Do you usually purchase digital or physical books? Why?

Yes, because I like reading.

But seriously, ebooks... maybe 8.5 times out of 10. E-ink screens are amazing and just as good as paper, but having your books also available on your phone, and thus always in your pocket, is transformative. So, digital on a platform that syncs between devices. (Bonus points for accomplishing this with an open-source app.)

Sometimes. I prefer to use libraries with Libby.

If my library doesn't have an ebook available, I'll get an electronic version. Paper books don't make a lot of sense to me: I only read them once, I rarely lend them out, they seem like a waste of energy for what is essentially just data.

Paper books have a romance. The idea of having a stocked personal library is cool, it just doesn't fit my lifestyle, personality, or budget.

🏴‍☠️

If you're spending money on a book you may as well get a physical one.

Physical, i need paper i need it. I cannot read on electronics the words arent real they arent real books; the knowledge is forbidden to me

Purchase? Sailing the high seas... I mean libraries. Libraries have all the best books.

I go to the library because my city spends an insane amount of money on our libraries, so they’re actually far superior to book stores.

Physical books, all the way. I'm a techie, through and through -- I'm a computer programmer by trade, and as soon as I can convince these stupid smart bulbs to work with Home Assistant I'm very excited to have a smart home -- but I'll take a physical book over a digital one any day of the week. If I must read something on a computer, I pirate it. Physical books are easier on the eyes (and e-ink displays, though they've made massive strides over the last several years, still lag well behind their old-fashioned counterparts in terms of color rendering (and in some cases even black-and-white readability) and are still prohibitively priced), and more importantly, you can't put DRM on a piece of paper. I'm a huge believer in owning what I buy.

I've tried digital books, but I've found that physical books work much better for my brain. I retain more information and can "get lost" in the story, whereas, for some inexplicable reason, digital books being read on a screen kind of "flatten" a story for me. It's almost like a 3d vs 2d experience for me.

I buy physical usually.

I feel, i tend to abandon ebooks a little more often. Somehow i feel more committed to actually read most of my ever growing stack of books someday.

Ebook-reader are great nonetheless.

Ebooks. Can store more on a reading tablet, easier to transport most of the time, sometimes lighter than physical books, hold my spot easily where I left off, can read in darker places, easier to store. Still have physical but liking digital more. Use an eink display tablet. Buy the books then download epubs or PDFs.

eBook reader with free books.

I work at a computer and find it easier to continue using a screen for reading

However I do also purchase some paper books for when wanting to disconnect for a while

Digital. I can adjust fonts/sizes, search for content, skip around, and whether I have 10 or 10,000 books, I can carry them around in my pocket.

digital, I don't mind physical but I just don't have the room where I live for a ton of books.

I adore my Kindle. One of the few things I don't think Amazon has fucked up. I can get just about any book from anywhere on a whim usually for cheap.

Making a calibre server has elevated my reading more then I thought possible. It's like I have a library everywhere I go.

Physical. Hardcover if it exists. I like to collect them

Physical, Is soooo much easier to get distracted on a screen.

I never have bought a digital book, just get the PDF/epub for free like normal people lol, and I do only really if it's not worth it/too difficult/expensive to get it or a photocopy of it physically.

Prefer digital because space is a factor in my house. I love the idea of physical, and I'll usually go that way for art or reference books. However paperback equivalent I'm always going digital.

Although if I really love a book I'll always look to add it to my bookshelf at some point.

I go through spurts of reading, and I had been putting off ebooks because I like to own the physical books and have them fill up a shelf etc.

I recently got a Kobo and it's been amazing. Definitely been reading more, and as others have mentioned, it's so great when travelling. I've got a little camera sling bag that I carry when travelling, and it just manages to fit in there so I can have a quick read when I'm waiting for something/got some down time etc.

Physical, I just never could make the jump to digital or e reader. If you like reading on your phone or e reader more power to you. My mom loves her e reader b/c she loves to read but time has not been kind to her eyes, being able to make the print any size has been a big help to her.

Pirate digital and by used physical books

I only read fiction, so I always buy it pirate ebooks unless there’s a special edition of something that I am really excited about. I’ve bought all of Brandon Sanderson’s mystery novels in hardcover for example, and I buy the Stormlight books hardcover as well. I’d love to have the entire cosmere in hardcover, or better yet their special edition leather bound hardcovers (for the ones he’s done it with), but it’s just too expansive and expensive to justify.

In an ideal world, a physical copy includes a digital copy.

I mostly read ebooks but I do buy physical copies of books I want to have on the shelf in the weird hope that maybe my kids or niblings might stumble upon in the future and spark an interest. Luckily I have a really good used bookstore near me that I can buy them for fairly cheaply so I consider it a cheap long term investment that will hopefully pay dividends

Second hand physical books.

I made the mistake of buying an ebook once. I will never make that mistake again.

Fuck drm forever. Physical only. I will never pay for a file I can't even open using my normal document viewer.

Physical. I tried reading on device and it’s less gratifying.

7" tablet with FBReader and I download books into Calibre for it to load via OPDS. I used to pay for books, but using the Kindle app was a nightmare. Different bugs every update. It was easier to pirate. I take a look online to see if authors I like have a donation link so I can pay them directly.

I thought I'd never stop reading physical books, but I wouldn't go back after using a tablet. I never lose my place in the book when I fall asleep, I don't need to have a light on to read, and when I wake up during the night I just flick the tablet on, read for a few minutes while barely waking up, and crash again. I could never do that before because I'd have to find my place in the book and mark it before I fell asleep again.

Oh, and fuck Amazon.

I pirate digital books, because I don't want to spend the money. I buy physical books so that I can resell them.

Second-hand physical books often cost 3,01€, where 3,00€ are shipping. That’s no match for digitals. Also I hate handheld devices that can’t take a beating (looking at you, smartphone). I’m clumsy. I drop things. Books survive that. E-readers… I don’t wanna test.

Also, for whatever reason, I read physical books more carefully than text on screen.

Physical. I like the feel more than a screen, and I can always read it.

Digital. No space for a bookshelf in my tiny little apartment, and I don’t need the social gratification of displaying a big impressive shelf full of books.

I don’t really care about the feel and smell of books.

My digital reader lets me read anything in OpenDyslexic font allowing me to read more, faster, with less energy expenditure.

I can look up any word with a long press

I can highlight and take notes without ruining the freshness of the book.

And most importantly of all: I can read on my side in bed without having to switch positions for every page.

Ebooks wherever possible - except, perhaps, for reference books. I simply find the experience of reading an ebook on something like a kindle so much more pleasant than reading a print book. So much so that I really hate reading print books now.

With a large form factor phone in my pocket, I have access to millions of books right away. When I'm not reading an ebook I'm probably listening to the audio version instead, because I need my hands and/or eyes for something else.

I'm very guilty of doing both. Almost everything I have a physical copy of I also have a digital copy of. I prefer to read hard copies on paper when I'm at home but I like being able to take my entire library with me in my backpack on a Kindle if I go away for a weekend.
I also have audiobook copies of most of them to listen to while I'm driving or working too, I swear I don't have a problem.

No. Usually I get digital books from the library system here. I enjoy reading print on the Kindle, very comfortable to the eyes, but if I tried to buy everything I wanna read I'd be in debtor's prison.

Comics, graphic novels I buy in print because there isn't a good digital way to read them. I do read some webcomics on a cheap color tablet, but I enjoy them more on paper.

If I want to own a book for some reason I get it on paper usually, but if I want to read it the library system works a large majority of the time.

Physical books! I want to fully own my books not have them be locked by some asshole company. It's also just nicer to read paper instead of a screen. It's also easier to carry around a small book instead of a bigger tablet and having to deal with charging yet another device.

Physical if it's for a collection. Digital if it's for regular reading.

I also prefer the library to buying books as much as possible.

Physical only.

There is no way that anyone can take the book from my shelf. OK technically they could break in an steal it. But they could not remotely disable it. Or remotely delete it. Or the ebook for some reason is no longer in an electronic format that is usable. The government couldn't ban it and force it to be remotely removed.

I own it. The world can take a flying leap off a very tall building.

Recently purchased a high class ebook reader and had to return it. The display technology simply doesn't match paper yet.

As far as the pure reading experience goes paper is better. Also less distractions and no blue light that keeps you awake late at night. Printed books take up physical space which is a negative for me.

But digital has the advantage when it comes to working with the text: quickly being able to search for strings, copy and paste whole passages, get translations or pronunciations, reorder pages, etc. Plus all the meta data and library management.

Libraries are in a weird space betwixt when it comes to digital versions btw. They give you a digital text but lock you into a specific app that denies the advantages of the digital format mentioned above.

That being said stuff like blog posts, online articles, social media, etc simply doesn't exist on paper. But for anything I read for pure enjoyment like literature paper is the way to go.

Lastly, in my experience electronic versions tend to be a bit cheaper than paperbacks but a lot less so than you expect. But a library card pays off after borrowing even a single book, so there's that 🤷‍♂️.

E-books, because they're cheaper and I don't have enough bookshelf space. Plus I use the library for physical books.

It really depends. I'm not from US, so ebooks and regular books tend to have very similar prices, no idea why. I can get a regular book for 40 bucks and the ebook will be 30. No great. So I useually pirate all Ebooks I have and if I really like it, buy a paper copy of it. I really like to collect books, so there's that. Graphic novels, on the other hand, are exclusively physical, I'll only read a few chapters to see if I like the story, in case I've never heard of it, and buy the real one

I prefer physical books, especially with that new book smell, but I'm pretty out of space so I have gotten books digitally for the last few years.

When I buy books I buy physical, but sometimes digital is more practical, even with small format books I struggle to read them in public transit during my work commute, with a reader like Kindle or even with a smartphone I don't have to work about my book being damaged in a bag it someone, even without a cover a reader will say least scratch a bit, on the other hand dropping a reader is another story, the screen can easily break, book won't. Also the obvious thing is you can get ebooks instantly, physical ones have to be shipped or at least brought from the store like everything physical. Another thing is WAREZ, you can get ebooks illegally, I don't condone it but it makes the access easier, sometimes it's the only way to get a given book because it's sold out or something. But I'm one of those people who don't have a problem with ebooks, on an ebook reader I see them equal with paper ones

I usually get physical books free through the local Buy Nothing group or Little Free Library network.

I usually get e-books legally from the library or extralegally from libgen.

I buy physical copies of cookbooks and books my friends wrote, and pay for e-books from indie writers who I don't know personally.

Digital if it's for a quick reference here and there, physical if I want to read the whole thing and enjoy it.

Digital, unless I really want the book and it is only analog.

The analog form factor of books is IMHO much nicer, and I understand everyone who doesn't like digital books.

Stil, for me going digital beats analog:

• Having books always in my pocket, I never wonder what to do if I have to wait somewhere
• Going for work/leisure travel, always fully stocked with interesting reading material
• Learning from books and making notes? Digital makes it far easier
• I mostly read English books for learning and in my country one has to pay a heavy surcharge for English books

I also have to say, Amazon really earned all the critic it gets, but their Kindle apps and physical devices are awesome. It is easy to buy DRM free books and read/sync them with Amazon kindle infrastructure (send to device etc.).

I buy physical and obtain a digital copy later to chuck on the kindle. I enjoy reading physical books but time and life make it harder, plus I like to buy collectors editions where possible, they are not for reading (to me)

Like fifteen years ago I would buy physical books, I still have a huge collection. I was getting really into math and would buy textbooks. Sometimes they could be pricey, but for a good hardcover, it can really be worth it if you're coming back to it a lot.

Very early 2010s the amazon books became awful overnight. You could pay $70 for a hardcover and the damn thing would start falling apart a few days into reading it. I really don't think I'm hard on my books, I treat them with care. These things just couldn't handle normal wear for even a short amount of time. Paperbacks were even less reliable and only slightly less expensive. So I completely ditched amazon and started ordering books directly from the publishers. Normally they'd be like $10-15 more than on amazon, but it's worth it, they weren't falling apart.

Probably around 2012 I finished reading volume 2 of Francis Borceux's "Handbook of Categorical Algebra". Those first two volumes are genuinely some of the best math books I've ever gone through, it took me like a year each though. Volume 3 was very expensive to get from the publisher, I think it was over $160, but since I had gotten so much mileage out of the first two I decided I wanted to just pony up. It was clear as soon as it arrived that it was a piece of shit, and did start falling apart immediately. I left emails and phone calls and they just ghosted me and I couldn't figure out a way to get my money back. That was the last book I bought for like a full decade, and I don't think I've made a book purchase from anywhere over $15 since.

Pretty sure that was Cambridge University Press, and I had purchased something else (although much much cheaper) from them the year before that was good quality.

I still greatly prefer having a physical copy, but I pirate almost everything I can't find in a library now.

Physical for some comics, mostly digital because I get most of my books from the library. A lot of libraries around the US have fantastic support for digital media.

I like physical books as I find it more immersive compared to phones and such. When using a phone or computer it's much more tempting to open up social media or another app.

That's why I also like to draw/design on paper as well and use a dedicated music player.

Digital the first time, because highlighters and tabs are a poor substitute for a search feature.

Then, if I like it enough, physical for subsequent reads, with the digital copy as reference material when needed.

The only thing I buy physical copies of are art books and bird ID books. My phone screen isn’t a good size for viewing detailed art, and even a large tablet isn’t ideal because of how colors can vary depending on screen settings.

Otherwise I usually don’t buy ebooks either, I check them out from my local library with Libby. I don’t typically do a lot of rereads, and when I do it’s easy to recheck them out.

No, I download ebooks (except for The Knowledge, which is physical else it would be useless if I was in a situation to need it), as they have numerous benefits such as text searching, coming back to where I left off, customising how it looks, available anywhere and much lighter.

Physical, and I buy used as much as possible. For some reason I just retain the information better when I read it in a physical book.

If I'm buying, it's physical. If I'm borrowing, it's digital.

I used to always do physical books, but I'm nearly 100% converted to ebooks for three reasons:

1. When traveling, I can take multiple books on my tablet and there's no additional space/weight because I take my tablet anyway.
2. I realized I had way too many paperbacks at home and had to take a few boxes to a donation center - no reason to build back up again
3. I've started to read a lot more, like more than a book a week, which got expensive, so I've converted over to ebooks from the library. Now there's no cost and I don't have to drive back and forth to get/return books.

I love a good personal library as a background for my video calls but honestly I do digital books cause I don't have room.

I love physical books, but ebooks are so convenient. Always having a book, being able to comfortably read one handed, and being able to read in the dark after my wife goes to sleep are all things that significantly increase how often I can read.

Digital. I've run out of space for storing physical books.

I'm old fashioned so all my books are physical for now. I used to hate on ereaders (first Kindle), but as I'm older, sight gets worse, readers get better (hopefully) and space is also an issue I'm already thinking of buying one. But which one? That is the question. I'd prefer something simple, without online nonsense, where I can put my files too (e.g. local library puts out PDFs of royalty-free classics for free).

E-books. I read too many books for physical to be practical.

Physical because I write in my books, it keeps me more engaged in the reading process. I also like having them on my shelf and ready to share with a friend or colleague.

Digital. I use Kindle and just submit to Amazons monthly fees.

Almost always digital on my tablet or phone these days (I have a Kindle too but just can't get used to the display), but I'll buy physical copies to keep and/or give away if I really like them.

Purely a space issue for me these days, but the more I use my Kindle, the more I like it. Being able to just highlight a word and get the definition has been a real game changer. Although, it's only because of e-ink displays that I even considered it in the first place. Definitely would not be reading books on a regular tablet/display.

Physical. I enjoy thrift shopping for books cheap - mostly unusual cooking books.

Full price books? Digital. Then second hand physical (rarely) and books from a library.

No because the library exists for both.

Audio book gang unite!

I normally pirate audio books and purchase them physically for our bookshelves around the house because I like the look and supporting the author but I like listening a lot more.

Audio books are a lot easier for me to consume as I am visually impaired

Almost entirely digital now. As for why:

• backlight
• font size adjustment
• built in dictionary
• local library closed for a few years
• lighter/better form factor than most books I read

I find I buy far more books now that I have an e-ink reader.

Digital. I've been reading ebooks for years, starting on my flip phone back in the day. The best part to me is being able to seamlessly switch from reading with my eyes to being read to (tts - I'm used to it now and it's waaaay better than it was).

I do a lot of driving for work so I can get a ton of reading done on the road 😁

I pirate most of the books I read. I am not a millionaire and space on the bookshelf is limited. I only buy physical if I want to treat myself with special edition or a book not available digitally.

God bless Anna's archive!

Physical. And then, depending on what I feel like, maybe download a digital copy somewhere and read it on my ereader. Usually the case with big, phat books that I don't feel like holding for a longer time or lugging around with me.

Ebooks have their convenience, and once in a while I'll take a free one if offered, or pick them up cheap in a bundle.

But physical books capture my interest way better. More satisfying to hold and look at. Having a physical object around is a reminder to read. And paper books are better for tuning out distractions. If I try to read ebooks on a phone, tablet, or PC I can easily lose focus (though nice dumb-device readers are surely out there, I don't have one).

I do surveys for money and so I use Google Play gift cards to buy ebooks and they don't cost me actual income. Win win.

I aquire thrm digitally... In the high seas.

Physical, though I usually get them from the library. When I do buy them, it's physical too, so I can lend them out, or give them away.

Maybe a third of the books I read are gifts or loaners from friends.

I purchase mostly digital books because I use to read at night next to my sleeping partner and e-reader is the easiest way for me. Also O don't have a very big house to store all. Now from a piracy vs purchase point of view: I actually buy ebooks as a mark of support to authors I like very much. Now I must confess that for some very popular authors, I trend to think that one book pirated or one book bought won't change a lot for them. So I buy mostly less known or indie authors at the end.

Yes. I like to read.

audio.

Physical. But only after I've pirated it digitally if I enjoyed it enough

Audiobooks mainly. I fix machines or create my own diy projects with my hands so I can continue it's much easier to consume.

If the series I'm listening to is really good, I end up subscribing to their patreon and reading chapters as soon as they release them.

I tend to buy ebooks nowadays just because it's convenient. I find ereader experience nowadays is pretty much the same as reading a regular book.

I pirate everything

Physical, i like reading it more than stareing at a screen

https://youtu.be/Akd-OPESJTI

eMule, for my partner's e-reader

No.