Do you read e-books?
When I first heard about dedicated e-readers (like the Kindle
I’ve since discovered that e-books and physical books don’t have to be an either-or thing; I enjoy them both. And that dedicated e-reader? Not necessary thanks to free reading apps that can be used on your computer, smart phone, or iPod. (Although I’ll admit, if you start reading them enough, it is nice having the actual reader instead of the iPod; I find the Kindle itself is a lot more pleasant for anything more than a few minutes worth of reading, and it handles jumping between several books with a lot more ease than the Kindle app on my iPod.)
And that fear I had over the cost of e-books, since I get the vast majority of my books from the library? Hasn’t been an issue. There are so many free books available (of, I will admit, varying quality). There are classic books that are in the public domain freely available. There are books by authors I want to support, and would buy in any format. And happily for me, my library now offers some e-books for loan. Not every book is available, but there are a lot, and certainly enough for as often as I use the e-reader.
All in all, I love e-books for light fiction and for anything I’m going to read once and would then return to the library. And I still love regular books – I’m not going to give up my physical books, but I’m delighted to have the option to read on my Kindle. Especially when traveling; no more debating with myself over just how many books I can squeeze into my bags, and terror that I’ll finish them all and be stuck with whatever magazines or popular titles are available in the airport or other stops.
And none of this even begins to discuss using a tablet as an e-reader; I know they prevent the super-small screen issues of a smartphone or iPod , but I haven’t ever tried to use one to read a book.
If you have a smartphone (or an iPod touch
If you’re interested in finding free-ebooks, there are several blogs where I learn about most of them:
- EReader Girl is a newer site that has regular lists of free or discounted ebooks (Kindle and PDF only)
- The Vessel Project has free or discounted books, in addition to reviews (in other words, not all of their links are to free or discounted books.) The books featured are all Christian, so I like seeing what they include, but the site itself has some design frustrations, so I’m frequently ready to stop subscribing to it all together despite the content I want to read. They do include Nook links, so if that’s what you have this is a good choice.
- Jungle Deals and Steals seems to link to a ton of free Kindle books, but the content isn’t screened at all, so if you’re opposed to certain types of books watch what you’re downloading. They also feature Amazon deals of all sorts, and I haven’t figured out a way to only subscribe to their book deals.
- There aren’t as many sites that feature Nook deals (at least that I could find), but the official Barnes & Noble Nook blog has a Friday Freebies series that includes some.
Do you read e-books? What’s your preferred method? Computer, smart phone, iPod, iPad, Kindle, Nook, or something else?
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There’s another blog: http://www.inspiredreads.com/ , that posts daily freebies and deals for Christian books on Amazon. Like you said, they’re of variable quality. Still, this is where I get most of my fiction ebooks, and I can even experiment with genres I’m not necessarily prepared to pay for, like Amish Romance. Besides, they have some great deals for great non-fiction books – I recently got Simply Jesus, by N.T.Wright.
When it comes to choosing between ebooks and books, I’m asking myself : why choose? I have a Kindle and it’s been great, especially as I have to do quite a bit of travelling and I can’t carry all my books around (with my Kindle I can! Probably half my personal library is on it by now). But every now and then I just want to have a physical book in my hand!
Thanks for sharing that link – nice to find yet another source for some great deals. I agree with what you say about experimenting with new genres – I’ve done that quite a bit, and especially with new authors too.
If I traveled more, I would love my Kindle even more than I already do.
Yes! Yes! Yes!!! I hesitated getting a Kindle because I, too, love the feel of a real book in my hands. But it was doctor’s waiting rooms and long car rides that finally convinced me. And I realized the other day — as much as I love my Kindle, it’s still not an either/or thing, like you said.
The Kindle is so convenient. It gives me more opportunities to read, find free books, and borrow library books (all without leaving the house!). It lets me try out books I wouldn’t normally buy, because they’re free. And while I don’t normally write in my books – I love the highlighting feature for when I read nonfiction ebooks.
On the other hand, it’s harder to scan an ebook when you’re writing a review. And it’s harder to flip around (like I do sometimes with certain nonfiction study books). And sometimes, I just prefer the feel of curling up with a thick book. I also prefer to own my favorites in paper, not just digital versions.
By the way, another deal-site I love (I get their daily emails) is http://www.gospelebooks.net. They have a great variety of free and cheap deals on Christian ebooks.
Thanks for the other site to investigate!
Yes, the flipping around thing is a big deal to me – I never realized how often I did that until suddenly I couldn’t easily. And remembering approximately where something was in a book – I can usually find what I’m looking for in a paper book, but with the Kindle I’ve got to hope that a word or phrase is unique enough to let me search for it without wading through tons of choices.
Agreed! I used my iPad for reading on our trip. So much easier than hauling loads of books. But, I still love a paper and ink book. The smell. The look. They can’t be beat.
No, they really can’t.
Especially with a lengthy trip like yours – there’s no way to bring along enough paper books to last! Well, I guess it’d be possible if you don’t read much, but where’s the fun in that?
A friend gave me her old Kindle, and to be honest I kind of can’t stand reading on it. Every time I advance to a new page, it flashes black with white text and makes my head hurt. There might be a way to fix that, but apparently it’s just the way Kindles work. I read fast so I advance pages fast and it is a lot of flashing.
However, I like the Kindle app on my iPhone, and often use the Kindle itself to look at all the things I highlighted, which is handy.
I might have an easier time using an ipad rather than a Kindle since the technology is different so the flashing wouldn’t be there, but I find I get tired of looking at a screen so much, so probably I’ll always be the curmudgeon who prefers paper books.
My new Kindle does that, and it is annoying, but it doesn’t give me a headache so I just can ignore it and hope that someday technology will advance and it’ll be a more seamless transition from page to page.
If pressed to make a choice, I prefer paper too, but ebooks have been so helpful at times, that something I originally thought “no way, never” has instead been a great additional option.
Especially because (and I left this out of the post because I completely forgot about it!) with the Kindle I can read without my glasses. Paper books I need glasses, and there are times when that is super inconvenient. With the Kindle (or Kindle app) I can adjust the font size and read whether or not I’m wearing my glasses. So nice, especially if I’m outside and my options are: glasses to read, and then the sun is blinding, or sunglasses to keep the sun from hurting my eyes, and an ebook. Someday I might get prescription sunglasses to solve that dilemma but so far I’ve resisted because I tend to break or lose sunglasses at an alarming rate.
Unrelated to e-readers, but related to sunglasses: I used to have the same problem of losing, breaking, sitting on, etc sunglasses. But then I spent $70 on a pair of really nice ones in January 2000 (and $70 for a college kid in 2000 was a lot!) and wore them continuously until January 2011! The only reason I got new ones then was that the old ones were really out of style and had gotten a bit scratched and I got a gift card to Nordstrom with instructions to buy myself new sunglasses.
So I got another expensive pair then and plan to use them for another decade! For some reason the fact that they were expensive made me treat them better, keep them in a hard case, and be more careful of them. I’m not sure why. But year by year, the cost of the expensive ones was much less than buying a few pairs of cheap ones every year. Just a thought. 
I’ve often wondered if that would work for me, but I’m scared to try it, because it’s not like I’m intentionally thinking “oh, these were cheap, so who cares if I break them!” I hate shopping, so I don’t want to replace them no matter the cost. I did manage to go all last year without buying new ones, so that’s a start!
I was the same way. Didn’t think I’d like e-readers. Then my husband got a Kindle. Now I read on my Android with my Kindle app and love it. I rarely read physical books any more.
Glad to hear that you love your ebooks so much – although I still won’t be giving up my paper books entirely any time soon.
I love hard copy books so much–the weight, the smell, the feel. I used to work in the publishing industry. I also like the look of well-loved books lining a bookcase. I do listen to a lot of audiobooks (mostly fiction), but I haven’t tried an ereader yet.
Now you’re reminding me of something else I love about physical books – how permanent they are (well, not completely permanent, but you probably know what I mean). Working in libraries and museums, and being able to see books that were published centuries before. Imagining their history. Knowing that a truly loved or valued book could be passed down between generations. Having the actual book my mom read to me as a child is so much more emotionally important than “here’s a digital copy of the text.” I guess that just emphasizes the difference between books as a method to read text to read versus books as artifacts, and why I would never ever want an all-digital world, even when it’s convenient.
Hey! very delayed getting a comment up on this post but I’m finally here!!
So excited to save this post and go back through all the links you suggest!
We are definitely Apple ppl over here but last year my husband did buy me a kindle (gasp!)… but I asked for a used refurbished one and NOT a Kindle Fire. (I wanted it for reading… and not to be distracted by email or the internet -I know myself. Surfing would happen.) I like reading on it but still prefer a real book. I also like reading on my phone (often I prefer the ibooks app over the kindle app on there -but I’m not THAT picky) We have an ipad but I think it’s too big for reading (and heavy) I think the ipad mini would be much better suited for reading on but really when the household already has an ipad and a kindle and I have an iphone getting an ipad mini ALSO to read on would be serious overkill.
Yes, it’s kind of nice having a Kindle that is only for reading – no way to be distracted by other options.
I think the ipad mini looks like it’d be great for reading, but I’m like you – more than enough technology options already in the house!