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Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens

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Re: Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens

#61

Post by ilamont »

I'm an indie publisher of utility nonfiction (i.e. how-to guides). Close to 90% of online unit sales are print. This number has actually risen in recent years as print has grown and ebook sales have remained flat or declined. There are lots of theories floating around on why this is so, but I have to say that Google and Apple have really dropped the ball while Amazon continues to blaze forward on many product and service fronts. For example: at one time the iPad ebook experience was vastly superior to the original Kindle, now with the Kindle Fire and Paperwhite (not to mention the Kindle iOS app) Amazon is in front.

For an analysis of trends in the industry check out the Author Earnings reports here: http://authorearnings.com/

Re: Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens

#62

Post by petra »

stinkytaco wrote: post #60

I've just finished doing quite a bit of reading and research on this since e-books are big responsibility of mine as a librarian. The data seems to point to most people not having a really strong preference. There are a small percentage of people (less that 10%) that prefer ebooks and a larger percentage (30%+) that prefer physical books, but most people's preference is either complicated (they prefer one for a speci…

Does your literature review only takes into account e-ink kindles ? because a lot of the research literature disregards the uniqueness of the kindle.

Re: Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens

#63

Post by jlarocco »

Considering just the reading experience, I prefer physical books, too.

But there's more to consider, and eBooks are better and more convenient in every user case that I have.

I still buy a lot of physical books, but only from used book stores, and only when there's unlikely to ever be an eBook. If I'm buying a new book, it's going to be digital. The only exception is for outdoor guide books.

Re: Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens

#64

Post by ams6110 »

jasonkostempski wrote: post #57
flippyhead wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know this seems a common sentiment here, but I just don't get it. There is almost nothing better about a physical book vs. a Kindle, especially on the high-eng (e.g the Voyage). Whenever I've discussed this with people the only reason I seem to get is some vague sense of nostalgia.

Nostalgia is not my reason. Anything that requires a battery, DRM, a subscription, active bank account, various service accounts, and has a touchscreen that will do FSM-knows-what if you touch it the wrong way, is not convenient to me. There's always that looming feeling that the "book" will just stop working.

Same. Books just work.

Re: Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens

#65

Post by overcast »

libria wrote: post #48
overcast wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, for the travel convenience, the Kindle is great. I fortunately do not spend long periods of time on a train. My reading is at home, in silence.

Even at home, I prefer the ergonomics of holding a pad that's flat open. Paperbacks - new ones especially - require pressure to keep open, usually a thumb/pinky grip. Often the words nearer the spine are read at an angle and with less light. Kindle is more evenly lit and more comfortable to hold. As mentioned above, it's great for linear reading e.g. fiction; poor for computer books.

Good reason I don't read paperbacks :)

Re: Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens

#66

Post by jlarocco »

dagenleg wrote: post #21
devty wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes you say this? Are all positive reviews a corporate sponsored promotion in your view?

Well, the article itself is not discussing the merits of Kindle Voyage so the comment looked out of place for me. And certainly marketing via internet comments is a thing, even on HackerNews. I think it's called "integrated" marketing, or whatever the current newspeak for that one is. Regardless my comment was mostly made tongue-in-cheek

Wat? Somebody's positive experience with an eBook reader is certainly on topic for an article discussing eBooks.

And two seconds looking their karma and other comments makes it fairly obvious the OP isn't an Amazon shill.

Re: Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens

#67

Post by plopz »

panzagl wrote: post #29
devty wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fascinating - I am the exact opposite! I've found that for reading fictions - a narrative that mostly move forward - the limition of eink displays in freely flipping between pages to be less annoying.

Same here, especially since fiction rarely has diagrams or maps.

I find myself constantly flipping back to the maps at the beginning of most fantasy novels.

Re: Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens

#68

Post by vivekd »

paper books are better for children I think because they need a lot of pictures, and e-readers really haven't gotten up to that level. Also, I think it's good for children to have physical books to hold and interact with that allow for no distractions.

As an adult though, I much prefer ebooks, it's more portable and convenient. I do almost all of my reading on e-readers now.

Re: Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens

#69

Post by cfmcdonald »

flippyhead wrote: post #20
jasonkostempski wrote: post #9

Adults too.

I know this seems a common sentiment here, but I just don't get it. There is almost nothing better about a physical book vs. a Kindle, especially on the high-eng (e.g the Voyage). Whenever I've discussed this with people the only reason I seem to get is some vague sense of nostalgia.

A large percentage of the books I read are history or fantasy books with maps. It's such a pain to refer to the maps in a Kindle book that I almost never do it, and they are generally rendered illegibly anyway.

Another example is history books with image plates. In a physical book it's easy to flip to the plate section and skim through it rapidly, on a Kindle, no, and of course any color is lost.

There are other aesthetic qualities to books that are often lost, e.g. flip through a copy of Steven Johnson's Wonderland. Notice the color interstitial pages and the way images are integrated with the text. All lost on Kindle.

In general any sort of subtlety in layout/use of fonts is lost on Kindle (e.g. sidebars, or little italics at the margins summarize a given section)

There's of course the obvious issue of ease of passing on/reselling a book.

This is only a partial enumeration of the reasons I've reverted fully to print books after flirting with the Kindle.

Re: Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screens

#70

Post by mmanfrin »

I cannot read longer books unless I'm reading on an ereader. Normal books are fine in paper or ebook, but if a book is >500 pages, I psych myself out when trying to read (and also find it unwieldy to read on public transit when I dont have a seat).

The other bit that I could not live without now is the time-left-in-chapter estimator. It's so much easier for me to get squirreled away for hours because I'll end a chapter and see the next one is only 12 minutes... repeat x 10.

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