Should you get books in CD format or in paper format/hard copy? This decision is important when setting up a home library, when acquiring a set of books for the library, or when deciding which new books to acquire.
Today, you can get the equivalent of an entire wall of Jewish books in CD format. These books are often searchable, so they are indexed better than the index in the back of a book.
In addition, you can get many reference books such as dictionaries and encyclopedias in CD format.
This has advantages and disadvantages.
They cannot be used on Shabbat. This is only of importance in a home library. other libraries will be closed on Shabbat.
They are sometimes abridged. Check this before buying, and then decide whether the issue is important in your own library.
Sometimes they come in both abridged and unabridged or in CD and printed formats, together for a small additional charge.
Browsing is easier and more convenient in the paper version. Some patrons may resist using anything that smacks of technology or which is unfamiliar.
Searching and indexing are likely to be better in CD.
Many people have purchased CDs and paper format books in recent years. However, despite its advantages, they still prefer the old fashioned format. Most people use the CD a little bit, especially the hypertext facilities. However, when they want to look up a word and get an immediate answer they instinctively go back to the hard copy version. Why is this so?
There are several answers. First of all, people prefer to remain with traditional resources, and to look up things as they always have. It takes time to be able to learn a new technology.
Public domain books are now available on CDs. This includes the classics for which the copyright has ended. You can copy and paste text from it to any other document or book report easily.
Of course, the question is what is really ease of use. We have gotten used to reading in a traditional manner, using a book that has pages which we can turn and feel. There is a certain amount of comfort in the fact that we are reading in this way.
There is another issue. Some CD versions are abridged, or shortened. They don't have as much information as the hard copy version. Read the fine print on the CD before buying it.
However, there are advantages to the CD versions of documents, such as the hypertext. You can click on any underlined item and it will bounce you to the relevant information. Thus, if you don't understand a definition, the hypertext can pop you over to the definition for a problem word. Other underlined hypertext words will display a picture or present a sound or movie clip. Thus, you might be able to see President John F. Kennedy speak. This offers more than other encyclopedias because of this multimedia.
Many people want the option to have multimedia, so they buy a CD version, and they also want to have the full information so they have the paper version as well. Where money is an issue, the CD version is likely to be cheaper than the paper version. Shipping costs are less for the CD version. The CD unquestionably takes up less room than the paper version. This is why there are still two options of these reference materials.
Online reference materials.
There are many online dictionaries, encyclopedias and other reference materials which are available readily.
Over the course of time, our Hebrew Translating and Ivrit discussion forums have collected information about a number of these reference materials which are of interest to translators, editors, and proofreaders. Of course, these generally relate to those who work in Jewish-related languages, such as Hebrew, Aramaic, Yiddish, and Ladino. However, there is also a large number of reference materials available online for a general audience.
The best way to find a basic listing of these materials is to go to the article which relates specifically to this topic.
Click here for the listing of reference materials which include online dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference materials online.
A separate article will describe the Hebrew Translating and Ivrit groups themselves and how they differ.
Click here for a discussion of the Hebrew Translating and Ivrit groups and how they differ.
Create an article about the Hebrew Translating and Ivrit groups and how they differ.
These are of course not the only reference materials which are available on CD.
Many of the readers of this article would like to know about traditional Jewish sources available on CD.
In the past several years, several CD publishing houses have come up with various source materials for Jewish books.
One collection helps people search for word or phrases in Jewish religious texts. It might have a large collection of these Jewish religious texts.
Others include shutim and search mechanisms for them. In order to be able to learn about Jewish law.
Others might have collections of Jewish religious texts with which a person could just read them on screen but they don't do all that much in addition to having them on CD format in order to save room.
Any of these options is available on CD format and there is certainly a savings in time, money, and space, if they are used instead of the regular text format for any of these books.
In the case of these books these CD based documents, it is certainly recommended that the user try them out before buying them. Since there is such a major difference in field of these books, there are many people who might not be comfortable with them.
That is perhaps the guiding issue behind the selection of these books. Would you like to use them? Would you feel comfortable using an online or a CD text? You can only find out by actually trying it out by yourself for some time and seeing how comfortable you are with it. There are indeed many advantages to using them, but if it’s just not for you and you’re not going to use it then don't buy it and continue using traditional hard copy or text. The final judge in an issue such as this must be you. However, this article did present many of the advantages and disadvantages of using hard copy versus CD or online materials.
Online material
Online materials are similar to CD materials with the additional advantage of being updated frequently. Obviously, a CD will never be updated unless you buy the newer versions of the CD.
A disadvantage of using online search materials or reference materials is the fact that the web is by nature slow. It may be frustrating in some cases to click on a web-based resource and to have to wait until it comes up on the screen.
The web also is noted for problems in which websites are not available or down for any length of time. If this is the case, then when you want to look up something and when a word is urgent for you to look up in a dictionary, you will be additionally frustrated by the fact that you cannot see that website. The nice thing about a hard copy text is that it is always available. You don't have to worry about the computer working or working properly. You don't have to worry about a site being available or for your Internet service provider giving you the proper service that you need. All that you need in order to be able to use the book is the book itself and if it is catalogued and put on the shelf properly you will have no problems. It is always available.
Online sites also are general less comprehensive than either CD or text format of the equivalent material. This is another consideration when deciding whether to use online resources or text based sites or CDs.
However, as time goes on, more and more material is indeed being put on the Internet. For this reason, the Internet is indeed becoming more comprehensive as time goes on.
We find that there are more and more specialized sites which have specific information and a great deal of specific information in a particular field. This might make it again become more worthwhile to use the Internet online resource because it can give you the most updated and as time goes on possibly even the most complete resources.
The problem is locating which online resource is best for you. Again, the best way to find out is to use a portal – that means a collection of resources and that lists other online resources which are available to users. One online portal which lists all of the possible research materials is available from our Jewish and Hebrew groups.
Click here for the portal to Jewish and Hebrew online discussion groups resource and dictionaries and other materials which are available online.
This listing should help most people when they’re going to search for things online and thus get information readily without having to resort to stacking up their houses with all sorts of books and materials. It is an excellent resource for translators, editors, and proofreaders as well as anybody else who wants to consider improving their home library.
But what do you do when you want to look up a specific word and it is not in the dictionary? Or if you need a new explanation for something which is not listed or an expression or you want to know how a particular word fits in to a particular place. This is an issue for translators, not for any dictionary at all. It’s entirely possible that your dictionary will not be able to help in issues such as this. In such cases, it is recommended that you refer to the information in the Hebrew Translating group. That group regularly deals with issues such as these.
Translators from around the world help each other as questions are posed and answers are presented to tough questions relating to moving information from one language to another. Since the time of the Tower of Babel, there has been a need for translators to help each other, to help people who do not speak a particular language understand the language spoken by another group of people.
On the Hebrew Translating group, we have a magnificent resource for people who actually do have enough dictionaries, but they need resources for which a dictionary will never help. It goes beyond the book, beyond the CD, beyond the typical online resource, and beyond all of the dictionaries – online, CD, or paper – which a person might want to have.
Any subscriber poses a question to the group, within a short time, answers come in from other subscribers who are also professional translators, an expert in these Jewish languages from around the world. They make suggestions as to the proper term or expression to use in the other language. Sometimes, after a suggestion is made, other subscribers suggest improving on that suggestion with other possibilities of their own based upon their own experience. A discussion may well ensue, explaining the advantages and disadvantages of a particular way translating a particular word.
By the time the discussion is completed, there is no question that the user who asked the best possible translation, used in the clearest and most effective way. He will have been able to “discuss” his particular word or words with the finest of people throughout the world. He will be able to know that other translators and people who are experts in words have given it their thought and hundreds of other translators have gotten together virtually throughout the world and agreed upon a single translation for a particular concept.
There is no possible way that this translation could have been done any better than to consult with this many experts this wide range of experiences throughout the world. Thus, when we consider the possibility of the reference book for a home library, you can look at the text based books, CDs, and the online materials. However, this new method of getting information about a particular word goes well beyond the book and no matter what its format. Any person who wants to have access to information in his home, especially Jewish information, will want to have the option of this additional stronger feature which is now available to give the best possible most updated and clearest information for anybody who wants to be able to get information.
Thus, although this series of articles is about maintaining a book collection in your homes, especially Jewish homes, we must realize that there is now this additional possibility which does indeed go beyond the collection in a home and is also useful for people who want to get more information than that which could ever be available in any dictionary or in any encyclopedia or any other reference book.
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