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Digital books wear out faster than physical books

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Re: Digital books wear out faster than physical books

#131

Post by fideloper »

Many of the books I read as a kid would never have been read if they weren't a physical chunk of dead wood in front of my face, sitting on a book shelf.

Now, as a full-ass adult with young kids, I usually buy books from Kindle. It's far more convenient to use the Kindle app on my phone.

But there's a voice in the back of my head wondering if I'm doing my kids a disservice. They don't see me holding a big chunk of dead tree and reading. They just see be looking at my phone.

I also feel like Kindle is setting up a situation where my kids won't have the joy of discovering a book, or author, serendipitously. When the books are just sitting there on a shelf (they were in my bedroom as a kid, basically just as overflow because we had too many in the house), it's easy to get bored and pick up a book.

But I wonder if kids even get bored now. They have phones! If they're feeling the slightest bit bored, out comes the phone. (That's how I am at least, a full-fledged adult who didn't have a phone growing up).

Maybe the idea of discovering a good book out of boredom is dead.

Re: Digital books wear out faster than physical books

#132

Post by irrational »

midoridensha wrote: post #75
version_five wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is nonsense. I have almost never seen paperbacks wear out. Obviously it's possible, but even in any of their common failure modes, they are still easily read. I don't know why anyone would argue that saved files are somehow more reliable, it feels not at all genuine

You've never seen a paperback made in the 1960s-1990s? The paper is brittle and the pages are literally falling apart. You can't read paper where pieces of it have fallen off and disintegrated.

I have many paperbacks from the 1950s to the present day. Some of the really old ones are a little yellow around the edges, but brittle and falling apart? Never. I have no idea what you are talking about.

Re: Digital books wear out faster than physical books

#133

Post by kevmo »

fideloper wrote: post #131

Many of the books I read as a kid would never have been read if they weren't a physical chunk of dead wood in front of my face, sitting on a book shelf. Now, as a full-ass adult with young kids, I usually buy books from Kindle. It's far more convenient to use the Kindle app on my phone. But there's a voice in the back of my head wondering if I'm doing my kids a disservice. They don't see me holding a big chunk of dea…

Sounds like you already know you're doing your kids a disservice.

Re: Digital books wear out faster than physical books

#134

Post by troupe »

falcolas wrote: post #118
troupe wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When I kick the bucket, what happens to my hard drive? Well you could write a will saying that you want it to be released to the public and then have someone come along and say, "they didn't really mean it." http://www.aaronsw.com/2002/continuity

The prior version is still available, though? And the caveat "the wishes that Aaron had in 2003 do not necessarily correspond with those that he had in 2013" is a far cry from "they didn't really mean it", especially when the old version is still available (encoded as data on the existing page).

I guess I'm seeing it more as a will where you state what you want to have happen after you die. So they are saying that what he wrote in 2003, he didn't mean in 2013. I'll agree it is a far cry in wording, but seems similar in intent.

Maybe they are saying that he forgot he had published that page. Maybe there was something he wrote or told someone that contradicted what he had published. All we have to go off of was his digital will for his hard drives.

Re: Digital books wear out faster than physical books

#135

Post by theNJR »

fideloper wrote: post #131

Many of the books I read as a kid would never have been read if they weren't a physical chunk of dead wood in front of my face, sitting on a book shelf. Now, as a full-ass adult with young kids, I usually buy books from Kindle. It's far more convenient to use the Kindle app on my phone. But there's a voice in the back of my head wondering if I'm doing my kids a disservice. They don't see me holding a big chunk of dea…

I have this exact worry as a dad of a seven day old.

During pregnancy, my wife and I read various new parent books out loud to each other. The plan is to continue that with baby. Maybe she’ll associate the Kindle with reading, but my dad collects books, so I grew up absolutely surrounded by them. If he just had a big kindle library, not sure it would have had an effect

Re: Digital books wear out faster than physical books

#136

Post by nitwit005 »

bragr wrote: post #12
Yujf wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I generally buy books that came out recently (but pirate 10+ year old books) and the first thing I do to a new book is crack the DRM so I can just save an EPUB that I can read where I want to read it, when I want to read it.

Authors that published 10+ years ago don't have bills to pay? This is a weird moral distinction to me.

It's a moral distinction that the US constitution agrees with, as it says:

"The Congress shall have Power [...] to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."

With emphasis on "limited times". The original period was 14 years. The current standard of author's lifetime plus 70 years is technically a limit, but seems against the intent of the law.

Re: Digital books wear out faster than physical books

#137

Post by WalterBright »

version_five wrote: post #42
falcolas wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trade paperbacks will wear out in months or years. Zip files containing HTML documents... we'll be able to read them for a very long time.

This is nonsense. I have almost never seen paperbacks wear out. Obviously it's possible, but even in any of their common failure modes, they are still easily read. I don't know why anyone would argue that saved files are somehow more reliable, it feels not at all genuine

Paperbacks are easily lost, stolen, or destroyed by things like flood, fire, mildew, insects.

While digital books are also stored on media that can be lost, stolen, etc., the magic comes from storing multiple copies in different places.

Re: Digital books wear out faster than physical books

#138

Post by WalterBright »

version_five wrote: post #42
falcolas wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trade paperbacks will wear out in months or years. Zip files containing HTML documents... we'll be able to read them for a very long time.

This is nonsense. I have almost never seen paperbacks wear out. Obviously it's possible, but even in any of their common failure modes, they are still easily read. I don't know why anyone would argue that saved files are somehow more reliable, it feels not at all genuine

If you like pulp fiction from, say, the 1930s, they are very expensive if you can find them.

Re: Digital books wear out faster than physical books

#140

Post by squeaky-clean »

fideloper wrote: post #131

Many of the books I read as a kid would never have been read if they weren't a physical chunk of dead wood in front of my face, sitting on a book shelf. Now, as a full-ass adult with young kids, I usually buy books from Kindle. It's far more convenient to use the Kindle app on my phone. But there's a voice in the back of my head wondering if I'm doing my kids a disservice. They don't see me holding a big chunk of dea…

Learn a trick from the kids and hide your phone in a book ;p Works until they ask why you never turn the page
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