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Sorry, Ebooks. These 9 Studies Show Why Print Is Better
Vurbal:
I like ebooks for reference material, although you have to have a larger screen to use some material effectively. I don't mess with DRM on anything I buy, but I don't buy much. Most of my acquisitions have been public domain novels, and what I buy is mostly Oreilly or RPG ebooks.
I put up with DRM infested books from the public library. I've worked my way back through the first several Spenser books, by Robert B. Parker, and caught up on The Dresden Files. For reading novels, I prefer even my wife's inferior (compared to a dedicated ereader) 7-inch Android tablet to dealing with a book. For absorbing mass amounts of technical information, paper and ebooks both have their advantages. I'd prefer a well indexed, annotated, and cross-linked epub to paper, but if given the choice I'd have both.
Of course, when I say absorbing mass amounts, I generally mean reading them cover to cover, or nearly so, in a single sitting. That's usually followed by re-reading individual sections at least once each, and most of them numerous times. I read Managing the Windows NT Registry on the plane to Cleveland and Essential Windows NT System Administration on the way to and back from Alabama. Both are still on my bookshelf, along with the 1995 edition of Aeleen Frisch's original (Unix oriented) Essential System Administration.
wraith808:
Speaking of RPG books... on DriveThruRPG they watermark the PDFs with the users name/e-mail address. Some consider this a form of DRM... but is it? It's not managing digital rights in any way that I can see...
Vurbal:
Speaking of RPG books... on DriveThruRPG they watermark the PDFs with the users name/e-mail address. Some consider this a form of DRM... but is it? It's not managing digital rights in any way that I can see...
-wraith808 (March 03, 2015, 02:37 PM)
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I bought a few watermarked PDFs from them, and I had to give that quite a bit of thought. On balance, it comes down to intrusiveness into the reading experience and tracking - for me anyway. There's no tracking, which is by far the most significant factor, but also no reliance on third party servers or services. If I really wanted the watermarks gone, it's simple enough to do with a free PDF editor. Considering the discount I was getting, and the fact 1 or 2 of them were out of print, the watermark didn't bother me.
The primary company I buy PDFs from (and man I wish they were available in epub) is Hero Games. Their early PDFs were watermarked with the purchaser's name, followed by non-watermarked, but partially feature hobbled editions, until they eventually started working with a layout and authoring guy who refuses to enable any feature that might annoy the consumer/reader.
wraith808:
The epub format really is a different format when you deal with layout and such, which is probably the reason that they don't have it. When I was helping Evil Hat test out their epub versions of their books, it was apparent that they had to put real work into making it available in epub.
Which brings us back to the original point- there are features available in e-ink, digital formats, dead tree publications... devices, content, and functionality converge to create a unique experience when you switch up any of the variables. As such, I don't think there's better or worse- especially for every situation. Just like with the OS wars and the browser wars and all the other tech wars- they're pointless. Use the tool that is best for the given situation, and don't let anyone dictate which you should use. And especially with books- it doesn't matter how you read, just *that* you read, IMO. Live outside the confines of your own mind by reading the thoughts, ideas, imaginings, and information you can only get from that experience.
Vurbal:
That's definitely true, andThe epub format really is a different format when you deal with layout and such, which is probably the reason that they don't have it. When I was helping Evil Hat test out their epub versions of their books, it was apparent that they had to put real work into making it available in epub.
-wraith808 (March 03, 2015, 07:29 PM)
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Definitely true. In fact, the layouts in the Hero System books are particularly unsuitable for direct epub conversion, since they tend to have lots of embedded bits like charts and images, not to mention examples and details provided in a separate sidebar on the page.
What epub really needs IMO is robust javascript support. It wouldn't help in every case, but if you could include content that's normally hidden, but available through some simple interface, it would go a long way. Javascript would also make it relatively easy to add cool features to something like a coding book. For example, you could have selectable code formatting styles, using relatively simple CSS, to customize examples for the reader.
Of course, there's no substitute for having the right size display, or just having a physical book in some cases.
Which brings us back to the original point- there are features available in e-ink, digital formats, dead tree publications... devices, content, and functionality converge to create a unique experience when you switch up any of the variables. As such, I don't think there's better or worse- especially for every situation. Just like with the OS wars and the browser wars and all the other tech wars- they're pointless. Use the tool that is best for the given situation, and don't let anyone dictate which you should use. And especially with books- it doesn't matter how you read, just *that* you read, IMO. Live outside the confines of your own mind by reading the thoughts, ideas, imaginings, and information you can only get from that experience.
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Exactly right. Ebooks open up the options for reading, which has, in fact, drastically increased the amount of reading many people - especially kids - do today. It's not a substitute for physical books, so much as a supplement. Neither is objectively better than the other, but each has subjective benefits you have to consider for yourself. As long as you're reading, you've got the important bit down.
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