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Great article that articulates the internal struggle I have with e-readers

I was just going to be some of my favorite snippets. However, when drafting this, I had copied about 75% of the material. So…entire article!

Opinion: A Book Loving Student Buys a Nook

If you’re like me, you are simultaneously amazed and disrupted by the advent of machines like the Nook, Kindle and other e-readers that allow you to download books of all genres and carry them with you.

Also, if you’re like me, you’re probably overwhelmed by what exactly differentiates this e-reader from that one.

Anyone who knows me would confirm that I have a propensity for the written word. I own scores of books, pristine and new, old and crusty, some with stains of coffee, some with highlighter marks from a college class forgotten.

They are a sort of beacon in my attempt to hold steady when faced with the besiegement of our literary tangible products. Now, we are inundated with books that are downloadable, a tablet that can stream movies, music, and pretty much do everything one would expect a gadget to do.

Now look back at the clunky, cumbersome, hard-cover book. And then look at the slick, metallic beauty of an e-reader. As a notorious bibliophage, a person who consumes books, a person who if it came down to it would save his books instead of his clothes, even I can’t help but be amazed at these products. And because of this, I succumbed to the pressure and asked for an e-reader for Christmas. It came in the form of a Nook Tablet.

Here are my thoughts:

There is something grand about the access to books on an e-reader. I’ve heard several people discuss how they don’t typically read physical books, but since switching to an e-reader have been exposed to new books of all sorts and genres. There is also the thrilling experience of flipping between notable magazines and books with ease.

The price of some books is a bit too high for us to handle in this rough and tumble economy. However, upon some research within the Nook Store I was able to find a section that read “25 Notable Books for 99 Cents” and another that advertised “Essential Books for four dollars.”

There is also the perk that comes with the Nook that most of the Barnes and Noble Classics books are free. This is a wonderful way to build your literary knowledge without breaking your bank. Also, new releases and Top 100 books are at a relatively low cost. Most books that I’m interested in reading are $13 or less, compared with their print counterparts which can cost as much as $30.

Another attraction of e-readers is the savings available on textbooks. For one of my classes I found a book normally price at $28 for only $12. With that kind of spectrum, it is fairly hard to compete with print books.

However, I intend to try.

There is something about books, yes? Something about the way the print and ink smells. Something about how a hardcover book feels in your hands. Something about firing up those pens and marking them up. Something about dog-eared pages or passing books around a group of friends. Something about picking up a book that was published in the early 1900s. Yes, an actual edition from that time.

I had the benefit of parents who read to me from day one (perhaps even before that.) I have a propensity for the written word. So, which do I prefer?

I prefer reading from a page not a screen.

I could discuss specifics, quixotic things about books, a sort of nostalgia for physical books, the weight of it, the smell of it, etc. But I suppose I’ll just say it this way: I prefer the feel of a book in my hands.

If you are considering purchasing an e-reader, I would recommend it. There are beneficial reasons to purchase one – especially for college students – and it does offer a different type of reading experience. I doubt I’ll give up those clunky, cumbersome books anytime soon. Completely anyway.

If I had to provide a fearless forecast, I think it is unlikely we will see all books shift to the digital format. We may be witnessing how books are purveyed to us, but I doubt we will see them completely vanish if only because there are too many nostalgic people who are still brilliantly infatuated with physical books.

But for now, I sit in my comfortable chair, flipping digital pages as my shelves of books longingly stare at me.