You DO Like Reading Off Screens

LiveJournal tags: comics, books

I’m struggling with the whole ebook thing lately. I’ll admit that I read most of my comics as digital files (I’m a teacher and therefore poor. I recognize that is not the very best justification out there, but it will have to do for now), and that my choice to do that has several amazing benefits, the most notable (other than the obvious economic one) is that I no longer have to figure out what to do with boxes upon boxes of comic books. They are now safely stored on a backup hard drive, where I can read them whenever I’d like. Digital storage has a LOT going for it. After a long fight against it, I’ve finally chucked the notion of purchasing CDs, though I will miss the lyrics and other information included in the booklet. Ebooks, though, …….I just don’t know. I can’t get into it. Unlike comics, which ultimately just cluttered my life, and CDs, which could so easily be stored on an iPod, books have some sort of ineffable quality that I just plain miss when I’m reading an ebook.

I know I’m not alone in this. The attempt to market ebooks to readers has moved at a snail-like pace as opposed to other digital media. Consumers just don’t seem to want to give up the comfort of their paperbacks. I have tried to give it a fair shot, however, and have been delighted at the number of authors who are currently making many of their works available for free as downloads from sites such as Manybooks. And I’ve enjoyed the reading freedom provided by free software like Mobipocket (available as a free download, with free extensions so you can carry your ebook anywhere with your mobile phone). Still, I haven’t turned the corner yet.

Scroll on down and click the link to read sci-fi author Cory Doctorow’s take on the common ebook complaint. And read some of Doctorow’s books while you’re at it. At least the ebooks are free.

Locus Magazine

Source: You DO Like Reading Off Screens
Originally published on Sun, 18 Mar 2007 15:22:08 GMT by Cory Doctorow