I think I need to start doing the ebook thing for financial reasons. I like having a physical copy of the book, and I have been using my local library system in recent years, but I have a ton of books that I want to read that are a bit less mainstream and they don't actually have a copy of them anywhere in my library system, and I can't afford to buy them all physically
I will always and forever prefer physical to digital book-wise. I love my shelf of old mass market paperbacks. That being said, it really is an incredibly cost effective way to read books that are just too much $$ wise. There are like 10+ Malazan novels I haven't read because the physical versions are like $25 and up just for the paperback version. And that's not even mentioning the convenience of travel. I might sneak in a paperback or two but it's also nice to have my entire digital library available.
I occasionally purchase physical books, but I’m almost entirely digital now. I primarily get everything from Amazon sales. Amazon sends me a daily email with book sales, and I wait until I see a book I’ve been wanting to read. If I’m really eager to read something, I’ll buy it even if it’s not on sale. However, I have hundreds of unread books on my Kindle, so I have plenty of other options to choose from.
Most of the books I buy are around €10, which is what ebooks cost too here, so I can’t really justify the costs of an ereader. Also frankly I am worried about even more screens.
I keep finding the books I'm looking for on Amazon as those large soft covers, and they usually cost almost as much as a hardcover, which makes me want to spend that little bit more and get the actual hardcover even though I don't have money to be buying it at all in the first place haha
Physical books all the way. It annoys me something that is essentially a PDF is not significantly cheaper than a physical book.
I’m mostly digital now due to Libby and kindle unlimited but still love buying used books whenever I can
I just don't like the experience of reading digitally at all, and I love physical books too much to ever give them up. I also hardly ever buy new unless I have a gift card or there's something I really don't want to wait on.
For what it’s worth, there (should be) a lot more that goes into an ebook formatting-wise than just copying the PDF over. There’s definitely some labor involved. that said though, your point stands, ebooks should be way cheaper than print books in general. I do love physical copies so much, both special editions and just general MMPs and everything. But I’ve also pivoted to the library and ebooks for books I want to investigate, and I reserve physical copies for ones I know I want to own.