Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions

pewresearch.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 74 posts

Re: Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions

#51

Post by Telaneo »

spking wrote: post #36
Telaneo wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reading plain EPUBs on whatever device has been a fairly good experience in my opinion, given that that is more or less just going to be the physical book in digital form. Then again, the only way I think people actually find those are through free online downloads and not any actual store front. Given the choice between 'tainted digital experience' and 'plain analogue experience', I can't blame consumers for choosin…

That was a thing already, in the 1960s and 1970s lots of pulp paperbacks had ads for cigarettes and cheap cologne between chapters, for example.

Thanks. I hate it.

Re: Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions

#52

Post by autoexec »

pseingatl wrote: post #44

The problem with printed books is issues suffered by the visually impaired. It's not an issue solely with font size; printed books have no dark mode. If you're a digital nomad, weight is an issue as well.

If it helps, the bright white pages yellow with age. It'd be nice if dark mode caught on as an option. https://darkeditionbooks.com/ tries, but it looks like they don't have much more than works in the public domain.

Re: Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions

#53

Post by autoexec »

WolfeReader wrote: post #33
skywhopper wrote: post #3

Because they are better in almost every way.

Physical books burn - just ask the Library of Alexandria. Ebooks have so many more ways to be preserved and replicated.

ebooks already dont have a great track record when it comes to preservation. (https://old.reddit.com/r/kindle/comments/18csl9d/all_books_g...) At least Amazon can't break into my house to steal the copy of 1984 I paid for, when somehow they're allowed to remote into my device and delete my purchases whenever they feel like it. Bitrot is real too. Paper books can last a pretty long time (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Cuthbert_Gospel)

There are downsides to both formats, but with paper there's no company keeping track of the date/time I open the books on my selves, or how often I open them, or how long I spend on each page, or how long I take to read the whole thing. I also don't have to worry about the books on my shelves being remotely and silently censored or edited. I don't have to worry about ads being inserted into them and I can freely read them and sell/loan them to others long after they've been banned.

Re: Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions

#54

Post by qmmmur »

UltraSane wrote: post #27
bentley wrote: post #22

I read about two dozen books a year, the majority as audiobooks, most of the rest as ebooks, and typically one or two in print. I quite like print books, but favor ebooks for the minimal size and weight. I prefer ebooks to audiobooks too, but have far more opportunities to listen to an audiobook than to sit down and read an ebook. Even though print books are by far the minority of my reading, I still purchase print c…

We honestly need a new term for listening to an audiobook. But the best part of audiobooks is that you can listen while doing other tasks so they free up many hours a day vs sitting and reading.

Totally. You didn’t “read” an audiobook

Re: Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions

#55

Post by UltraSane »

qmmmur wrote: post #54
UltraSane wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We honestly need a new term for listening to an audiobook. But the best part of audiobooks is that you can listen while doing other tasks so they free up many hours a day vs sitting and reading.

Totally. You didn’t “read” an audiobook

I like to use "consume"

Re: Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions

#56

Post by thot_experiment »

It's probably been well over a decade since the last time I read a book, maybe two. Maybe it's an ADHD thing? but my retention and immersion is just so so so much deeper when I listen to audiobooks, even at 1.6x-2x (depending on the narrator) I feel like I'm transported in a way that reading physically just doesn't give me.

Re: Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions

#57

Post by globular-toast »

loloquwowndueo wrote: post #12
analogpixel wrote: post #2

Watching TV/Movies through any device is a bother, I have to sift through all the advertisements/brand placements for that device to find anything, and most of the time it's the same 20 movies repeated over and over in every section. Reading on a E-device is a bother, I have to sift through all the "sponsored" books and whatever other crap the ebook reader company decides to add, and be at the whims of whatever they…

> Reading on a E-device is a bother, I have to sift through all the "sponsored" books and whatever other crap the ebook reader company decides to add Sounds like you just chose the wrong device. My Boox does none of this. I just put the epub file in the device and read it.

Same with Kobo.

Re: Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions

#58

Post by GenericDev »

thot_experiment wrote: post #56

It's probably been well over a decade since the last time I read a book, maybe two. Maybe it's an ADHD thing? but my retention and immersion is just so so so much deeper when I listen to audiobooks, even at 1.6x-2x (depending on the narrator) I feel like I'm transported in a way that reading physically just doesn't give me.

[dead]

Re: Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions

#59

Post by nottorp »

Telaneo wrote: post #7
analogpixel wrote: post #2

Watching TV/Movies through any device is a bother, I have to sift through all the advertisements/brand placements for that device to find anything, and most of the time it's the same 20 movies repeated over and over in every section. Reading on a E-device is a bother, I have to sift through all the "sponsored" books and whatever other crap the ebook reader company decides to add, and be at the whims of whatever they…

Reading plain EPUBs on whatever device has been a fairly good experience in my opinion, given that that is more or less just going to be the physical book in digital form. Then again, the only way I think people actually find those are through free online downloads and not any actual store front. Given the choice between 'tainted digital experience' and 'plain analogue experience', I can't blame consumers for choosin…

> Then again, the only way I think people actually find those are through free online downloads and not any actual store front.

Mostly correct, but some publishers have seen the light.

Asimov's magazine used to be on kindle subscriptions, then on some dubious application no one had heard of, but now they offer drm-free epubs, for example.

Post reply on HN