/lit/ - Literature

dare you to chat shit to my face you wee little cunt

>Trolling an obscure message board because you want to anonymously show off your new trinket.

wait until the power goes out and the batteries in all of your USB charged devices all go flat.

then i'll just sit back here and laugh while reading GR in paperback.

>>4159930
ereader batteries last for weeks ...

Somebody bought me a kindle as a present out of nowhere and even though I really don't want to, I feel the need to use it.

I'm forced to read on my tablet because I can't find the books I want in english or any language here in Hu3 land even living in a capital. But nothing can replace the feeling of reading in a real book.
Also
>ebooks
>lasting something longer than a sneeze
I just imagine future archaeologists wondering why there was a huge period were there was almost no books being printed. The ones who were being simply childish rubbish.

>>4160093
This. Sometimes I just open it and browse my collection.

>>4159930
one should not hold back societal or technological progress because things might fail
we don't all have our own self sufficient farms in case there's food shortages, and we still ride in planes despite the possibility of crashes; similarly we should not still use paperbacks because the power might go out for a long period
also, e-readers last a really long time, even if you don't use the light. The kobo glo can read 3 full books at a normal reading speed with the frontlight on, with it off it lasts for fucking ever

>>4160100
do you expect digital archives won't be retained indefinitely?

>>4160109
*even if you use the light

>>4160109
Books are made for lasting. They are the mouths of men and women dead long ago. If they are made digitally available so a larger number of people have access to them it's fine. But completely replacing the good old resilient books for this faggot is plain stupid. It's like the saying that it would be easier for the Egyptians to make the pyramids smaller and made of wood. Books are made to last. Ebooks don't.

>>4159928
I only eat beef hot dogs

>>4159930
Wait until all of your books are burned in the LIbrary of Alexandria and we lose them for eternity

>>4160120
Wait until someone trips over your powerline or a solar flare hits the earth.

>>4160116
you've confused yourself
things lasting is mostly irrelevant
there is no reason why commodities that private citizens own should be made to last longer than 100 years, if that, unless they're very likely to be passed along
if you mean for archiving, this is again nonsense, it's far cheaper to back books up in highly redundant high density digital storage than to keep print copies around

>>4160123
>Things lasting long is irrelevant
Not him but, what the fuck?
Are you on crack?

>>4160122
high density long term storage does not need constant power, and if the purpose is archival, they can be put in locations protected from solar flares

>>4160127
no, I am not on crack
it is extremely likely that anything I buy today will be outdated fifty years from now, with the exclusion of very specific things like high quality cooking ware or desks or chairs or whatever. So long as I can still get a copy, and so can my grandchildren, it doesn't matter than a book I buy for myself today be made well enough to last a long time. It's a waste of resources and only makes books more expensive and less available, for something I will have no use for.

>>4160100
what's Hu3 land?

>>4160156
The most mediocre of the great nations.
>tfw the US congress is unable to digitalize it's collection
>tfw I'll probably never touch one of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky works
It feels.

ebooks are so convenient. I can go and read outside in the pitch black night without awkwardly holding onto some lamp. I can read with one hand (a fucking godsend when compared to reading those small paperback books you have to hold open all the time.) Best part of all? I can put it in my pocket. I have enough reading material in my pocket to last me weeks.

Enjoy carrying an entire library if you want to travel, nerds.

>>4160159
unable or unwilling?

>>4160169
Both.

>>4160175
why would they be unable, other than the recent shutdown?

>>4160164

Lol, being able to put in my study material and switch from recreational fiction, to a collection of essays for one class, to a large tome for another one, to a technical class that would usually call for a huge textbook.

Sure is highly inconvenient on my ereader.

>>4160185
why would you write a post that agrees with him like that?

>>4160183
God knows. They are americans.

>>4160189
Pretty sure its the same guy responding to himself.

On the subject of eReaders; If I owned one, I would definitely read a lot more. But if there was a novel I really really enjoyed/loved, I'd purchase a physical copy to keep around. I'm sentimental like that.

>>4160189

I don't know, now that you mention it.

It's like I sorta felt a connection with him, as if we were sitting around a bonfire cracking jokes at people who carry around books as an affectation.

>>4160194
This.

>>4159894
I just bought a kindle. It's perfect.
I can't believe it took me this long to buy one.

>>4160164
I bought a 7inch tab cos most of my ebooks are in pdf. It's ok r-right?

>>4160211
the kobo glo can read pdfs
also, what books? unless they're technical with lots of diagrams, you can get them converted to an appropriate format

>>4160100
>future archaeologists
>"Guys, why in the world did they stop pressing so much vinyl!"

I also just started using a kindle when they released the new generation. It's nice to have for books that I would otherwise have no physical attachment to. For my favorite authors I still prefer a hard copy simply because I enjoy having it around.

Like others have said, it also makes reading incredibly convenient. I actually found myself reading my Kindle in bed at night with a lamp on. It took me a good 20 minutes to remember that I no longer needed the lamp. My late night reading also doesn't bother my girlfriend as much now.

Also, there's obviously no comparison for signed or collectible books. There's also some books that have outrageous prices despite the fact that they're ebooks, for example:
http://www.amazon.com/Abraham-Lincoln-Life-Michael-Burlingame/dp/0801889936

I can understand the cost being fair for a physical copy because it's a rather extensive work, but I have a hard time understanding what justifies an e-book costing such an exorbitant amount.

>>4160223
>$70 for Kindle version

Jesus H Christington.

>My Kindle is filled mostly with free editions of old books.

Feels good man.

>>4160203
I felt like that too, after I bought it. One month in, I had some other shit to do and didn't use it for a few weeks, now I think the battery is busted or something, it discharges very fast. Eh, I have enough money and enough paper books anyway...

>>4160226
Seriously. I thought maybe they were trying to justify the value of information contained in it. I could understand that. But the audio version is only $17. Presumably it contains the same amount of valuable information (although maybe in a less convenient format).

I hate to admit it, but I'm glad to kindle edition is said to be plagued with typos, including additional hyphens, misread characters, etc. That way I don't feel as though I'm missing out so much

>>4160230
What version/generation of the Kindle do you have?

>>4160238
Is the price set by Amazon, or the publisher? Because I could see an "old-fashioned" type publisher not understanding how digital works, and just sets the price the same as physical.

>>4160247
It's publisher driven, not Amazon. Amazon, generally speaking, either complies with the publishers idea of a fair price or the book can be yanked from the marketplace.

>>4160195
I was talking to you the whole time, brother. :)

I was listening to NPR on the way home from work yesterday and head about Scribd. From what I understand they're looking to become the Netflix of e-books, where a monthly subscription allows access to unlimited downloads from their catalog.

Does anybody have any experience with the service? Considering giving it a go, despite the fact that their library is somewhat limited.

>>4160266
I use my local library's ebooks and then just convert them to a file format that doesn't expire.

>>4160266
Unless you're an avid reader who can burn through a pile of books in no time at all, it doesn't really sound worth it. What are the prices?

>>4160291
Just looked at their site, $8.99.

I can pretty comfortably finish enough books that may justify the cost, but I'm also a fan of re-reading. Re-reading books seems like the worst way to use such a service as it's the least amount of differing content while costing the same amount.

From my opinion, this platform misses why people use ebook readers. Aside from being more convenient in content delivery, there doesn't seem to be much benefit over a conventional library. If you're paying a monthly fee, I don't imagine you're likely to partially read the books you download, so the ability to download masses doesn't add up to much. If you aren't accumulating a decent amount of books from the service, then portability isn't an issue since one or two paperbacks isn't particularly cumbersome. Of course you avoid late fees, but you're paying a monthly fee to do so (which seems incredibly counter-intuitive, almost to the point I'm surprised they advertise that on the website. Also, at my library at least, raking in $9 in late fees would take quite some time).

Just an opinion from somebody who hasn't used the service, so take that as you will.

>>4160291
If you get a kindle, you can get just about any e-book for free.
It's worth it. Math doesn't even have to come into this.

Paper
>classics
>books with extensive notation
>books with many pictures or illustrations
>used books
>books with especially nice covers

e-book
>everything else


Reading a penguin classic with a cunt-ton of explanatory notes at the end on a kindle really is the worst thing ever

>>4160456
>If you get a kindle, you can get just about any e-book for free.
They're public domain books; you can get them anywhere on the internet for free, or on paperback for like $2

>>4160150
you should read the system of objects by jean baudrillard, it's not that long

>>4160471
Man, if you think you still have to pay for digital media of any kind, you've been using the internet wrong.

>>4160467
honestly this should be the last book vs. ebook post ever on /lit/

someone sticky this post and plz everyone else shut up

>>4160435
It pays for itself if you usally purchase more than one book a month

>>4160482
Musicians have concerts and film producers have Netflix and TV royalties. What do authors have aside from book purchases? Support a dying medium

>>4160491
It's not dying. And if you think I'm going to pay 9 bucks for a book that has no material, storage, shipping or personnel costs, than you're crazy. I haven't payed more than 3 bucks for a book in over 6 years. Whoever is getting the money, it sure as shit isn't the author.

>>4160486
Except, from what I understand, you aren't purchasing the book. You don't own it. If my subscription stops I don't imagine they would allow every book I've downloaded to remain on my device. Otherwise people would download every book in their library during the free trial.

I think it would be more apt to compare it to a digital library service.

>>4160491
>What do authors have aside from book purchases?
Send the author a dollar or two via mail/bitcoins/bank transaction if you really his stuff. There will always be people buying the works, piracy rate will never be 100% for anything, your individual purchase of lack of it doesn't affect one fuck.
>>4160266
>>4160291
>>4160435
Couldn't someone just purchase a month of subscription, download/copypaste everything they have (with a script if you're lazy) and never pay again?

>>4160510
>Whoever is getting the money, it sure as shit isn't the author.
authors often get more off e-book sales than paper sales, usually because the digital retailer's cut is so much lower than the average brick and mortar's cut

>>4160515
Let me clarify: if you purchase and read more than one unique book a month, then it pays for itself. It obviously doesn't suit re-readers a ton, unless you read so much that $108/year ends up being much less that what you normally end up spending on books

i like that they're more eco friendly than regular books, but theres too much room for abuse.
i can see a time in the future after we've fucked the earth up enough to where its illegal to kill trees and if you wanna read, digital will be your only choice.
when this happens people can edit or remove any information or books they so please.
they can be good, but they can be abused and most likely will.
also, if theres every some sort of emp attack and all the regular books are gone, there'll be nothing left to read on earth.

>>4160586
Anyone else notice the correlation between shit grammar and childish ideas?

>>4160586
Just so you know, governments have done this before without the aid of digital books and e-readers. Also saying "people can edit or remove" doesn't lend much to your worries, as even you don't seem to know who these "people" are.
>some sort of emp attack
If there's "some sort of emp attack" that manages to destroy every redundant collection of digital books, you'll have quite a bit more to worry about than not having a copy of Harry Potter available, I assure you.

>>4160560
Even still, you don't own the book you've downloaded. I imagine once you cancel your subscription to the service, your rights to the content are revoked. My point is that I don't see how, aside from transitioning from paper to e-reader, this is any more than a public library with a monthly fee.

I only see fags using e readers. Literally no one else uses them. Real reader master race forever

>>4160622

>>4160622
You didn't even try hard enough to actually bait your hook here.

>>4160629
Sorry nerdlord, I'm only concerned with stating the facts.

>>4160635
How often do you leave you're house?

>>4160639
Pretty often.

>>4159894
>reading dead neurons
Laughing_protons.jpg

You guys are dumb and you argue about dumb things.

>62 posts and 4 image replies omitted.

Sweet Buttery Christ.

>books

for real men

>e-books

for fags and women

>>4160606
yeah, but when done electronically, no one even has to leave their home or go out and burn all the books they don't like, europes already censoring the fuck out of their internet under the guise of removing cp they remove a bunch of other shit they don't like, differing opinions and such.

>>4160605
just you.
its the message that matters, not how its written, but ya'll have fun destroying your own home carelessly.
your home doesn't end when you step out the door folks and a lot of you need to stop thinking on a personal basis, but on a world one.
icare about wildlife, caere about air, care about trees and clean water, cause when it comes down to it, these are the only things that really matter in the long run and we're systematically destroying it all. without all this, everything and everyone is dead.

>>4160670
Arguing about important things requires an emotional investment that makes people uncomfortable.

>>4160699
>Arguing about important things requires an emotional investment
No it doesn't. See: politics of any country, ever.

sorry for bumping this thread but i dont feel like starting a new one

i never tried an e-book before, should i go for kindle or kobo? people recommended me kobobecause of the touchscreen but i honestly dont see much use on that

I think less of anyone reading e-books or smoking e-cigarettes. It's lame.

>>4160763
Do you use e-mail?

>>4160763
My soul is gravely wounded by this, good sir.

>>4160762
You should try a couple out to see which you prefer. It's mostly personal preference. I enjoyed using the Kindle Paperwhite because it has the most seamless (in my opinion) ecosystem.
You do give up a little functionality with the Kindle though, for example the lack of expandable memory. The Kobo Glo, on the other hand, can be expanded up to 32GB. The Kobo products also offer more ability to customize your font settings, although I haven't felt the need to adjust the font on my Kindle since it left the box. That said, it never hurts to have options (no reduction to absurdity please!).

In any case, if you can, get a feel for the options and read about their pros and cons online. You're more likely to make a better decision for yourself than we can make for you.

>>4160779
I didn't add this for fear that it may unjustly color your decision, but in retrospect it seemed a serious enough concern to bring up.

What really steered me away from Kobo products was their record of pretty abysmal customer service. While some of the complaints are dated and I'm pretty sure the company has changed ownership, their record is certainly less than stellar.

Take that for what it's worth, from somebody who has never had to deal with the customer support in question. It doesn't take much effort to find an extensive amount of complaints on the topic.

>>4160712
politics might aswell be on the same level as football or professional wrestling nowadays.
except whoever wins, we lose. everytime

>>4160712
It's an unfair assessment to say politics takes no emotional investment. There is bound to be an emotional investment, but whether it's connected to the politics at hand or something else is entirely open for question.

You can lie all day and argue tiny details with no particular care about the policy at hand, but have an emotional investment in keeping your job and supporting yourself or family (or both, obviously).

>>4160785
thanks. i was inclining more towards kobo because of the pdf support and the price (i think the kobo miniis less than 50 euros), but ill watch a couple more reviews on youtube

>>4160435
just fucking use the internet
holy shit
unless it's really obscure anything published in a format for kindles will appear on the internet somewhere

>>4161053
I'm sorry you didn't work hard in school and can't afford to pay for a hobby you enjoy.