[yangez]

Here's an important piece of demographic information for the survey:

> 45% of those surveyed don’t own a device that can read ebooks – this includes both e-readers and smartphones.

So almost half of those polled don't actually have steady access to ebooks. I wonder how the statistics change for a sample who have ready access to both.

[goostavos]

>> 45% of those surveyed don’t own a device that can read ebooks – this includes both e-readers and smartphones.

I'd say this is the key variable in the set.

Another example:

>"The only reason I haven’t bought an e-reader is because I love the feeling of holding a book in hand and seeing the creases in the spine when I'm done. It’s like a little trophy."

I was the exact same way -- right down to the explanation as to why I didn't want an ereader. I just loved everything about physical books. The texture, the smell, and, embarrassingly, the vanity of having an apartment filled with books. And then my work bought me an iPad. Everything changed almost immediately.

I absolutely love being able to have an army of books with me at all times. As a guy whose still a student, 95% of my time is spent with technical books. It is absolutely amazing to have everything at my fingertips at all times. I can pull up whatever I feel like studying at any point throughout the day. Few minutes of downtime at work? Maybe I'll read a chapter in my Patterns book. If I'm not feeling that, I just swipe over to Programming in Scala and have some fun. Also, being able to search a book is worth its weight in gold.

That said, there are a few draw backs which irk me. Though, I think these can really be solved with better software.

Firstly, referencing two places in the book at once. How many times have you been reading a textbook and kept your finger in one section while reading another so that you can quickly hop back and forth? Impossible to do quickly with readers. You got to create bookmarks, with each "flip" open the bookmarks, find the one you need, and finally select it to view the page. With physical, all you need to do is flip to where your finger is and presto! Done. The digital equivalent requires multiple taps and a good bit of waiting.

The other drawback is DRM. After a fiasco with Amazon (which I otherwise love), It became clear to me that DRM books are not worth owning. I purchase almost exclusively from O'Reilly due to the fact that they offer a plain old, DRM free PDF. I give them money, then give me the product -- not a licence to use the product under their terms, the actual product for me to do with as I wish. Currently, it's very tough to find all the books I want to read as DRM-free pdfs. I'm doing my best to vote with my wallet, so that means there are many books that I simply don't buy anymore because I like actually owning the things that I purchase.

Other than those caveats, eBooks have completely replaced physical ones for me. The article is kind of pointless given that so few of the people sampled have any actual reference point.

[jdminhbg]

Either many of those 45% don't realize they don't have access to devices that can read ebooks (may not know their iOS/Android device can run Kindle/iBooks/whatever) or this was a really weird sample.

> Twenty-somethings are the leading smartphone users in the U.S., with a full 81% of Americans aged 25 to 34 using the devices. Teens aren’t far behind, with almost 70% of those aged 13 to 17 already using a smartphone.

via http://www.webpronews.com/u-s-smartphone-penetration-hits-64...

[SomeCallMeTim]

Sure, but even more key than that is that this is a question about perception, which can potentially be overcome with education.

How many of the people who say they prefer a physical book have read a complete book using a modern e-reader? How many of them have learned about a book, gone to their e-reader, bought it, and started reading, all within 5 minutes, while sitting in their pajamas, at 11pm? How many have purchased enough e-books that they feel they are carrying a small library in their bag, even though it still only weighs less than a pound.

There are compelling reasons to like an e-reader even if you still really prefer a physical book.

[ghaff]

Or they don't really consider smartphones or PCs suitable devices for reading ebooks. I know I'll read an ebook on my smartphone from time to time but if that were all I had, I certainly wouldn't buy ebooks for it. Of course, I think it's also entirely possible that at least some respondents just answered whether they had an ebook reader or not--however the actual question was worded.

[rtpg]

I have never used my smartphone to try and read a book, I think most people around me would agree that it would not be a fun experience (most people around me have older smartphones with small screes).

I do own a Kindle, though, but my point is that I think many people don't consider their smartphone a "reading device".

[lucaspiller]

I used to do this a few years ago when I was in London. When you have 5 minutes to wait for the next tube there wasn't much else to do as there was no wifi then :)

[smackfu]

My assumption is that the actual question in the survey didn't mention smart phones.

(And, to be honest, I never use my smartphone to read e-books.)

[revelation]

And then you exclude the 70% of 16-24 year olds that don't even regularly read, and have no use for either ebooks or paper books...