For today's readers, e-books have many advantages, but they are not economical. Indeed, they can help you collect books, especially when you are financially strapped and can't do traditional studies at home, but this problem has existed for 25 years, 50 years, or even a century-some people have spacious houses to collect a large number of books, some live in narrow small apartments, and some apartments are less than 10 square meter, and they are with others except sleeping. But they still read, buy books and work tirelessly. They also fall in love with paper books, especially paperbacks, because they can read more books at a cheaper price.
I admit that I prefer reading e-books to paper books. If I can, I'm going to buy hardcover versions of all the non-fiction books I bought, so that all my hardcover books can lie on the shelf, and I just need to read e-books. But paper books have seven characteristics that e-books don't have at present:
1. When I bought a paper book, I completely owned it; But if I buy e-books, I'll rent them.
2. Paper books can be sold in the second-hand market and can be appreciated when they become rare versions; E-books are never out of stock, and there is no corresponding second-hand market for me to recover some costs.
3. The paper version of non-fiction books will be cheaper than the electronic version, and it can also be sold in the legal second-hand market where non-fiction books are obviously less, including the regular cheap book market.
4. I can buy traditional books with others, which is legal, which can further reduce the expenses paid by everyone (my son and I bought several books together).
5. My paper books can be lent to others without restriction; With luck, you can only lend an e-book to another person for two weeks (once you lend it, you can't lend it to others).
6. As long as I buy a paper book, it will always be mine; Unlike e-books, no one can remotely delete, replace or do anything that interferes with my ownership of books.
7. With the increasing number of hardcover books in my collection, I will also face the problem of space limitation. At that time, I can re-select and sort out my paper books and throw away some of them: I either sell them in the second-hand market (see article 3), but I am more likely to donate them to the local library. These libraries still operate in the traditional mode and are willing to accept book donations. They will also provide me with a tax reduction for charitable donations at a fair market price, which is equivalent to the average price of the second-hand book market. However, I can't resell or donate the e-books I no longer need to anyone, I can only keep them for myself.
When e-books have a common format like DVD and DRM measures, some advantages of the above-mentioned traditional books may disappear. But at least from the perspective of pure economics, traditional books-at least "Agency 6" from six major publishing houses (at present, the six major publishing houses in the United States jointly promote the e-book agency system, and the author refers to the six major publishing houses here with Agency 6. ) books-more economic value than e-books, and more discount space. The advantage of e-books is that they are portable and can be read on electronic devices, but that's all-e-books are more expensive than hardcover books, and sometimes they are much more expensive, so from an economic point of view, e-books are still too expensive.
In my opinion, a person with financial difficulties might as well buy a paper book as an e-book from 6 clubs. From the initial cost to the possibility of making up the cost later, I think buying paper books is unparalleled in saving money. Of course, free or low-priced independent e-books have changed this calculation method, but after all, they are not the kind of paper books I bought.