Books

Honestly? Digital overall. And I'm talking about reading; there's benefits to digital outside that, but I wanna do it separate.

A decent tablet with a good app is a better reading experience overall. Yes, it lacks multi sensory experience, and the comfort of curling up and sinking in.

Where it gains is that, regardless of eink vs standard displays, you can change fonts, font size, contrast, and even the colors of text and background. You can choose to scroll instead of turning pages. This all means that no matter what kind of eyesight you have, whether you're dyslexic or not, you have a high degree of making sure that you can actually read. Done properly, you can do so without eye strain, and usually while holding the device in one hand, in any position.

Assuming a backlight or other built in lighting on eink, you can read without it needing a lamp that might bother someone beside you.

As much as I love paper in hand, the smell, sound and feel of it, I can actually read with full comfort on even a cheap tablet. And, being dyslexic, instead of dealing with the frustration of the publisher picking the font and font size, thus making me work harder; I get to pick what works and just enjoy reading.

And then you get into the stuff that isn't purely about reading. For one, portability. I can carry thousands of books in my hand digitally. I can take them almost anywhere, and (assuming I pick the right device) even read in pouring rain or the shower if I wanted to, so tub reading ceases to be a problem.

Which is related to storage. With digital, I never have to worry about it. I don't need an entire room dedicated to books, or have bookshelves in every room just to have access to everything.

So, I could entirely convert to digital and have extra space.

Or! I can freely choose which books to keep physical copies of. That means I can even have hardback editions with less concern over space compared to paperbacks. Just the Wheel of Time books are an entire shelf in hardback. In paperback, there's still room for more. Yay digital! I can trade or sell off the paperbacks, keep my hardbacks for the sensory delight, and not have to fret about running out of room as much.

Going digital and replacing less read books entirely took me from ten bookcases crammed full, with things stacked in bad ways; to ten that are neatly organized with room for more if/when I want, and better displays of my favorites.

If you want an actual collection of books, as opposed to simply accumulating books, digital is the perfect accompaniment.

Right now, everything on my shelves is either a favorite, out of print, or special in some other way. Some are all three. Before, it included stuff that I might only reread once a decade, but didn't want the hassle of tracking them down in a library that might not have a copy, and might not have an entire series for those. I even have room to display some of the nicer covers instead of having to have every book in there spine out.

As far as pricey books go, at least with digital as a main format for the collection, it means you can actually afford the more pricey books when you really want them.

As far as sourcing cheaper paper books, you gotta go local to used book dealers. It's really the only practical way to really save money. You can sometimes do eBay though. Otherwise, you're paying full price at any store that sells new. You might run into sales, but that's not reliable.