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Kindle and iPad Books Take Longer to Read than Print [STUDY]

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Paul Keith:
Nielsen conceded that the differences in reading speed between the two devices were not “statistically significant because of the data’s fairly high variability” — in other words, the study did not prove that the iPad allowed for faster reading than the Kindle.

A total of 24 participants (10 is about average for a usability survey) were given short stories by Ernest Hemingway to read in print and on iPads, Kindles and desktop PCs. Hemingway was chosen because his work utilizes simple language and is “pleasant and engaging to read.” The narratives took an average of 17 minutes and 20 seconds from start to finish — enough time to get readers fully “immersed” in the stories, Nielsen explained.

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Too sleepy to comment but this seems like an interesting take. Speed is now more important than pick up and play...err...read?!




Kindle and iPad Books Take Longer to Read than Print [STUDY]


from Mashable

Deozaan:
I don't know about the iPad, but it seems to me that "turning pages" on the Kindle is what would slow you down the most for that device.

mouser:
It doesn't surprise me at all that reading and browsing a physical book is much faster than using the ebooks.. and more enjoyable too.
But then there are advantages, like being able to carry several thousand books with you in your backpack, being able to search for words, etc.

J-Mac:
I have an original Kindle and haven't touched it in about a year now. At first the books were inexpensive: Amazon committed that NY Times Bestsellers would always be $9.99 while other texts could be lower or higher. I got some great sci-fi classics for $1 and $2. However things started changing rapidly about a year and a half ago. Suddenly Kindle books were selling for the same or very close to the same as print books; the number of low priced books seemed to dwindle; and many of the NY Times Bestsellers often didn't even have Kindle versions anymore. Very disappointing. Add to that the "1984" fiasco and resulting revelation that Amazon could and would reach out overnight and delete whatever they desired from my Kindle and the attraction was completely gone for me. And if I was somehow still in love with the device after all that the battery issue would have done it in anyway. Seems that the original battery life was almost exactly as long as it took Amazon to release their "Kindle 2" device. As of the K-2 release parts for the original Kindle simply disappeared from Amazon - and everywhere else for that matter. No batteries in stock for the "Kindle 1". Found this out after I ordered one because Amazon had no notice that they weren't in stock; product page said "Usually ships within 24 hours". Ha! eight months later - yes that's EIGHT months, the number immediately after 7 and right before 9. My replacement battery was finally delivered. Amazon, usually very responsive to support requests, completely ignored all my emails and calls asking when and where batteries would be available again. All in all a pretty bad experience. No more Kindles for me. No more DRM-laden e-readers either, from anyone.

I still read all print books now, except for the occasional PDF ebook on my machine here.

Jim

Mark0:
I would have never tought that someone would have done a reading speed comparision like that.
I read a lot of books (mostly free available ones) on a Cybook and I see no difference about reading speed compared to paper's ones. The page turning isn't a problem at all; you stop even noticing it very soon.

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