Actual Book vs Online Scan

Most official online services I've seen do not allow downloads of any sort.

I'm very bad with paper - tends to tear / fall apart in my hands. So digital for me.

Unlike some people, I don't have unlimited hard disk space. So what I can stream and read online, I stream and read online. And downloading takes soooo looongggg I WANT MY MANGA NAOW :(

External H Ds are your friend.

Amen to that.

Okay, I haven't downloaded any manga in a while, but how much space could it possibly take up?

edited 28th Oct '11 4:14:52 PM by Pokénatic

Takes up more than 10 GB for me, and I don't have that many manga stored.

However, I'm pretty damn sure you can read manga without unzipping rar files with a program like Honey View, which is optimized for manga reading. (I never downloaded it and now that I use the kindle, it doesn't matter.)

So basically, you could save a lot of space.

Let's see... Oh, I only have one series downloaded? Huh, I could've sworn I had another one downloaded. Oh, well. So there's 35 chapters and it's... 245 MB?!

If you have the images as certain image files, you can save even more space with .zip files.

edited 28th Oct '11 4:32:30 PM by Pokénatic

I prefer having a physical copy, it's expensive and inconvenient to store but I find it easier to read from an actual manga than a scan. Also, my internet's really slow so sometimes it can take a few minutes to load each page.

That's why I'm going to start getting box sets, I'm getting the both the DB and DBZ box sets of manga this year, next will be Bleach and Naruto, etc.

I have no issues with scans. Actually I think I prefer them, the images and writing is bigger and more legible than the hard copy (if it's a good scan, of course). I don't like to download stuff, it takes up time and space, I prefer to read them hosted on various sites.

edited 28th Oct '11 11:36:04 PM by NoirGrimoir

When a manga interests me, the question is whether it has a release in Germany (and is not out of print). If yes, then I buy it. If no, then I read it online.

If I read a scanlation and like the manga and it finally gets a release here, then I will buy it too. That's currently the case with Mirai Nikki, of which the first volume should be released in November (I could have bought it on the con, I was last weekend, but I preferred to spend my money on things that I won't get so easily).

Irrelevant, but it pisses me off how there are no light novel rental stores.

Depends. Mot of the time I go for reading the online but if it's a manga that can't be found online then I'm forced to settle for the physical copies.

I'd much rather read a physical copy when I can, though it isn't always possible. Reading manga online for too long at a stretch hurts my eyes.

I know, right? It really exhausts me quick.

I feel the same, and when I get exhausted of reading it online it takes a lot to make me go back to it. Just went back to Berserk today, actually... at only at 192

I don't have the money to buy physical copies.

That said, I don't like scanlations. Nine times out of ten it's either an overly literal, awkward mess of a translation or a "Blind Idiot" Translation. But if officially licensed and translated manga starts to move online, which I feel like it will in the near future, I'll be all for that.

edited 30th Oct '11 9:57:18 AM by Sporkaganza