I didn't really know where to post this. But, I was wanting some opinions about what you think of the E-book craze recently. I have several regular magic books, But I have also recently been purchasing e-books. Do you feel this is a passing phase or is this the future of our magical Litiature

I don't think it's a passing thing.
Saves on a lot of paper use and production costs.

Until then I want the 'old' paper books that I can read while in the john or elsewhere other than at at computer.

I prefer reading from books

Personally, I prefer the good ole fashion paper versions of books...I can't see them ever goin' out of style...unless trees disappear off the face of the earth. Man, what would man do without Charmin [lol]? No, paper is here to stay my friend thank God for recycling! E-books will never replace Paper books ...atleast in my lifetime! But then again I'm 52 yrs old...not much time left, so I hope I don't see it in the rest of my lifetime!
<<<KRaZ4Kardz>>>

Personally I am torn. I love paper books. I like jaz can take them with me to visit the porculean god. But then again with the e-books they are easier to view at work, since I am on a computer all day. In some cases the ebooks are even cheaper than the paper books.

E-books should be a lot cheaper!
Make them once and have them as downloads or dupe them on media.

No ink, paper, plates, bindings. Shipping and packaging is less or non-existant.

Should be a big price difference in my opinion.

The problem I see with ebooks right now is the relative ease with which they can be duplicated and passed around. There is a good thread on this here where I wrote at length a few times about protecting yourself as an ebook author.

I've also noticed the transient nature of ebooks. It's almost like a book printed with disappearing ink. Between hard drive failures, and just simply forgetting where they were downloaded, (hey, it can happen) these electronic documents are just a click away from destruction. But, the price is right. I found myself once so far buying the same ebook twice because I couldn't find the one I originally purchased.

In spite of all that, as technology and storage improves I forsee ebooks being much more prevalent than the paper version. For some it's the information that's important, not the medium, although there will always be the desire to see a bookshelf of leather bound "collectibles" on your bookshelf. Nothing about a computer can come close to the look, smell, and just general atmosphere of a well stocked personal library.

I'm definitely more of a hands on, old fashioned book reader myself. Even though I spend 90% of my day in front of a computer, I would much rather hold the book in my hands than stare at the monitor longer than I have to.

The only advantage I like with an e-book is the ability to read and multi-task with other computer related things. A quick Alt-Tab and I can work on something else, and then Alt-Tab back to my book. Other than that, I prefer the portability to a physical book.

I have some e-books, but I prefer a good old fashion bound book. It is easier to read for longer periods of time, and it is easier to sit at a table with a book in front of me while practicing something over and over.

See, if I'm reading and practicing it makes it easier to use the E-book because I don't have to keep setting it down and losing my page.

Corey, I do agree with you about losing your page. Last night as I was practicing some tricks from Wilson's Complete Course on Magic, as soon as I let the book go to hold the cards, the book closed. My brilliant idea that hit me about 3:00 this morning - all magic books should be coil bound. This would solve the 'closing book' problem.

Even so, I would much rather have old-fashioned paper books.

There are pros and cons to e-books. Yes, they are usually cheaper. But only in theory. You need to print them out at some point. You wouldn't want to be glued to a computer everytime you wanted to look something up. Additionally, I can't imagine you would never want to upgrade your computer. Once you factor in the cost of paper and ink for your printer...you didn't really save any money.

I personally prefer paper books to ebooks as its less straining to the eyes. The glare from starring too long at a computer screen isn't too good.

I usually print out the ebooks that I purchase online or at conventions. However, I still prefer paper books as they always have a nice cover, etc and not jus stacks of printed papers. Paper books are betta for collection too and look nicer on my bookshelfs!!

cheerios

Although in general I prefer having an actual paper and ink book, e-books have one tremendously cool feature: the ability to embed video within the file. You can read the text, and then click on the video window to see a move or effect in action. Michael Close has a free downloadable sample of a chapter from his Closely Guarded Secrets e-book, and you can see him perform each of the shuffles and cuts from the routine.

Irishguy, I disagree on the cost thing.

I am considering the Tarbell Ebook CD for $39 from Lybrary.com I would never consider printing the entire thing. As it's such a huge reference, I would use it as such and print out a few pages I'd be looking at again and again. That's an example of a large book.

If it's a small book, it would still cost less to print your own, AND, you could file many books in one 3ring binder, which is a nice organizational option.

As for upgrading the computer, do you lose all your files when you do? I backup personal stuff on CD and DVD constantly. But then I tend to mess around with my system too much and crash and re-format hard drives quite a bit.

Ebooks make it possible for anyone with 'ms-word' to produce a book. In the past, the expense of self-publishing and/or the difficulity of finding a legit publisher prevented many great thoughts from being published... and thus saved.

I prefer regular books because I can read them anywhere. I can highlight and dog-ear pages as I see fit.

But.. ebooks are here to stay, in one form or another. Lets face it - when the price of print cartridges gets down to where they should be - about 2 dollars each - I'll start printing my ebooks off my computer.

In the interim.. here's a link where anyone can go and convert a word doc. to a pdf ebook-type file free. I have used it to compile newsletters into 'best-of' type ebooks that I would never have been able to compile into 'real' books.
http://www.gobcl.com/index.htm

There is another advantage of e-books. You can search them. I have the Tarbell books from Lybrary and am thrilled with them. I just load the disk in the drive and click on search, then type "Thumb Tip" and I get a complete list of everything Tarbell has to say about the subject.

Or --- I may remember that there was a trick with coins and a leather cone. I just search for coins and cone. Bingo! This is great for an old man like me that has begun to forget things like the proper name for a trick.

On the other hand, I prefer printed books for the same reason that the others have stated here. If possible I try to get both.

Maybe with ebooks there will be a lot more junk, because everybody who can use a computer can produce an ebook....

Magixx

I much prefer the tactile qualities of a printed book - but I agree with mikeflex that magic books (or any instructional manual!) should be coil bound. For example, the otherwise excellent Card College sometimes requires me to turn the page (which always flips back!) whilst holding the deck with both hands or whatever.

Also, for me, e-books are a bit of a strain on the eyes. I have a laptop with a small screen, so things don't usually appear as large on the screen as they would on the page. Plus the page turning thing is true here, as well - I have to either scroll up and down the page, or switch from epage to epage or whatever. Hey - perhaps I should get a larger computer screen! But, if I download something I want to keep, I'll print it anyway and keep it in a ring binder.

I still love paperbooks but my limited space does not allow it. So my option is to build an E-book Library instead.