Why I still don't have an eReader

[trystinn]

I'm the kind of person who finds an author, whom hopefully I enjoy, then I'll go feasting through their older titles until I've completely caught up, then continue on as the author publishes. I RELISH this. To do this, I go through local used bookstores, troll Paperbackswap & Ebay, check out yard sales, etc. and pick them up cheap. This doesn't work well with eReaders.

For example, right now I am absolutely hip deep in Lois McMaster Bujold. Specifically, her Miles Vorkosigan series (what can I say, I'm a sucker for a Space Navy series, which this isn't quite but close enough) and the Challion (not as much as the Vor series) trilogy, the Sharing Knife trilogy (too fluffy-feely for me) doesn't do it for me. *shrug*

So here we go:

Curse of Challion - available on Kindle for $8, available used $0.01 - $1.90.
Memory - not available on Kindle, picked it up locally at a used bookstore for a few bucks.
Cryoburn - not available on Kindle, placed a hold at the local library.
Brothers in Arms - not available on Kindle, picked up on Paperbackswap for a few bucks.
Mirror Dance - not available on Kindle, picked up on Paperbackswap for a few bucks.
Borders of Infinity - not available on Kindle, picked up locally at a used bookstore for a few bucks.

Maybe I've chosen a bad set for the example, given publisher peculiarities - but Bujold is an acknowledged master of modern publishing, having won multiple writing awards in her genres. Shouldn't her works be available or at least prioritized for digitalization? I could go with a few other, more popular (acknowledging that I read fairly esoteric old sci/fi) authors, but I like my adventures in obscure books. I like reading them in the tub and I like loaning them out afterward. Fairly odd me and all that.

So nothing is available electronically (at a reasonable price), even the brand new $25 hardcover. I get that much of these are older titles, but isn't the whole point of the eReader the convenience, i.e. that I don't have to troll multiple websites, stores and libraries to find books? Maybe I'm wrong and its only for current and uber-classic titles. Not impressed yet.

Comments

[melody1228.livejournal.com]

This is why I don't like the Kindle -- it limits greatly the number of books you can access.

I have the Sony eReader, and so I'm not reliant on Amazon or the Sony book store for titles, and there are quite a few older titles that end up being digitized by independent publishers. Especially in the sci-fi realm.

Oddly enough, I was searching for Bujold in digital format last night (you're the fourth person to mention it on my f-list, so it was time to check it out), and on her website, she lists a couple of off the path publishers that have digitized her books.

http://www.fictionwise.com/servlet/mw?a=jump&id=7906&u=/eBooks/LoisMcMasterBujoldeBooks.htm

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

I still prefer the experience of holding an actual book in my hands, but I do know some folks for whom an electronic reader makes a lot of sense -- servicemembers, for example, who need to limit weight and space on deployment. Oddly enough, I don't like *keeping* a lot of books around the house...I prefer checking them out of the library, or passing them along.

[jenett]

Actually, Baen (who publishes her Vorkosigan books, though not the others) is one of the better ones about ebooks - and actually, the hardcover first run of Cryoburn is including a CD copy of all the Vorkosiverse books (plus a bunch of other essays and materials) - except for some weird reason Lois doesn't get either - Memory.)

Currently sitting in my computer, actually, waiting for me to dump them into my preferred digital forms. (I own all of them in print, but am slowly collecting digital stuff to read while traveling or in places where I do not want to lug back-up reading material: the iPod holds lots of 'stuck somewhere, need to read' options, now.)

The trick is that people using Kindles might need to transfer formats to get it on the Kindle, but there's a number of options out there. (Baen's ebooks come in a variety of formats, including RTF and HTML and a variety of the ebook options, so doing transfer should not be a huge deal.)

[wastedmouthfull.livejournal.com]

I agree with the post above I like to hold the book turn the pages, set it down and see it beckoning to me until Ive read it all.
I also like to collect certain authors, like Trista, and I cant seem to get rid of a book, unless I dont like it at all.