I bought myself an Android tablet last weekend and have downloaded a few free classics onto it. As a bibliophile, and former bookseller of 17 years standing, I am surprised how satisfying a reading experience it is.

Everyone I talk to assumes, as they know I love to read, that I have, or plan to get a Kindle, but I never will. I adore books, and to me a house without books is like a house without music. I have an iPad but only ever read webby stuff on it, or emails.

There is nothing like the smell of old books.

Mrs RR bought me a Kindle and in my opinion I quite enjoy th e experience of using it but I will still buy books of the paper/hard back variety, however for how long I don`t know.

Had my Kindle for over a year now.

The way it works for me is like this.

I have an ongoing pile of real books at home, that I read at home. I've probably got nine or ten books in the 'unread' pile at the moment.

When I'm travelling, I never pack any books now - just the Kindle. That's got a *load* of unread stuff on it - probably 40-odd books (excluding a load of freebie classics I'll probably never get round to reading) that I've picked up over the last year or so.

Buying books - now probably 80:20 Kindle. Mainly because of the impulse purchase thing, and obviously things like the '12 days of Christmas' promotion. Also not working in the city centre means I don't get to drop into Waterstones or wherever that often. If I'm buying from Amazon, having the book immediately generally wins out over waiting for paper (even though it is likely to sit unread on the Kindle for weeks, if not months. Don't ask me to explain that.)

So going forwards, as my paper stock depletes, it will probably be more and more electronic, although I can never see me completely stopping buying proper books.

Sorry Terry...

I don't think he'll ditch real books entirely, though.

I read books on the iPad, but I still like the feel of a real book too. I doubt I'll ever entirely lose the thrill of buying and reading a real book.

I'm sure I'll get some kind of e-reader before long, but I've been putting it off as I like sharing books, especially with my Dad. He's in his eighties, doesn't use the internet, and I can't see him beginning to use an e-reader.

Also, I buy two or three art books a year, and can't see an e-reader replacing those.

I got a Kindle for christmas, and so did my wife.

I've had a Sony Reader for just over a year so I was already OK with the idea of it.

I love books too, but we do not have a large house and having more than 1000 books takes up a lot of space. I realised it was too many when we moved the other year and the boxes full of books, CDs and DVDs took up as much space in the lorry as the rest of the house contents put together.

I can't see me getting rid of many of the existing paper books and I certainly won't buy them again on Kindle like we all did to some extent with CDs to replace old vinyl.

I'm currently enjoying some right bargains though: Christopher Hithens and the QI book for 99p each. Also just finished Coffin Dodgers (only available in e-format) for 99p which turned out to be very entertaining.

Although I love books, I do think the Kindle and oth4er book readers are doing a lot to encourage more reading, which has to be good. Just today a colleague was telling me about his nephew who has a Kindle because its the new must-have gadget and has 2000 books on it.

I know they will be almost entirely pirated and he obviously won't have read them all yet, and is only collecting them to be able to say he has 2000 - but before that he didn't have any books at all. Even if he only gets tempted to read one or two its a good thing surely?

seems ludicrously expensive to me. I don't have a Kindle but I do have a tablet which runs the Kindle App. Earlier today I was quite keen to have a look at Andy Kershaw's biog on Beany's advice. The Kindle version though is £8...but for the same price you could also get the hardback on Amazon!. This just makes me want to wait for the paperback which I can presumably get for less than the Kindle version.

Which makes me wonder whether it is just a bit of a fad and it's just that people have bought a Kindle because it's the latest cool gadget. There doesn't seem to be much financial incentive when comparing the price of the paper vs the electronic book. Are we a suddenly a nation of minimalists who can't bear to have a book case full of books?
I understand piracy of Kindle Books/ebooks is already happening although I can't believe it is/will be on the same scale as music and DVDs? Is it?

As for magazines, upon acquiring my tablet as I was surprised how few of the magazines I read have an electronic version as an alternative. So I shall be consuming paper for some time to come.

Gadget lover that I am, with no CDs, no DVDs and a total embrace of digital media, I simply can't get on with e readers. I love books, physical books. They're wonderful. I just don't enjoy the experience of reading on a screen. A real book is a friend; an ebook is just some words on a display.

Illogical, daft, Canute-like? Sure. But it's how I feel. I'll stick to paper, ta.

will ensure paper books continue for some time. But if you love books the question is do you love the words or the form? Like music - do you love the sound or the look of the album?
I remember Bernard Levin meeting a book collector who had two first editions of 1984, and sneering that they didnt like books they liked objects - the magic of the book is the words, not the dustcover.

I like the look and feel of a good book, but my GLW just wants them out the house (unless they are particularly aesthetically pleasing). Havent bought a paper book since I got a Kindle for father's day.

The pricing can be odd because e-books have VAT, but paper books do not.

...although I'm getting more and more tempted to buy one.
Just started reading the Steve Jobs book and it's too damn big to carry about on the daily commute, which has got me thinking about buying a Kindle.
I have lots of albums on my iPod that I never seem to get round to properly listening to - and this frustrates me. Can't help feeling I'll get the same frustrations with books if I buy a Kindle.

I've had my Kindle for 8 months, and though I've been a devourer of the written word since before I went to primary school (according to my Mum), spent all my pocket money on books, have bookshelves all over the house, I've had one of those "hand hits forehead" revelations: I hate paper.

The feel of it sets my fingernails on edge, it dries out my hands and I'm always getting paper cuts. I've been reading books in spite of the paper.

I still love the look and idea of books, and will continue to get reference / glossy picture books in hard copy, but I've got over my guilt of abandoning my first love, and I'll now get my fix of stories and linear text in electronic format.

I am a voracious hoarder. I come from a family of hoarders. It's in the genes.

I was also an e-reader naysayer, until I got an ipad a while ago. The point made by Skuds is well made, I believe that these devices will actually encourage people to read. My own life is an example of that. Last year was a typical year in that I probably bought anywhere between 25 and 50 books between online, local shops, bargain book sellers and so on. As far as I can remember I only finished one of them and that was a work related book that I had to read.

Since getting the iPad I've downloaded books regularly, have bought on impulse and picked up some gems that I never would have gone through the process of buying online- titles that my local bookshops would never have stocked in a million years. I'm currently reading an oral history of ESPN. Saw it online, bought it and started reading it within 10 minutes.

We have a room in our house dedicated to cd's and books. It's wall to wall and properly shelved. I looked at the bookshelf a few nights ago and realised that one entire 8 ft high by 2 ft wide section had less books on it than my iBooks collection. I also counted at least 100 books that have never been opened since they were taken out of the shopping bag.

The digital reading experience is enjoyable and when I get the train to Dublin for work meetings I am no longer packing a book, two newspapers, a notebook and, sometimes, a laptop. The iPad does it all.

Nevertheless the romanticism of leafing through the bookshelf will be hard to lose. I agree that a house without books is a soulless place, but this is progress and perhaps it might encourage people to delve into reading in greater numbers again.

And we're not gadgety people at all, so that says something.

Seriously, anybody got any recommendations for a cover for a Kindle 4?

I much prefer reading on it rather than on the iPad which just doesn't feel right. I also travel a fair bit and have got fed up with the bulk of paperbacks so it's a total winner for me, especially buying a title and having it immediately. Amazon is great but if an item won't fit through the letterbox or needs a signature then it's a pain as I cant predict if I will be in to take delivery.

I bought two, for GLW and my oldest child. A few years ago it was borderline whether to go wireless in our house - now we have about a dozen things that couldn't really function without it.

digital readers today in WH Smith which are Android based, and support the ePub format, I can see the appeal. I was thinking of revisiting some of my old favourites for nostalgia's sake and most seem to be readily available and cheaper as a download.

I got a Kindle at Christmas, and put off using it for a couple of weeks, as I was already reading something, and was given a couple of books as well. The trouble with the Kindle was that I had to think of something else to read to try it out with. In the end, I bought Tinker, Sailor, Soldier, Spy.

I have found the Kindle easy to read and use, but I'm not sure if I'll use it much. It seems to be solving problems I don't have. I try only to have one book on the go at any one time, and don't find a paperback difficult to carry around. I don't know how many books I read, but even if it's two a week, that's not a big space problem, and about twice a year, I clear out the stuff that won't be re-read. Also, I rejoined the library recently, so I am buying and storing a lot less anyway. Just as an observation, for all of the campaigns that go on to defend libraries, almost no-one I know seems to use them any more - I think they'd be surprised to find out that most books they want to read are available there.

Interestingly, ebooks are now available from the library, although I haven't tried borrowing any yet.

I like the look of the Kindle, but I have no plans to get one yet. It's really down to my reading habits:

- Most of what I read (fiction in particular) is sourced either from family/friends or from charity shops, because (a) I quite like not knowing what I'll end up with, and (b) I'm a cheapskate. So the Kindle versions are still pricey from my POV.

- Anything I go out of my way to buy new, is something I will invariably want to keep. As a natural hoarder I do still like to see the shelves groaning under the strain, though of course there are limits and I have actually started getting rid of some lately.

- My travel habits make it inessential. My commute is in the car; when I'm flying I like to have a paperback that isn't required to be switched off for take-off and landing.

I can see the attraction of the Kindle for long trips, and I've read a couple of short books on the iPhone which was less bothersome than expected. So I'm sure I'll get one eventually.

what they would like for Christmas. One was very predictable and asked for a Nintendo 3DS. The other nearly floored me when he asked for a Kindle. They are 11 in February and the fact that an e reader was top of his very short list of requests is heartening.
If this is happening across the world then the Kindle and e-readers are a very good thing.

On a personal note, I have the Kindle app for the iPad and use it every day and it is perfect for taking away on holiday. I am in the process of getting rid of the majority of the papery type books but lo and behold, they do get replaced very fast as I cannot seem to pass a bookshop without nabbing a bargain. So everyone's a winner (babe).

for over a year now, and I've found it works well alongside reading the real thing. For me it's not an "either / or". It's an "as well". I really like the way that via their cloud reader I can log in and read any Kindle book I have from any PC. I'm still buying books in both formats but the Kindle is winning out. Anyone else following the Kindle deal of the day? A book at £0.99 for 24 hours - today is Doreen Lawrence's (didn't bother) yesterday was Boys From Brazil (which I did).

Trips away for me used to mean lugging half a dozen books and magazines - now I can take 10 times as many electronically - and I carry one of two of the real thing for situations like take off / landing or strong sunlight where the iPad is no use.

At least if the pile of unread books I have on the iPad falls on me it won't kill me, unlike the ones at home..

GLW made me buy one as the house is stuffed with books. I find that I am actually more inclined to read what I have on the Kindle rather than the stockpile of books I would have had previously. I would usually have a few books on the go, fiction of some dexcription and usually something factual (pop science, Gladwell or history). I find I am much more inclined to finish the factual stuff now that you are more likely to dip in and out of. For instance, I am crawling through Doggett's history of the Beatles business history. I am enjoying it immensely but at a rate of a chapter a week as it is the kind of thing you need to be in the mood for. If I was still on paper books, it would have long since been archived away out of easy reach and never finished.

The one major downside of ebooks is the pleasure of picking up discounted books in your local store - the type of 'at that price, I'll give it a whirl' type books. This market will cease to exist and ultimately published books will cater for the deluxe high end collectors market only. I expect we are pretty close to printed books being much more lavish with background material and companion pieces not available in the ebook versions