Santa brought me an iPad Pro for Christmas and I’m enjoying the larger screen (bigger than iPad 1 and iPad 2 which I’d been using for years). Mostly, I use iPads to read ebooks. I’m closing in on 200 ebooks (most free) in my Kindle Cloud. I set the font to Large Print size and find I can read ebooks rapidly. Yes, I prefer Real Books, but some books are only available as ebooks. Do you read ebooks? If you do, what kind of device do you prefer? Are you an APPLE fan?
I have a kindle. I have a lot of books downloaded but I haven’t used it much this last year, mainly for tor.com novellas.
Steve, AMAZON sometimes offers a free Kindle version when I buy a print book. I can’t pass them up!
I hate ebooks because of the small screen!
I like to read physical books or on my laptop.
But my wife is very happy with her kindle – whenever her son visits us (like this Xmas) he downloads hundreds of books for her. mysteries, SF, Fantasy – it’s kind of astonishing how many titles are translated into Hungarian (not an easy task btw …) even though with the relatively small market except for bestsellers the translators probably don’t make much money.
Wolf, my new iPad Pro’s screen is over 12 inches. Bigger is better!
I have over a thousand books on Kindle and have read only two. Go figure.
Jerry, wow! I thought 200 ebooks were a lot. I’ve read over a dozen ebooks on my old iPads. This larger iPad Pro screen might motivate me to read more ebooks in 2019.
Nice one. We have Kindles,both Paperwhites now, and Jackie reads hers in bed at night so I can sleep. She actually prefers ebooks to “real” books as they are easier on her wrists. I love books, all books, and can read in any format,
Currently, I have 768 items on the Kindle, but some are complete collections – Oz books, Sherlock Holmes, F. Scott Fitzgerald short stories, Chekhov plays and 200 stories, etc. You get the idea, I’m sure if I counted the actual total number of books it would probably be around 1000. Like George I can’t resist abargain, let alone the magic word FREE!
Jeff, Patrick loves his Paperwhite Kindle and takes it with him on all his flights. Patrick also uses his iPad Pro a lot, too. And his APPLE laptop. And his iPhone. And his…
Jeff, my wife feels like yours re heavy books.
I still rember when she asked me to cut a book into three parts because it was too heavy for her hands – it wasone of the Game Of Thrones volumes …
Since then she only uses her kindle. 🙂
We both like to read sitting in our favourite “lounge chairs” where your legs are horizontal – the doc says it’s better for your veins. I already had a thrombosis once when I was still working from standing and sitting in a chair too long without moving …
If I sit with my legs up, they go to sleep. No recliners or foot stools for me.
Wolf, we have vibrating sofa chairs to keep things moving!
Over the past few years, I’ve moved from reading exclusively physical books to reading mainly on my kindle (which I actually “inherited” from Julia when she got an updated model). I’d say the ratio is about 85%-to-15% ebooks to paper. I download lots of samples, freebies, and 99-cent specials (and never feel guilty about not finishing them if they aren’t to my taste). Paying “real” money for an ebook (more than $2.99) will almost always guarantee that I’ll plow on to the bitter end. I also read ebooks from my local library, checked out via the Cloud Library or Overdrive.
Deb, my local Public Library offers thousands of ebooks to download. In 2019, I’ll have to figure out their process. One of my NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS is to spend less money on books. And to donate at least another 2,000 books to SUNY at Buffalo this Summer. Diane is also in “De-Clutter” mode.
Deb,
i’m glad you mentioned that. We do that a lot. Jackie started asking me to check if the library had her books on Overdrive. Last year in Florida, she had a list of which books were available, and as she finished one, I’d do the following (for George and Patti): go on Amazon and make sure to sign in; go to the library website and sign in to Jackie’s account; search for the book in question and see if it was available on Overdrive; check it out; download it; check off Kindle, which sends you back to Amazon
(hence the sign in); send it to the correct KIndle. Then sign out of Amazon and the library. As long as I do this at home or the hotel where I am connected to WiFi, it could not be easier. You get the same three weeks as a regular book check out, though you cannot renew it. If it isn’t available, I can put it on hold. They will let me know when it is available and you get six day to check it out.
Your system may be different. Once you get used to it, it’s simple.
I use the kindle rather than the ipad, which I find too heavy.
Patti, my iPad Pro came with a nice Zugu iPad cover. I can stand the iPad Pro up so weight isn’t an issue.
That new iPad is awfully big.
I use my iPad, and the Kindle on the Mac accessory, to read ebooks. I don’t mind them, and have quite a few, about two thirds unread. I also check ebooks out of the library, pretty much the process Jeff outlines in his comment. I’ve got one checked out now.
Rick, I’ve noticed that sometimes our Library only has an ebook version of a book I want to read. For example, THE BOOK OF MAGIC edited by George R. R. Martin is only available at our Library in ebook format although a print version exists.
I’m sure there is some pricing structure publishers use for libraries, and ebooks may be cheaper in some instances.
Rick, Libraries cater to the tastes of their users. If you walked into our Library, you’d see racks and racks of DVDs and Blu-rays. Then about a dozen computers (always in use). Then, finally, books. I’m sure the demand for ebooks is growing so the Libraries are offering more and more of them.
George, I mostly read ebooks on my Samsung Tablet that has a screen the size of a normal book page. I have read dozens of novels and short stories on the tab, though none more than 200-250 pages in length.
Prashant, I’m putting more Big Fat Books–books that are 500 pages or more–on my iPad Pro. Holding big, awkward books annoys me.
I am a huge book collector and have thousands of books at my house and office but I mainly read at night in bed and nothing beats my ipad pro which is now where I do almost 100% of my reading
Andrew, as I grow older, Large Print is my preferred font. The iPad Pro allows me to make every ebook a Large Print book.