hardcover vs softcover

[Kesh]

Depends on where you look. There's a thriving community online which OCRs and distributes books for free. I've been downloading books that I own and want to read, but would be inconvenient to take the book with me. I still buy books when I can afford to, but paperbacks seem to keep going up in price, and I long ago stopped buying hardcover. (Not counting books like Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix which are only available in hardcover, the last hardcover I bought was Crown of Swords - $40 plus tax)

I can remember when I used to take a backpack of books with me on vacation - now I just take my PDA.

Well, in some cases, that's fine. Anything that's in public domain, sure. However, a lot of stuff (like the King novels) aren't out of copyright, and I personally don't like snagging stuff that's not available legally in ebook format.

 

[ShadowX]

I much prefer hardbacks. The main reason is the thicker, whiter paper and the better ink. I hate the grey pages of paperbacks and I can't tell you how many times the ink starts to smear or run, even with delicate care. Also no matter what you do the spines always look abused and the pages never go back to a compact position. If only books weren't so expensive and hardback so hard to find for older books, then I would always buy hardback.

 

[Tallok]

I like trade paperbacks. They're easier to read. nicer to look at...
however, they're quite expensive. There's a huge bookstore that I go to often that often has them for sale, and, while still expensive, they're much easier to read. and I like how they look maybe even more than hardcover.

 

[Negative Zero]

i dunno, maybe it's coz i have really good eyesight, but it never occured to me that paperbacks were "harder" to read. in fact, the larger print of hardcovers always made me feel like they were meant for kids. it's only books for kids who are learning to read that come with large text. so, the subconcious message i always got was: smaller text, higher reading level. *shrug*

in any event, maybe i'm cheap, or perhaps just broke, but the current $6-7 for paperbacks already seems costly to me. i remember when they were $5! whereas i used to be able to go to the store with a 20 and come out with 4 books, now i'm lucky if i can manage 3. but still, i'll take those 3 paperbacks over 1 hardcover just about anyday.

plus, i can always stick a paperback in my back pocket when i leave the house. i have carrying bags, for some reason

~NegZ