Physical vs Digital

Inspired by the time-tested practice of marginalia, the art of
note-taking inside of books, I wanted to explore note taking in digital
books.

In most apps like Amazon’s Kindle, I can highlight, notate and save until next time I open it up like below:

But there are limits. When you purchase a book it is not owned but
rather it is licensed. You are borrowing it until at some point either
the publisher pulls it or the digital store no longer supports it. They
cannot be transferred, and at some point the digital purchase will be
deleted.

Also, you cannot pass down your digital books or their annotations to the next generation.

I
used to have crates full of books but after moving them around the
country more than a few times, plus the introduction of digital books, I
gave away or sold most of them because of the inconvenience. Now, I am
regretful.

The next time I want a book for a quick read I’ll
purchase a digital license and be done with it or borrow from the
library. For long term books to keep I will be grabbing a physical copy
and look forward to scribbling my notes and commentary.