
The 2010s were supposed to bring the eBook revolution. It never quite came - SirLJ
https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/12/23/20991659/ebook-amazon-kindle-ereader-department-of-justice-publishing-lawsuit-apple-ipad
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bediger4000
According to this article, the problem is oligopolistic markets: only 5 major
book publishers exist, and they have no interest in competing.

The article also doesn't examine the consequences: are consumers getting as
many books as they want? Is society better off with fewer books available?
What about the effects on authors?

Oddly, neither phrase "copyright" or "intellectual property" appear in this
article. That's the legal construct that underpins the oligopoly, though.

This article is pretty shallow. It barely scratches the surface of the
issue(s).

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regulation_d
> That's the legal construct that underpins the oligopoly, though.

The durations of copyright protection in the US are too long and that's
probably the fault of big corporations, predominantly Disney.

The goal of the copyright policy should be to balance incentivizing creativity
(by providing rights and protections) and having a rich public domain. And
every time we extend copyright duration, we starve the public domain and we
should stop doing that.

But copyright as a construct is very democratic. If anyone creates anything
original that can be reduced to a medium, they have rights over that thing for
as long as they live (and then some). Those rights include the ability to sell
it to others, including big corporations, I guess, but the rights begin with
the creators, and that's very democratic.

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bwb
For me it is a revolution, I read everything on ebook and love it! :)

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ativzzz
Agreed, with the exceptions being technical books or informational nonfiction.
I've found that anything that requires taking notes is much easier with a
physical book, as I can write in the book; taking notes and highlighting in my
kindle just doesn't feel as good.

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superhuzza
Yes but I've heard great things from friends with "pen tablets". Easy to
search, takes notes, highlight etc.

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tathougies
Doesn't fit my experience at all. My wife and i read ebooks all the time from
our local library. Way easier than making time to go during the day and no
need to worry about due dates

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kccqzy
For me the reason is simple. I read most books only once. So it doesn't really
make much sense to buy books. I instead borrow most books from a local
library. I know it is possible to borrow eBooks, but they often come with
restrictions and DRM software and maybe even books that phone home to report
my reading progress. I don't want these at all. Borrowing paper books doesn't
have any of these issues. And you can't beat the price of $0.

I once owned a Kindle. I no longer use it.

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slothtrop
Library e-books also have artificial limits on carry, like a maximum of 2 of a
kind per city, and these are then "checked out" and unavailable to other
users. It's pants-on-head stupid.

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Pinbenterjamin
It's all in what you want as a reader.

For some, it's comparing 'holding a physical book and turning the pages' to
the more active, not taking readers.

I don't think the leaders in the ebook industry really understood what the
target market was when they took on the endeavor.

For me, ebooks made a lot more sense. Using exclusively the kindle app, I can
keep track of my progress across multiple books, score and rate them, make
notes (which are preserved and easy to access), and share insightful quotes
from my favorite books. If you're a social reader there's really nothing like
it.

If you're more of the page turner type, or someone who enjoys the catharsis of
reading a book, nothing is going to compare to the feeling of turning a
physical page, sipping on some tea in just the right amount of lighting, etc.

I think ebooks set out to capture the first market, and they did it, but
people expected it to dominate the book market, which it hasn't and won't.

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nesky
I tried a Kindle and iPad for reading and I just didn't enjoy what I was
reading as much. One of the joys of reading to me is disconnecting - full stop
- I don't get that feeling when I pick up a Kindle or iPad to read and
subsequently don't enjoy what I'm reading as much. I'm a sucker for the used
books on Amazon lol.

Physical books will always reign supreme in my eyes apart from textbooks or
technical books where I actually prefer a pdf or ebook that I can easily
search for terms, keywords, etc.

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excursionist
Maybe the revolution hasn't come for the publishers, based on ebook sales
numbers, but the people I know who regularly use ereaders download most of
their ebooks for free.

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jbarberu
I have a kindle that I think I've read 5-6 books on since buying it in 2016.
It's great for longer trips where bringing multiple books is inconvenient, but
otherwise I prefer not having to worry about charging or losing yet another
device.

For me the pro/cons of physical vs ebook just about equal out and with ebooks
being more expensive that tips me towards physical still.

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aurizon
It came, seemed to be defeated, then seedboxes rescued it. Never bought an
e-book or mp3book (read out loud) since. Everything gets scanned or read.
Publishers gave themselves head shots based on greed...

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cartoonfoxes
The state of PDF rendering on most of these devices has always been the
showstopper for me.

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jborichevskiy
FWIW, the reMarkable tablet handles PDFs considerably better than my Kindle.

