Tuesday 20 November 2012

If i hear one more person say they like the feel of paper...

Some quick explanation, i don't think this will be long or turn into a rant.... but knowing me it might.... so yeah if it's a wall of text scroll to the bottom for the Tl;dr...

Over a year ago, back when i was going to college, we would go to my friends dorm room to wait out the break we had between classes and maybe watch something.... one time she had her Kindle out... at this point i didn't have one... she said she didn't use it much right away but the second she discovered how many books she could have with her while it took no room in her tiny dorm room she was hooked.

Then i said the thing i can't stand hearing today. "But i like the smell and feel of paper"

and to be fair.... i really do like it.... it has a kind of nostalgia attached to it...

anyways so i read a few pages and i noticed how it flashed between pages but after the 3rd or 4th page i didn't notice.... plus the thing was really nice on the eyes and it was so light and thin and the battery lasted a month apparently (i didn't believe her claim at the time) best of all you could find lesser known authors and give them a shot for not a whole lot of money... more on that later. anyways not too much later i decided to get one for myself...
I considered myself a bit of a bookworm before.... this made that explode cause i can just carry it in my purse and anytime i'm waiting for something or i'm in transit i can just read a bit... then when i need to it goes back in the purse... and the battery really did last a month to a month and a half.
and yes i still buy real books for certain special things but still i was amazed at some peoples reaction.

If i wasn't getting a snooty version of "well i like paper, nothing will beat it" then i was getting "omg you spent 100 bucks on that? you could have bought real books with that money."
yeah ignoring the fact that i spend anywhere from 1 buck to 5 and hell i've gone as high as 10 (though no higher cause at that point i may as well buy the real thing) and i have about.... 40 -50 books on it when those same titles would have cost me closer to 350-500 bucks... if not more... plus i save on space and i can bring it anywhere... but yeah i could have just bought the real thing... my bad.

i'm not saying e-readers are good for everyone.... i just happen to love mine, when i was goign to college i spent an hour a day in transit and reading was the perfect way to pass the time... now if i transit home it takes me an hour and a half if i connect everything perfectly. it's not like i'm doing anything else with that time... so i may as well read.... oh but i like fantasy... which tends to be thick... good thing i have this ereader that weight less then a pound versus a copy of the count of monte cristo which i probably couldn't fit in my purse anyways...

But seriously just cause i choose to have a medium that relies on technology doesn't give you the right to be an elitist asshole to me.
Part of me does wish that people would stop bitching about the price of the e-books themselves.... yes they dont have the cost of paper or packaging or advertising BUT they do have all the time and effort and love the writer put in..... you want to charge a dollar for all that work? and they don't see all that profit, some goes to the distributor so lets give it an optimist 40 cents.... i just feel like... when i love a book that i'm ripping them off.... : ( i know it's not much betetr if you buy the real thing (i've seen it argued that it's actually much worse.... i am not a writer so i dunno).... i just wish there was a way to show authors more love...

well aside from the fact i make my friends buy their books as well.... i guess thats the best i can do...

oh well...

tl;dr: L like my e-reader and if you don't thats fine just keep your damn opinion to yourself.

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