Instruction books. Paper or Ebooks? If you can weigh in...

[TH]

It seems jazz students and pros alike are always exploring new material and possibilities. For those who read, study (or collect) books, does anybody find Ebooks like nook or kindle useful as an option, or is this still a realm of paper? And if you're a paper book fan, is spiral bound easier to manage than staple or regular bind?
Thanks, I'd appreciate any feedback, even if you've never posted before. This information will be really helpful for me.
I have a feeling multple formats would be useful but I'm very curious about your thoughts.
David

[randalljazz]

books. i like to mark them up. by the time i've been through one a few times, there are copious margin notes and additions to the staves.

spiral bound are nice for fakebooks, but once the outer pages begin to tear (at the binding), repair is 'impossible'.

[MarkRhodes]

I like books too. I've published some e-Books, so I'm certainly not against them, but I want something on my music stand that I can mark up if I feel the need. (If only to keep track at what tempo I can play something at without mistakes.)

[monk]

I love books, love to read and still own books that I had as a child. I have been buying and keeping music books as long as I've been playing. Boxes and boxes of books.

My inner luddite prefers real, tangible books when reading for pleasure. The heft, feel and smell of a book is part of the experience. Kindles and similar devices don't provide that experience. War and Peace and The Cat in the Hat are the same weight on a Kindle.

However, if I could scan all of the hundreds of music books I own into a dedicated tablet or notebook; one lightweight easy-to-carry device so that I would never again have to pack all the music when I move, I might just jump on it.

Disclaimer: I am looking at the possibility of relocating in the near future and the thought of packing all this stuff yet again weighs heavily. So that thing about the tablet may be temporary insanity.

[ecj]

I hate eBooks. I can't read them like I read other books (flipping back and forth, making notes, etc.). Just horrible. I think this is a case where the technology was actually a step back. It's nice saving space, but they are completely useless to me unless it's the kind of book I just read for pure entertainment (read through once, no skimming or referencing, or note-taking).

I get the convenience with fakebooks, but not being able to pencil stuff in...ugh.

[docbop]

I like paper books, I have a Kindle and it nice for taking with me to eat or in a waiting room casual reading. I have tried buying some serious music ebooks and even on a big screen don't like it. Searching is so much better with paper, I work a lot in IT and have lots of tech book both paper and ebooks and when trying to research of search for something I can flip through a paper book and find an answer and also spot related things that help.

The only thing about ebooks that's good for me is for IT work I can have a thumb drive in my pocket with a library worth of resource books.

[MarkRhodes]

Aside from making notes---I never read without a pen in hand, and if it's a library book, I'll have some index cards or a pocket-notebook for notes---I find that seeing a book I have read before helps me remember many more things than are on the page I'm looking at. That may work with e-readers too, I don't know. (I doubt it, but I don't have much experience with them.)

[henryrobinett]

I'd love both options. A paper book with a code option to eBook. I like the convenience of my nook. But better still would somehow be an option to print PDFs.

[dingusmingus]

I prefer spiral bound paper.

I bought Randy Vincent's drop 2 book as an ebook because it was cheaper than paper. I loved the content, but found the format so cumbersome I bought the Randy Vincent three-note chord book in paper, despite a higher price. I may even rebuy the drop 2 book in paper.

For me, one of the big issues is quickly finding your place, flipping back to review something quickly, etc. I find paper way better for that. I like novels and the like as ebooks well enough, but for music text, it doesn't really work for me.

[nick1994]

I actually prefer E-books, and the majority of my books are pdf's. I still have and use many books, but I just prefer E-books.

[fep]

I prefer e-books if they display correctly on my kindle. I have purchased some music instruction e-books that I had to return because 1) the image was so small I couldn't read it even with reading glasses that makes my vision better than normal good vision and 2) the images would be cut off as they didn't fit on the page.

You can adjust the font size on a Kindle but you can't adjust an image size. More care needs to be taken when these books are converted to kindle. I just avoid anything on the Kindle that will have images (like music notation). For those kind of books I have hard copies.

[MarkRhodes]

You can adjust the font size on a Kindle but you can't adjust an image size. More care needs to be taken when these books are converted to kindle. I just avoid anything on the Kindle that will have images (like music notation).

Thanks. That's good to know.

[paulkogut]

I remember reading a Guitar Player interview with John Abercrombie from the late '80s, where he coined the phrase, "option anxiety". It was in the context of discussing the then-current guitar synth technology, his point was that there used to be more or less one rig for jazz guitarists, and now there were all these choices, and how do you weigh them, do you try everything, do you pick one and stick with it, what if something new comes out, etc, etc.


I don't think I'm alone in finding a similar 'option anxiety' in sitting down to practice. Unless you're in a school situation where you are having work assigned,the questions of what to practice, how deep to go, when to move on to the next thing, are all real dilemmas with no easy answer. Although I appreciate the e-book's potential to have a large amount of material available in a small package, I sometimes find that having everything available all at once to be more of a hinderance than help. There's a comfort to taking one book and only one book off the shelf, putting it up on the stand and working through it without distraction. There's too much temptation on an iPad to jump around between books, check the email, say hello to Facebook, follow a link to the Youtube and so on. If it were something I was just going to read through once, I could see going the ebook route, but for something I'll work with again and again (Advancing Guitarist, Liebman's Chromatic Harmony, Bach Sonatas and Partitas) I dig having the paper.


PK

[wizard3739]

I prefer Spiral bound but some very good books are not available like that. I also like to be able to notate interesting parts of a book. I have a huge collection of music books and would never get rid of them.

wiz

[srlank]

I remember reading a Guitar Player interview with John Abercrombie from the late '80s, where he coined the phrase, "option anxiety". It was in the context of discussing the then-current guitar synth technology, his point was that there used to be more or less one rig for jazz guitarists, and now there were all these choices, and how do you weigh them, do you try everything, do you pick one and stick with it, what if something new comes out, etc, etc.


I don't think I'm alone in finding a similar 'option anxiety' in sitting down to practice. Unless you're in a school situation where you are having work assigned,the questions of what to practice, how deep to go, when to move on to the next thing, are all real dilemmas with no easy answer. Although I appreciate the e-book's potential to have a large amount of material available in a small package, I sometimes find that having everything available all at once to be more of a hinderance than help. There's a comfort to taking one book and only one book off the shelf, putting it up on the stand and working through it without distraction. There's too much temptation on an iPad to jump around between books, check the email, say hello to Facebook, follow a link to the Youtube and so on. If it were something I was just going to read through once, I could see going the ebook route, but for something I'll work with again and again (Advancing Guitarist, Liebman's Chromatic Harmony, Bach Sonatas and Partitas) I dig having the paper.


PK

This is is a huge point for me as well. Option anxiety.....I love it. And having an overloaded amount of electronic PDFs smooshed into my teeny, tiny iphone. Besides the overwhelming amount of options, that stuff is just incredibly hard to read. As far as packaging preference for hardcopy, I'd say that I like spiral the best....very friendly.

[Michael Kaye]

Books for me . Real paper. I guess I'm just use to it.

I have ireal pro. I do like it a lot. I use it. It's a great tool.

But there's something about my collection of paper books that's just more satisfying.....

[TH]

Here's another question. There's a size that's smaller than the standard 8.5x11, and it's a 6x9 format called Trade Book format. Anybody who's seen Wayne Krantz's book OS will be familiar.
Now if there were a theoretical book of rhythm permutations, or say, a bunch of voice leading voicings, and they were put out in a Trade Book format, so they could easily fit in a gig bag pocket, still be easily read, and on paper that would allow for heavy use, how would that hit you? They might be 80-120 pages per volume and maybe go for about $20 each. Reference and exploration material that you wouldn't normally find in other places and ways to play things that could lead to your changing your idea of space and how to fill it.
Would you guys find a full size 8x11 or a pocket size 6x9 more appealing?

I appreciate all of your input, guys (generic guys term) and it's been very enlightening.
Thanks so much

David

[NSJ]

I use both PDFs and actual books

There are many programs and apps such as iAnnotate in which you can add notes to the PDFs. You can even dictate these notes without actual writing with great accuracy if one speaks clearly.. Technology has come along way.

[MarkRhodes]

Would you guys find a full size 8x11 or a pocket size 6x9 more appealing?

I don't mind trade paperback size for most things, but I'm wondering if a 6x9 book with musical content would lie open without my holding it. That is, on a music stand. If not, that would be a problem If it was SPIRAL, though, that would be fine. (I had a Hall Leonard book called something like "The Real Little Book of Jazz Standards" that was 6x9 and had a spiral binding. That was fine: portable and, to coin a phrase, "stand-worthy.")

Here's a link to the current edition at Amazon. Doesn't appear to be spiral bound to me, but sometimes the picture is not of the most common edition, not necessarily the one you're buying. (Does "Plastic Comb" mean spiral?)

The Real Little Hal Leonard Real Jazz Standards Fake Book: C Edition: Hal Leonard Corp.: 0073999402131: Amazon.com: Books

[edh]

@Mark, yes plastic comb means spiral.

[MarkRhodes]

@Mark, yes plastic comb means spiral.

Thanks! I thought so but wasn't sure.

[Jabberwocky]

Paper, acid-free. Large easy to read font for old eyes. Large Plastic comb or signature bound. No staples please. (Rust). No spiral please. (Rust).

Downside to plastic comb or spiral: Bulk. Difficulty in stacking books and storing them. Signature binding is best.

NB Spiral implies wire. Plastic comb implies, well, not a spiral but curved tongues of plastic affixed to a thicker spine.

[Dave70]

Paper books and sheet music. Standard size.

Comb binding is ugliest, I've seen a few different types of spiral including clear plastic 'wire' (OS book has that), which seems ok but time will tell if it becomes brittle.

As for trade size to fit in gig bag, I don't think I'd ever use an instructional manual on a gig.

[MarkRhodes]

Is there a minimum page count for plastic comb editions? I share your aversion to staples: not only do they rust, which is bad enough, but pages tear free too easily. But is a plastic comb binding practical for, say, a 30-page music book?

[srlank]

I recently bound a book with the spiral plastic curls, and I think it is extremely easy to manipulate. It has almost 400 pages. The curls are springy and flexible....highly recommended.