Love 'em or hate 'em, devices like the Kindle and Nook seem poised to dominate a growing share of the literary landscape going forward. What are your thoughts on this? Do you have one of these (or similar) devices? What do you like most and least about this new technology, and is there anything you'd like to see developed along these lines in the future?

I have a Kindle. It hasn't stopped me from buying real books. But I do love the convenience of them. Instead of having to buy a bunch of different books to be able to collect all of HP Lovecraft's stories, I was able to download all of them in one collection.

I do have and use my kindle fire. I use it every morning to past the early hours away.

I am resistant to them for own personal use. I just get so much more pleasure out of cracking open a beloved book than holding a tablet and swiping screens.

Plus, I like the idea of building my own dusty library with unending shelves of books.

I have one,its somewhere in a trunk,thankyou for reminding me to find it and give it away,there is something about the feel of a book in my hands.....nothing compares to that for me...i too like bookshelves,books in a pile.....

Heh, you can give it to me! Right now I just have the Kindle app on my smartphone, although I do use that a fair bit. Still want to have a separate Kindle, though.

Nothing will ever replace the feel of a physical book in my hands, or its appearance on my shelves. HOWEVER, what I do like about E-readers is the ability to carry several books around with me and not need a shopping cart to do it, the ability to dial up the font size for easier reading (I'm getting older and my close vision just isn't what it used to be when I was in my 20s and 30s) and the searchability of an e-book. If I find I've somehow forgotten how some earlier event happened in a regular book, I can spend forever trying to go back and find that passage to reread it. In an e-book I can just search the text and voila, there it is.

I don't think of Kindle or other electronic editions of a book as necessarily being an "either/or" replacement for the physical volume -- in fact, on more than one occasion I've owned both a physical copy of a book AND the same book on my phone's Kindle app, and that actually helped me finish reading the book sooner because I always had it with me!

So for me, rather than "either/or", it's more of "both/and".

I always read online. Sometimes i downloaded it so that with or without wifi i cn read it. The advantage of it is it lessen my baggage everyday, save more space, plus if i got bored with what i read i could just swap it quick. I have wattpad. I enjoy reading the stories of aspirant writers, im following the author i like. If my eyes hurt i can resize the font. Thats the advantage about ebooks.

I used to be one of those people who swore I'd never get an ereader. I had to have real books. I finally gave in last year, though, and have a kindle fire that I use almost every day. The ebooks are generally much cheaper than books. Sometimes free as well! I got the kindle fire, thinking I'd use more like a tablet, but I mostly use just the ereader part.

Yep, I always used to say "No way!" to e-readers. I think I even posted a blog entry about it a few years ago. But I've changed my mind over the past couple of years.

my laptop reads ebooks just fine
And it is a television an entertainment center
A learning tool..a communication device..etc.
I'm good thanks

I don't like to read books or watch tv on my laptop. Plus, it's hard to curl up with a good book if it's on a bulky laptop. My kindle is super light and easy to take anywhere.

Next time remind me to bring an extra sense of humor too....

Pffffft !

I thought this thread was about ereaders? Why are you worrying about who I may curl up with?

I totally agree. I have been a major bookworm since I was 6 or 7 and haven't been able to put books down since then. I've even gotten camp and school awards for being the one that reads the most. Lol, so when my husband got me the kindle that I have now I was ecstatic. I read way too much to have just one or the other. I currently have over 100 books to read still on my kindle, not to mention what I have already read. I also have tons of paperbacku and hardback books. I love reading and think everyone should once in awhile.

?

No thanks. Nothing like turning pages and the feel of a book in your hands.

I got my kobo e-reader for Christmas and I Love it. I love to read and my e reader lets me read in the dark with it's back light and if I finish the book I'm reading while I'm out somewhere I can just start a new one, no need to carry around the extra weight of another book. So useful and Awesome.

Nope.
Don't care either way.

Same here (apart from blogging my thoughts), I was pretty adamant I'd stick to real books, but ended up getting a kindle- it's pretty useful for sticking in a laptop bag or overnight bag, and you can get some really good free stuff for them too- reference books in particular.

Yes, I still don't feel it's quite the same as cracking the spine of a brand-new paper book, but it does have it's merits. Never say 'never'

I have it also. Really love it. I have so many e-books that I downloaded for free. I can always read them anywhere everywhere. Then I just buy a hard copy If really can't get enough of it :)