
Print books are on the rise again in the US - e15ctr0n
http://qz.com/578025/against-all-odds-print-books-are-on-the-rise-again-in-the-us/
======
SeanDav
I had a brief fling with ebooks, but it was over pretty much as soon as it
started. I will still break out my kindle every now and again I am sure, but I
am not a fan of ebooks.

A few things pushed me away from ebooks:

\- I feel that in many cases, ebook prices are just ripping me off.

\- Lack of good support for all formats: why did I have to root my Kindle to
have decent PDF capability? I felt that I was being pushed into a corner I did
not want to go.

\- Amazon having the ability to delete books I had already bought. In some
cases they executed that ability. I mean, seriously, they have the ability to
reach out and delete a book I paid for and may be in the middle of
reading...!!!

\- Propriety formats and DRM.

\- I just love the sense of occasion that a real book tends to exude.

\- I love reading in the bath, risky with an electronic device.

~~~
Turing_Machine
"I love reading in the bath, risky with an electronic device."

Large ziploc bag. Problem solved.

Not to mention that the cheapest Fire tablet is down to about $50, which isn't
all that much more than a single hardback book (bath water doesn't do those
any good, either, especially with the crap "binding" that publishers use on
"hardback" books nowadays).

~~~
untog
_the cheapest Fire tablet is down to about $50, which isn 't all that much
more than a single hardback book_

Yes, but the Fire tablet does not come with any books. You still have to pay
at least 1/5 of the price of the tablet just for an eBook.

~~~
Turing_Machine
"You still have to pay at least 1/5 of the price of the tablet just for an
eBook."

No, you don't.

[http://www.gutenberg.org/](http://www.gutenberg.org/)

~~~
isolate
It's also easy to get copyrighted ebooks for no money. You can even go through
the exercise of borrowing them from libraries if your moral principles would
be compromised.

~~~
copperx
Funny that you say that. These last days I've been contemplating either:

* Getting a 9.6" or larger tablet for reading "free" technical ebooks (in PDF -- I can't stand the formatting of eBooks for technical stuff).

versus

* Buying used copies of the physical books themselves.

So, based on the recommendation of a HN reader, I bought an old Nook HD+ (9"
screen with 250+ ppi) and I tried yesterday. The definition is OK for reading
PDFs, but the interface of the PDF reading apps is atrocious. I'm giving the
Nook to someone else and I'm spending $300+ on used copies of the technical
books I want to read (mostly programming / reference manuals).

eBooks for technical reference are atrocious in several counts, first of all:
typography (it's very common to find an orphan heading at the end of the page
with the paragraph on the next page. This drives me nuts). Next, equations and
diagrams. Terrible. Lastly, navigation.

To be satisfied, I estimate I need a 12"\+ screen with around 300ppi. I think
the iPad Pro can deliver this, but it's a rather expensive proposition.

~~~
isolate
Hey, thanks for the report. I've been contemplating ditching my technical
books for a while but never looked into it. I'm hoping I can tolerate them on
an iPad mini at 326ppi, will definitely look into PDFs.

------
intopieces
I was an early adopter of ebooks. I still enjoy them from time to time, but
the number of typographical or OCR errors in even mainstream, retail books has
made me jump ship. It's frustrating when you pay close to the same price as a
physical copy only to find that the company didn't even bother to check it
over.

------
danmaz74
> The same can’t be said of the e-book, which is seeing a decline in
> popularity. A Pew Research Center study in October found that fewer
> Americans are buying and using e-reading devices like Kindles and Nooks than
> they did in past years.

Fewer sales of specialized e-book readers can simply mean that more people use
tablets and phones to read e-books.

Anyway, I'm glad printed books are most likely here to stay. For studying and
reference, a physical book is still much better than their digital counterpart
- which instead I prefer for novels.

~~~
ZanyProgrammer
Though I have a feeling that a lot of the books people purchase and display on
their shelves are never opened after they are initially read. I get the desire
to actually own a copy of a book, and quite often I'll notice that the Kindle
copy on Amazon is close to being the same price as the physical book-why not
indulge a bit? If I'm pretty sure I'll never read it again, or if I feel the
least bit worried that I won't enjoy the book, going for the cheaper Kindle
option is my first choice (and I don't have tons of money to throw around at
books).

~~~
danmaz74
I agree on that, and I actually buy almost only e-books - I only buy the print
version when I find a keeper (which is pretty rare).

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praetorian84
E-book pricing has become a lot less attractive than it once was. Aside from
the convenience of an e-book being easier to travel with and not taking up
much space, there's little incentive if they are the same price.

~~~
marcc
We tend to compare ebook pricing to physical book pricing based on perceived
value. But the cost to print and deliver the book should not have an impact on
the value you will get from reading it. Trying to "get my money worth"
shouldn't impact your decision. Buy the book in the format you want to enjoy
it. The cost to the publisher and distributor are irrelevant.

There are advantages other than physical size of an ebook: \- Lower effort to
complete the buy -> starting reading process \- My wife and I share an Amazon
account, and therefore we can read an ebook simultaneously

If reading a book in hardcover or paperback form is something you enjoy, they
buy it in that format. If you are happy with an ebook, great -- buy an ebook.

If a physical book and an ebook are the same price, then make your decision
based onhly on which format you want to read in.

~~~
SomeStupidPoint
> If a physical book and an ebook are the same price, then make your decision
> based onhly on which format you want to read in.

Why shouldn't consumers benefit from a change in technology making production
easier? Why do you propose that all the benefits should remain with the
creator?

It's not unreasonable for a society to expect that people who benefit from its
progress share that benefit with the other members.

Expecting ebooks to be cheaper because of reduced production costs is
precisely that expectation -- that publishers which benefit from society
contribute to society.

~~~
marcc
Where am I proposing that "all the benefits should remain with the creator"? I
simply choose the format that I want to read. The cost to produce this format
compared to other formats simply does not impact my decision.

I enjoy reading an ebook on my eink screen. It would be foolish of me to
choose a paperback copy simply because the publisher and distributor made less
of a profit on it.

------
coliveira
I have always believed that printed books will never go away, the same way
that movie theaters didn't stop existing because we now have DVD players.
Printed books and e-books present a different experience with their own
advantages and disadvantages. E-books are good for quick access to lots of
information and have a novelty factor. But traditional books are still easier
to read, can be stored for a long time, and work better as gifts, among other
advantages.

~~~
pmx
I think the main, possibly only reason that movie theaters exist is because
they get the movie before DVD/Blu Ray/Steams and keep them for a long time. If
we could choose to buy them however we wanted to right away I think less
people would brave the cinema and risk having the movie ruined by idiots while
they get gouged on food.

~~~
adrianN
I, for one, don't want to spend thousands on a home theater system that can
deliver an equivalent experience to a movie theater, so I will always go to
the theater for movies that I think are worth the ten bucks. If you go to a
smaller theater, the chances that the movie is ruined by idiots is small.

~~~
christiangenco
Would you spend a few hundred on an oculus rift and a nice pair of headphones?

[https://share.oculus.com/app/vr-cinema](https://share.oculus.com/app/vr-
cinema)

------
erokar
Browsing in ebooks is terrible, at least on my Kindle. I consider text books
basically unreadable as ebooks (including on iBooks on a Mac).

Fiction I always prefer as physical books anyway. Only use Kindle for
traveling — the weight and small size is the only advantage.

~~~
farresito
I've always prefered reference books in paper form; however, novels work very
well in kindle. Although there is something about paper books that I miss, I
still prefer ebooks. I don't really like moving around from side to side
trying to hold the book in the right position when switching pages.

------
tmalsburg2
Perhaps people are realizing that "buying" an ebook doesn't mean that you own
it. For example, you can't resell it or lend it to your friend. Basically what
Stallman says.

~~~
krrrh
This is true in a traditional conception of ownership, but you own an ebook
better in other ways.

I.e., I've moved a lot in the last few years to the point where I have given
away, or just recycled, most of the paper books I've owned. I still have all
the ebook a I've ever purchased.

I lost my kindle in a train station last month. I could still access the books
I was reading on my phone the same day, and when I get a new kindle all the
books will be there with little effort (including notes).

While Stallman's old essay was amazingly prescient and showed an understanding
of how ecosystems around media distribution that few had at the time, the part
he didn't understand was how consumers would differently weigh the benefits
and definitions of ownership.

~~~
tmalsburg2
This is an interesting thought. However, the fact that you were able to give
up the ownership of your paper books doesn't mean that you owned them any less
than your ebooks. The opposite is true because it's an integral part of
ownership that you can give it up or lose it. Ebooks may be more convenient in
some situation but that doesn't mean that we have to redefine the meaning of
ownership. Further, I suspect that even Amazon would agree that you
technically do not own the ebooks that you "bought" from them.

------
asfandyaar
I personally prefer the simplicity of a paper book. I only use Kindles for
stuff like travel guides, where I don't want to lug a heavy Lonely Planet
paper book around, or if I need something immediately.

------
jgalt212
I buy physical books because I then have full control over it (it's in my
hands). With ebooks, Amazon or others have the control (and the data about my
reading habits).

------
noamsml
Anecdote: I switched back from a kindle after 2 years. My kindle broke in the
middle of a thrilling novel (The Magicians by Lev Grossman, highly
recommended), and I decided to buy it hardback. Soon enough, I decided to not
bother getting my kindle fixed -- paper books felt so much more focused, more
visceral, and more engrossing.

I'm not sure it's inherent. This may be a generational thing -- I grew up on
paper books. Still, one data point.

------
upofadown
So I try to buy an ebook but chances are it will turn out to be part of some
DRM scam. So I am supposed to buy it anyway and then hope to break the DRM.
That's if I can get it at all using a particular DRM system. I might have the
wrong operating system or something.

...or...

I can buy a block of paper at at actual store where I can browse the shelves.
Bulky, but for sure I will be able to start reading it on the way home on the
bus.

...or...

I can get an entire library using bittorrent.

------
ChuckMcM
Interesting, I'm growing my e-book library but it gets harder to find DRM free
books. So I find myself buying a print book, cutting off the spine and
scanning it instead. Now with the Surface Pro screen in "clipboard" mode it is
pretty much 1:1 from scan to screen (although smaller books get naturally
enlarged).

~~~
harshreality
You would save lots of time figuring out the workflow for using DeDRM. It's
not difficult at all. You're wasting time and ending up with poor (in visual
quality and lack of flowed text) digital copies of your books. The only books
that are worth scanning (and possibly proofreading to make them text rather
than image-based books) are books that aren't available as ebooks or have some
obscure DRM that's not removable by standard software.

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thewhitetulip
There is something like an inherent bias when it comes to change, when ebooks
were on the rise we just blatantly assume that 50% people dumped real books
for e books, but the fact is there is a steady rise of things when something
changes, it doesn't happen that in one day everyone dumped everything.

then due to such assumptions we see such posts where we have to grapple with
the fact that okay print books aren't going anywhere, only because we had a
bias when we were judging things the last time we reported anything.

yes, one might argue that we see digital books outside in trains, buses and
stuff, but that is the whole point of ereaders, mostly everyone uses them
while traveling while they prefer hard copies at home

------
hownottowrite
Nook, Kindle, iPad search trends.
[http://bit.ly/1karmBs](http://bit.ly/1karmBs)

It's not exactly purchase intent (or precise), but it's certainly an
interesting curve.

~~~
asfandyaar
The long-term downward trend is typical for almost any new product when you
look at only the US market. It corresponds to market saturation, and "everyone
in the US" becoming aware of the particular search term.

------
revelation
Who knew, if you raise prices of eBooks beyond hardcopy and collude with other
book publishers to make them a plain terrible value proposition, _print books_
will sell more.

Little more than a stay of execution.

~~~
Turing_Machine
Yes.

Couple that with the fact that much of the "data" in this area comes from
books with ISBNs (which almost no U.S. indie books have, due to the bizarre
pricing scheme that Bowker has foisted on us) and things really don't look
very good for the trad publishers.

------
technological
I would also like to know how much audio book market increased . I love audio
book compared to e book . I could easily listen to it while travelling or in
the gym.

