Accordance vs. Print / Accordance vs. Ebooks

[R. Mansfield]

I love the smell of brand new books in my Accordance Library--don't you?

 

What's the difference? Accordance vs. Print & Accordance vs. Ebooks

 

See new blog post here: http://www.accordancebible.com/Accordance-Vs-Print-Ebooks

[Fabian]

Me too especially when it's in german

[Peter Brylov Christensen]

I can only agree with what you wrote. Books evolve into so much more when they become searchable and tagged to other texts of the same kind, grammars, lexica, commentaries and so on. The advantages to Accordance are vast and numerous - with one exception. There is one scenario in which print edition books are still superior to searchable ones, due to the very limitations of the former, ironically enough. I know I have been mentioning this before, but I figured that one of the few remaining important advantages of using print materials still deserves some praise.

"Finding content in Accordance is much faster than thumbing through page after page of a reference work or looking in an index, hoping that what you’re looking for will be there. With Accordance, you can search for any subject in a variety of ways and find it at near-instantaneous speeds."

This is normally a great thing, but for learning new languages (and other new things - depends on what it is), it's the other way around. When "thumbing through page after page", you are forced to do all the little calculations manually in order to find the right result. You have to think about the various possibilities, possible mistakes, or overlooked options. Most, if not all of that disappears into thin air if the answer is right in front of you. Sometimes limitations are a blessing as it forces the mind to think. Of course, seeing that I do actual original language research these days, I would not go back to the old school method unless I absolutely have to, now that something far better is available. But when I (for instance) finally pull myself together and start learning hieroglyphics/Ancient Egyptian, I'm gonna go do it the tedious way without any searchable material: It'll be dusty and heavy old tomes all the way!

 

With kind regards

 

Peter Christensen

[Λύχνις Δαν]

This is normally a great thing, but for learning new languages (and other new things - depends on what it is), it's the other way around. When "thumbing through page after page", you are forced to do all the little calculations manually in order to find the right result. You have to think about the various possibilities, possible mistakes, or overlooked options. Most, if not all of that disappears into thin air if the answer is right in front of you. Sometimes limitations are a blessing as it forces the mind to think. Of course, seeing that I do actual original language research these days, I would not go back to the old school method unless I absolutely have to, now that something far better is available. But when I (for instance) finally pull myself together and start learning hieroglyphics/Ancient Egyptian, I'm gonna go do it the tedious way without any searchable material: It'll be dusty and heavy old tomes all the way!

 

With kind regards

 

Peter Christensen

 

Harder is better in the long run I agree.

 

My own preference is like this. If I need to look something up at random I like the computer. If I want to read something cover to cover I like a book, not least because it actually has covers.

 

Thx

D

[Greg Terry]

To point out some contrary ideas:

 

Print books do not need electricity or recharging or upgrading.

 

Print books can be sold, traded, loaned or borrowed. Accordance texts-not so much.

 

A print book is almost always available LONG before they become Accordance modules.

 

 

BTW, I do use Accordance and other competitors but IMHO print books have more value in the long run.

[R. Mansfield]

Greg, points well taken. And I'm not in total disagreement. See my recent response in the comments section at the original post to see where I discuss the fact that I still have quite a few print books myself. I'm not getting rid of all of them, but I'm definitely working at reducing numbers of physical books and increasing the numbers of digitized books--especially in Accordance where I find them to be of best value.

 

I understand what you're saying about value, but I guess for me (and I assume there are others like me), the value is greatest in having immediate and fast access to so much information; and that creates value in the long run as well because I have more time for other things.

[Kit]

I agree with you, Greg. I love printed books because on one hand books are designed and crafted with many aesthetic principles including graphic design, typography, proportion, positive and negative space and so much more; on the other hand, if a book is well designed, it creates a much better legibility to invite reader to engage into the text. Therefore, I usually purchased referenced modules, such as dictionaries and commentaries, for Accordance. But for general reading, printed books are my first choice.

[jeremyduncan]

Books were one of the last physical media I held onto. MP3s replaced CDs first (although I do still collect vinyl ), then iTunes replaced Blu-ray and DVD, finally I switched to Kindle for books and Accordance for research.

 

The only thing I can't understand is how slow the publishing world is in responding to technology. New commentary volumes are available in print long before Accordance gets them.

[R. Mansfield]

 

The only thing I can't understand is how slow the publishing world is in responding to technology. New commentary volumes are available in print long before Accordance gets them.

 

Jeremy, there are a number of factors involved here. There are always legal issues--contracts, print vs. digital rights, etc. These things naturally take time.

 

The other factor has to do with the other part of what I said in the post that started this thread -- http://www.accordanc...Vs-Print-Ebooks

 

The value of buying a book in Accordance is greater than buying a simple ebook. All publishers now use electronic means for producing books--often in a program like Adobe InDesign which can export to a number of formats. At least that speeds up the process somewhat.

 

But we don't just publish the etext. Our developers go through the text with their digital fine-toothed combs tagging the different kinds of content found in book. This can be quite tedious at times as you can imagine. I wouldn't have the patience for it, so my hat is off to them for their efforts.

 

Again, it takes time, but those of us who invest in these titles believe it's worth it.

 

A good case in point is the NIDNTTE. It came out in print last month. We have worked with Zondervan to get this onto the screens of Accordance users as quickly as possible. It is projected for the spring, and that is actually a pretty good turnaround time for all that goes into preparing it.

[Greg Terry]

Rick & others:

 

I am not denying that Accordance modules are not valuable-they certainly are and I have a rather LARGE collection of them. I choose to purchase print books (often in addition to electronic modules when available) for many of the more important works because of the scarcity, especially in Accordance, of many of the great Puritan works. Puritan books often require more reading and less searching. Print books work much better for me for that purpose. I predominantly use Puritan writings for study and development of lessons for my Sunday School class and in my personal study. For now, print versions of Puritan works often provide greater accessibility when combined with some of the available cross reference resources for those works. Accordance modules are very good for searching and I have made a large number of Accordance user modules of some of the Puritan works. Some have been shared with other Accordance users.

 

Another more personal feeling I might add to my previous list is:

 

When I purchase a print book there is a definite feeling of ownership (physical factor). With electronic resources I feel more like I am renting the resources (more ephemeral).

 

None of my comments should be construed as a knock against Accordance. I have struggled with etext vs print issue for quite a while. At this point this is where my mindset resides. Not everyone will agree or even understand and they need not. This is just some of my thoughts on the subject.

[Abram K-J]

Another angle to consider for those of us parents who have kids is concern with how much time our kids see us on a device or screen of any sort. That is one factor that keeps me from going all-digital, at least for now.

[Unix]

I don't agree about that statement:

 

Another more personal feeling I might add to my previous list is:

 

When I purchase a print book there is a definite feeling of ownership (physical factor). With electronic resources I feel more like I am renting the resources (more ephemeral).

... rather I feel as there are no limitations to license-transferring, any future problems and situations can be solved by license transfers of parts of my library. Accordance doesn't in the least feel like renting and the software maintenance costs are extemely low, for which I'm truly grateful. Like I've said in one of the past few comments I've made on here, in General, I can fit Accordance into my plans and don't have to pay hundreds of $ for rather contentless databases like a certain competitor is bound to charge as they can't seem to come up with enough revenue avenues for all their draining costs for their various undertakings and various high software programming costs. Which is all pretty unlike OakTree's cost structures - especially if those cost structures are reflected into how customers are being charged.

 

Both buying sets and buying individual volumes of academic books, are continuous efforts of time put into choosing between alternative titles and various topics many of them rabbit-holes, estimating value in £ for me of what I'm considering to buy, and time put into making the final choice whether to buy in print or under Accordance.

 

The choice of whether to buy in print, actually comes down to whether to buy at all.

If my research takes me on a path of exploration where I will have what I need either now or at some point produced under Accordance, then that is my clear choice.
If however a path like that takes me to resources mostly found in print but not being under Accordance and if there's even known lacking publisher relations, then I must seriously consider if that, which probably is a rabit hole, is something I want to pursue: It can be a monograph of which I'm not certain of the value or suitability to my preferences, or it can be about a century old books that I'm unsure will carry over any value from me to a next generation

[Alistair]

I think there is more of a case for an individual buying, for example, three commentaries on John (from separate series) , than Oak Tree currently allows.

 

I would like to suggest that OakTree approaches the publishers and copyright holders and negotiates terms for individual volume licensing.

 

Judging from the forum, I think this may be a bit of a missed opportunity to date.

[Daniel Francis]

I know this is OLD... that said one thing i did not notice but only skimmed through here is many books are heavy.... now a MBP is 5 lbs but my iPad is very light and have no issues with it for the most part with my neuromuscular weakness even a study Bible is usually too heavy for me to hold comfortably. I do have a books stand on my prayer desk but I find eBooks are the only way i do these days... also I find print size in most hard copy books too small to be extremely comfortable to read. At 43 I still do not need bifocals but the larger text on my iPad is much easier on my eyes...

 

-dan

[Helen Brown]

This is an old topic. We have listened to you and we have been releasing more and more of the major series as individual volumes. We'll announce a completely new series tonight, but we already offer the following in sections or volumes:

• Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries (AYBD) seies
• Baker Exegetical Commentary of the NT  (BECNT) series
• Jewish Publication Society Commentary (JPS) series
• New American Commentary (NAC) series
• New International Commentary on the NT (NICNT) series
• New International Commentary on the OT (NICOT) series
• New International Greek Testament Commentary (NIGTC) series
• NIV Application Commentary (NIVAC) series
• Pillar Commentary series
• Word Biblical Commentary (WBC) series
• Zondervan Exegetical Commentary (ZEC) series

The smaller items, volumes or sections, can all be seen in the Commentary Volumes list. The best summaries of what is available for each series, and the upgrades to each set are in our Articles section.