TS: Getting books from Project Gutenberg vs buying real books.

Which would you prefer to do?

Project Gutenberg is a fab project, proofread copies of out of copyright editions of books, formatted and uploaded. They've got most of the classics. They're free, almost entirely the same as any other copy I could buy on the high street. I don't have to pack them into boxes when I need to move house.

Buying books gives me a real hard copy of what I want to read, something I can take with me anywhere and (were I so inclined) to make notes in the margin (horror of horrors!). They cost and are a pain when moving house, but look good on a shelf, and don't require a computer and power socket to read them.

Oh, so far buying the damn things is winning by far (something I'm painfully aware of, having just finished adding my books to LibraryThing), but I've started using PG more this year, mostly when I've been away from home and haven't had access to physical books. PG's wonderful; I now carry Boswell & Johnson & Hazlitt & Bacon with me wherever I go, on my pocket telephone*. A Nokia E61i with the free "Mobi Reader" software, to be exact, which has a large, albeit bright, screen. I've read on it for hours at a time without feeling the kind of weariness I get from reading from a normal monitor.

I don't find myself using PG much at all at home though, except to look up a few things or peek at older books that I'm curious about. Reading longer texts on a bigger screen is too tiring, and strongly limits the seating opportunities (since I haven't a laptop.) Plus, I stare at a monitor all day at work. It's made it easier to figure out if I really want to read a book without asking the library to order it for me, or buying it myself, first, but in these cases it's mostly working as a quick filter, much like Amazon's "look inside" feature. A great plus is that it gives acceess to texts Norwegian libraries seem to have zero interest in stocking, and that I have even less interest in purchasing. "Varney the Vampire" comes to mind.

Part of me want to say that I'd prefer to get books from Project Gutenberg, as my shelves are double-stacked as it is, and my apartment is tiny. Plus, there's the concerns of monetary issues & movability. And no one would look at my Project Gutenberg bookmark and inquire whether or not I've read all those books.
I fear I'm too attached to physical books at the moment to go without them, though I suspect I could rid myself of a great number of the ones I already have without really missing them. Will I ever re-read "The Forever War"? Doubt it. Will I ever read "The Runaway Soul" at ALL? Err, maybe? I don't know... Probably not. And I fear I am one of those sad sops who enjoy shopping for books; I can easily spend hours exploring the shelves of a bookstore, particularly used books stores where the shelves are always likely to yield some surprising volumes (and a whole lot of Dan Brown and von Däniken) Plus, I haven't really got anything else to furnish my rooms.

*OK, I'm just trying to sound like Mr Burns now.

The form factor of printed books with bindings is just so goddamn handy and appealing to me that PG will never be able to replace them. PG is especially good for minor works that you might never see otherwise, and might not want to buy a copy of, but you still want to check them out.

...I am one of those sad sops who enjoy shopping for books; I can easily spend hours exploring the shelves of a bookstore, particularly used books stores...

That's exactly my relationship with books in the last 5 years. Books are something to read, something to enjoy shopping for (whether new or used) and something to furnish my house/flat/wherever with.

And I'm agreed about the fack of books being a bit handy!

I've seen some book readers about, how does PG stuff look on them? Would anyone recommend that over a 'real' book?

PG great for having a look at things, reading short stories and essays, but would never read a full book on screen. I have printed stuff out that I couldn't get anywhere else as A5 size, and put into a nice self-designed card cover, staple-bound, so I could read it like a book. But then I am a nerd.

I never, ever, regret buying books and this is always my first choice. Next, the library. I don't think I'll ever cotton to reading them on-line