There are “downloadable” books and there are “printed” books. You know the difference…… downloadable books/classes/courses are the ones you get immediately upon your payment of the item and have instant access to it. “Printed”, of course, are those books, patterns and so forth that are already printed and are mailed to you. Which do YOU prefer?
Some websites, such as SewWithSarah have probably 90-100% of their products as downloadable. SewWithSarah has only two categories that are printed and mailed (the Plus Size Children sewing patterns and the Sewing Machine Repair For The Home Sewer in Spanish), and all other books and classes are downloadable. Some websites, such as SewMachineRepair have only “Print” copies of books, and other sites give you a choice of which version you want. An example of a website offering their book as a download OR print version is 101 Ways To Tie A Scarf – you can read all about the book, then choose which type of book you prefer. Another example would be if you’re thinking about starting a clothing alteration business, or wanting additional information on the subject, you can go to the website, AlterationBiz and once again, read the information and choose whether you want to download it immediately, or go with the print version.
We all have reasons for the method we choose. This is the age of “I need it NOW”, so the vast majority of people select the “instant” download of everything. I pretty much agree with that because when I’m in the middle of doing something and am looking for information on that particular subject, I want my information immediately, not a week from now. On the other hand, those who buy the print copy of our Sewing Machine Repair For The Home Sewer, or Sewing Machine Repair As A Home Business, say that they want the printed book so they can lay it out beside their machines and follow along with the instructions.
Some items, such as craft patterns, crochet or knitting patterns are probably ALL downloadable on every website that carries them. These types of patterns are so easy to download, using just 2-3 pieces of paper, that it just makes sense to go with the instant download on them.
Which do YOU prefer??
100% digital download. Apart from having access immediately I always appreciate having all my favourite books on my eReader and for patterns the option of printing them again any time I want,
I like printed books. The reason being is I don’t own a tablet and what if my computer crashes then there goes all that important information.
I don’t really have a preference except that I like the fact that you can save $$ using the downloadable patterns (no shipping.) Even if you take the download to a professional printer it’s still not going to cost you more than a couple of bucks to print, where most shipping is at least $4.00 or more.
i still prefer the printed version. I also still prefer printed versions of patterns. I have downloaded lots of children’s patterns, but I feel I am waiting so much paper printing them out. If I don’t have hard copy I forget about them and they can get lost in documents. I do embroidery too, so I have an incredible amount of space on computer and hard drive of embroidery files.