First World Problem of the Day: eBook Guilt

“Well, I” I always say, emphasizing the “I” as if, being a librarian, my “I” is more important on the topic eBooks, “prefer print books.”

This topic comes up rather more frequently than you might imagine – I’ve had two doctors and multiple strangers of all professions – ask my opinion about eBooks. Nearly everyone is relieved to hear me say that I prefer print books and that I don’t foresee an end to them.

But over the course of the last three months I’ve spent a shocking sum on eBooks and I’ve got a case of the guilts. See, it’s not just that I’ve spent a tidy sum on them but that, for the most part, these are books I’ve already read. What’s more, starting yesterday, they are books that I already OWN in print. It started this winter.

In late January/early February Hubby and I attended a conference for his work in Orlando. Getting ready to walk out the door I had a First World Problem situation. I needed something to read. I went over to the bookshelf. A John Sandford sounded good. What didn’t sound good was hauling a hard cover book around and we buy Sandford right when they come out in hardcover. I’d never read an entire eBook before and the materials I had tried to read in that format hadn’t been completely successful. I took a leap of faith and left for the airport with my phone, my iTunes account, and no print materials. I’d try eBooks again.

Well, I went through four John Sandford novels while we were in Florida: one on the way there, one on the way back, and two in between. I’ve since continued to read the Lucas Davenport series. At first, I was paying for books that I’d read but didn’t own. Now, I’m paying for books that I already own in hardcover.

But they are SO CONVENIENT. SO LIGHT. In a waiting room, sitting in the car while Hubby runs an errand, in the break room at work…

This has happened to me before. I’m old enough that all of the music I bought in my teens was on vinyl. I upgraded to cassettes and then to CD and then to digital and some of those were repeats. I had entire TV series on VHS and upgraded to DVD. I’m just not ready to pay a second time for books and it’s a hard scrabble to pay for eBooks. But I’m doing it. Ah, First World Problems.