colour plate, I find I prefer using the kindle app on my iPad to access my library.

I strongly dislike rule books on any digital device, all that flipping back and forth is much better in a 'real' rulebook.

The thing I like most about the Kindle, is it can be midnight and you are researching you latest favourite project, you are stuck, go to the Kindle store (amazon), a massive selection, pick the book you think will best serve you and buy / download …. instant research material.


As Nick said, superb for hospital.

[fred.]

I don't have a physical Kindle, but have used the kindle app on my iPad for a good number of years. The advantages are what have already been mentioned.

Ease of carrying and storing lots of books. The storing thing is becoming more important as we have so many paper books that storage is an issue. Also for novels I much prefer electronic as they tend to be cheaper and I feel less guilty about storage of something I might only read once.

For reference books I do like real books, especially if they have lots of pictures. But I do prefer the iPad for reading as big books can be really heavy and awkward (I do most of my reading in bed). Again the iPad is good here as it is self lit, and less of a disturbance to my wife.

Rule books - I do like to have both physical and digital. Physical is so much better when first learning a game, but once you have the hang of the rules digital is great for quickly looking up something, or for reference away from a game.

The great strength of ebooks is that you can read them on multiple devices. So if I'm reading a book on my iPad as the main device. But then have 10mins waiting somewhere I can pickup on my phone.

[Terry37]

Real books only for me please. As Steve J said I like the feel of the book in hand, plus I am always doing research of some sort and find it easier to just pick up the book and thumb through it for what I'm looking for. As Leon said, I cannot get into reading well electronically or watching TV anywhere except on the TV. I even prefer YouTube on the TV. So don't own any kind of electronic device, except an ollllld basic phone that stays in my car for emergency calls. Have no idea if can do anything additional, and really don't care.

REAL BOOKS RULE!!!!

Terry

[Malbork]

Have 7-year old kindle with 100+ titles on it, plus the app on my ipad.

Great for travelling and holidays - we no longer need an extra suitcase just for books and as people have said you can very easily buy and download stuff; useful if you're reading series of novels, for exapmle.

Downside for me is the serious stuff. Bought a nice book about Belisarius and have not been able to read it due to faffing with maps and illustrations which never seem to line up with the text and by the time you've found the map you've forgottern why you were looking for it!

I think in short it's simply horses for courses which for me means fiction for kindle and non-fiction for the bookshelves.

[fsn]

I think in short it's simply horses for courses which for me means fiction for kindle and non-fiction for the bookshelves.

Wot he said.

I'd also go for a Fire. Aside from a plain ebook it has many useful functions. I downloaded a podcast player onto mine and so listen to many, many podcasts via the Kindle,

[Raider4]

I've had a dedicated Kindle e-book reader since about 2011. It's great for reading novels, stories, etc. on. I went on holiday recently with the choice of reading any of approx. 400 titles. It remembers where you've got to in each book. I can pick up reading a book after 18 months, and it remembers exactly where I'd got to.

I wouldn't use it for a rulebook, or a reference book, or anything else that requires a lot of flicking back and forth.

It's no good for anything that uses images. It's not good at converting PDF files to the Kindle format - you really need the source to be a dedicated Kindle file.

Looking at the current Kindles available they look a lot worse than the version I've got, so if mine dies I doubt one of the current offerings.

Plenty of public domain titles are available - try Feedbooks (for example).

Cheers, M.
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[Womble67]

I would just like to thank everybody for contributing to the discussion. I picked up a basic model last night for £20 so over the next couple of days I'll give it a go and see what I think

Take care

Andy

[Terry37]

My not being a tech heavy, I have  an honest question fr those with electronic books. What happens if your device crashes or gets corrupted? Do you lose everything or is it stored as some kind of account? This would be one of my fears if I had one.

Thanks,

Terry

[ianrs54]

Amazon have a "cloud", so no you wont lose it all.

[fsn]

Additional benefit of a Kindle. If you are reading "War and Peace" in bed, and fall asleep, you won't end up with a broken nose.

[Raider4]

What happens if your device crashes or gets corrupted? Do you lose everything or is it stored as some kind of account?

I connect mine to the PC with a USB cable, and just copy the contents to a backup folder.

I know I do have an Amazon account with it, but I can't remember the last time I logged into it.

Cheers, M.
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[Orcs]

I have a black and white text kindle that is brilliant for holidays, but not so good if you want to read siting on the edge of the pool with your feel dangling in the water.

It no good for anything with pictures or maps. It is also a pain when you have a cast of characters in th front of the book and you want to check who a particular character is.

I have not got the kindle fire as they can be tricky to read in direct sunlight unlike my black and white one.  It is also the earlier one that has a button to turn the pages. Not a swipe

[Ben Waterhouse]

Kindle for fiction, real books for non-fiction... A Librarian speaks...

[Raider4]

... A Librarian speaks...

Shhh!

 

[mad lemmey]

Ook!