Hell no. I like my books in physical form. Reading on monitor is both restrictive and tiresome for the eyes.
I have a love/hate relationship with ebooks. One one hand I love that I don't need to carry around 50 lbs of gaming books and supplements when trying to decide what my gaming group and I are going to play that day. Just fire up the laptop and open whatever folder all my pirated pdfs are in. On the other hand I absolutely love the smell and feel of new books and laying on my couch reading on my days off. But with twitter books, iPhone book apps, and more for massive quantities of virtual books, my ADD is loving the ability to read, surf the web, and more all on a phone. I want a kindle or nook but I look at my bookshelves and feel really really guilty every time I think of buying one.
Yea I'm gonna go ahead and not agree with that guy. My books are made of paper and nothing else. If I have them on computer it's because they are worthless to pay for and I don't have access to a writer.
I recently got a cheap PDA just for the purpose of reading books on my way to work. pros: Even if bulkier then a large phone, its still smaller then most books. No page flipping, has own light source, can hold a fuckin library on a SD card. cons: battery lasts 8h, windows mobile tends to crash, ebook transcriptions often have artifacts induced by shitty OCR. And the stupid people on the bus keep staring at me. If not for the problems I'd never consider printed books again, this thing has a very clean, pleasant screen, is more comfortable, doesn't need a night lamp when reading in bed. I bet modern PDAs would be even better (some of them). iPhones and shit like that have smaller screens, netbooks are too big to shove in your coat pocket, this thing is just right.
I go strictly for physical, lovable books. I can sit in bed and read until I fall asleep and not worry about damaging a fragile piece of equipment that cost me a months salary.
I've a coworker who bought an Amazon Kindle, and he absolutely loves it. It is thin and light enough he carries it most everywhere. He has a case that looks mildly like a purse, but it's still a rather awesome accessory. I personally stick to books, but that's because I like turning my room into a wonderful combination of highly expensive technological equipment, and things that're easily combustible.
It will be a cold day in hell before I give up my book collection. They can have my Terry Pratchett when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers, and not a second earlier!
Can you make one in the steampunk mode for me while you are at it? I'm fond of books and prefer reading from them than from a monitor. A coworker made me aware of the Kindle and after a few days of researching it obsessively I found that I agreed with a perticular reviewer's opinion that given the price of the Kindle and ebooks, it just is not as desirable as the just-as-portable and affordable original medium. I love my local library.
Books are meant to be on paper. If they're on somewhere else, they aren't books. And frankly, I prefer my written knowledge to remain on something that won't be destroyed in the massive EMP shockwaves that will emerge from an upcoming nuclear holocaust.
I'm addicted to the scent, and I love showing off with my huge bookshelf in the living room. I don't think I'll ever get used to the e-book nonsense.
