The price of toner is a killer....

I found a site called compandsave that has ridiculously low prices. The cartridges for my Brother printer are about $5 or $6 each there. My other printer's cartridges are around $15 I think, but I never use that one, so I forget. I honestly don't know how they make any money at those prices, but I'm glad they're an option. Otherwise I'd never be able to print anything.

I hear that.
I have been writing for and editing our club's Grimoire for 22 years now. This is an annual trade publication that our members contribute to, usually consisting of from 20 to 50 pages in length. I am now about 5 years behind in printing my own copies. I reference the information all the time on the computer, but I am seriously lagging behind on the paper version that I print onto parchment. The first 10 years filled a 4" binder, using plastic sheet protectors on double sided pages. The second binder has only about 3 or 4 years in it so far, for I have just not had the finances to print the rest and get the sheets into which to put them. I will go searching for Compandsave later today! Thanks for the tip!

Now if I could just find another 4" binder that will not require a second mortgage...

Hey - I really like books. I like the feel, from the hardbound cover to turning pages. Being able to flip through a book with my thumb. The look, the nostalgia, the cool factor of here's my library, all of it. I hate how bulky and heavy they are. Lugging them around is a chore. My eyes are going and some print is tough to read. Propping up a book to get the proper light sucks also.

PDF's are handy. I put mine in a cloud storage and access just about anywhere I have connectivity. A keep a couple of holdouts on various flash drives for offline. I can organize, search, and most importantly increase the size of the font. I have just about completely converted to PDF's. I do keep a physical copy of Bobo's and Mark Wilson's Complete Course of Magic, but really they are just nice to have.

While books will always have a place in my heart, I stick with PDF's

To me it's an easy answer: magic literature is meant to be read no matter whether it's PDF or physical. Sure, I love to hoist J.K. Hartman's Card Craft of the shelf, or, even kore hernia inducing, the mammoth Stewart James tomes. But, what is important to me is what I can learn. In that regard, PDF and physical format stand shoulder to shoulder. Some authors have gone completely over to e-books and it hasn't affect the worth of the material one iota. I knda pity the guys that won't look at an e-book because they are missing out on some really hellaciously great magic.

The term physical book is redundant. All books are physical books. A book is a book . An e-book is the contents of a book in an electronic file.

This.

Thanks so much for this.
I have a few programs to experiment with over the next few months and it’s great to have options.

I have many books and it's frankly overbearing.

Maybe Behr's site will one day be so robust that clicking on a book will link to ones personal library or where it can be procured.

Speaking of digital tags, anyone have some useful ones that aren't obvious?
Additionally any ideas for meta/tags that might be useful later on down the line.

Books for me whenever available.

Although I have "gone a little overboard" (according to my wife but what does she know? after all, she married me ) buying "BOOKS" over the last couple years and have come to have a deeper appreciation to the physical form, I still have way more (and continue to purchase) PDF versions for various reasons. I do still "Prefer" the PDF over the book for the simplest of reasons - Price, Ability to quickly search, ability to make notes, highlight, draw in, black out content and yet, I am still able to revert it right back to its brand new condition with a few keystrokes. More importantly though, I can carry literally hundreds of PDF's with me on my phone, tablet or laptop to access at any time. Books are limited to only a couple at a time realistically.

Not being a "collector", the real value to me is the content. Content can come in many ways and some retain more in different mediums also. Thus there is the whole "Visual Learner" argument (if you toss dvds and downloads into the mix) but I digress. I feel Books and/or PDFs give you way more "bang for the buck" and are my preferred mediums. One very recent example is a $20 download of a John Bannon "sandwich type effect". The same effect is in his more recent book "Mentalissimo" currently $60 with priority shipping in the US. I think I recall at least 4 effects from this book to date that have been offered as stand alone videos/dvds/ with or without gaffs in some cases. So... I got all of these plus many more great effects for the price of around 3 of these stand alone effects. This is only one example by only one author but the point is... This happens all the time. Books/PDFs have so much more to offer than the stand alone stuff.

For me though, a book over a video allows ME to interpret how I see the effect working and challenges me often to "Make it more of my own" rather than presenting a word for word copy of the video which may or may not flow with my representational style. Books also may contain a section just explaining a certain concept or principle before adding them into an upcoming effect but you can read the concept and work it into something original to you.

So, all in all, In still prefer PDF's (especially for cost) over Books. Yet I prefer either over video / dvd. That is my opinion. I do see Books over PDFs as a "valid argument" also but the people who feel that way look at it for different reasons.

Poof daddy wrote:

‘Not being a "collector", the real value to me is the content.’

One doesn’t have to be a collector to appreciate a book beyond its content.

This is true.

It is such a common misconception, Isn’t it?

Main difference between physical book and pdf is that you can sell physical book, if you don't like it.

I view my library as an investment in knowledge. Of course I have tried to instill in my family the value of the books to other magicians, as well. I have often told my wife that if she sold my books (or tools) at a garage sale, I would come back to haunt her. ; )
This IS a part of their inheritance, after all...