This is time for a comeback on the last poll. The subject matter was one of the current talk of the town in the literary business. I was avid to know a little more on the current users of e-books and the reason why there was still people like me who were still a little cold about the switch of format for our beloved fantasy novels. Follow this link for the original post.
The results :
When do you think you'll start reading e-books?
- I already do - 48%
- Never - 19%
- In the near future - 9%
- Not until a couple of years - 23%
What is keeping you from reading e-books now?
- I already read e-books - 11
- The price of the books - 8
- The availability - 1
- The price of the e-readers - 14
- The loss of physical book feeling - 26
- DRM - 9
I have noticed since posting the last poll that there was much anger toward DRM. If we judge by the results of my poll, although it can be a considerable annoyance, it doesn't seem like its really the main factor keeping people from going with e-books instead of physical ones. Since half the respondents already read e-books and a fifth will never switch to the digital format, this applies only to 30% of the future readers.
I admit I'm slightly surprise by the answers. I had not anticipated that much readers to be already going with e-books, more so with all the fantasy e-books problems. These figures were recently supported by this announcement from Amazon. It seems that Kindle is now the bestselling product of all time on Amazon Wolrdwide, eclipsing even Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. With so many people owning a Kindle and other e-readers like the Ipod/Iphone/Ipad, it seems that the digital era is already upon us.
Then what is it that's keeping the rest of crowd from switching? Well the most popular answer was the loss of physical book feeling. That is my main reason and since it can't be recreated (even with a reader encased in a leather case....) it will probably be a turn down for myself and the other respondent for quite a while. The practicality, pricing and availability will probably eventually win us but I don't think this will be in the near future.
I admit I'm slightly surprise by the answers. I had not anticipated that much readers to be already going with e-books, more so with all the fantasy e-books problems. These figures were recently supported by this announcement from Amazon. It seems that Kindle is now the bestselling product of all time on Amazon Wolrdwide, eclipsing even Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. With so many people owning a Kindle and other e-readers like the Ipod/Iphone/Ipad, it seems that the digital era is already upon us.
Then what is it that's keeping the rest of crowd from switching? Well the most popular answer was the loss of physical book feeling. That is my main reason and since it can't be recreated (even with a reader encased in a leather case....) it will probably be a turn down for myself and the other respondent for quite a while. The practicality, pricing and availability will probably eventually win us but I don't think this will be in the near future.
I got an ereader for Christmas this year. Up until that time I wasn't sure how I would feel about them, but I pretty much love mine. There are certain series I will still collect in paper form, but for the majority of novels I am perfectly content with just reading it and being done with it (this is a much different view than I recently had [until I owned an ereader]). My brother likes physical books, and he's got about 20 boxes full laying around his house... I don't want to end up like him.
ReplyDeleteI think that's exactly what will probably get me into reading e-books eventually... receiving an e-reader as a gift.
ReplyDeleteWhich e-reader did you receive?