I have an iPad and I love it, but I still prefer hard copies of my cookbooks.

We might be getting close. I've actually convinced my mother that recipes online are often better than those that are printed because:

- If users CAN comment, they will, and they'll offer up advice and reviews
- Misprints can be fixed quickly and quietly
- If one recipe doesn't work for you, you can always search for another one
- Recipes from out of print books are making their way to recipe sites. These days, it's actually easier to find classic recipes online than to find them in a bookstore
- Videos. Oh my god, the VIDEOS.

That said, I hope that cookbooks don't go away. They're great for inspiration and instruction, especially when you're new to the topic.

When I can jot my notes and substitutions on the page, maybe.

When I can see from the stains that the recipe is a much-used keeper, maybe (this is how I trawl for recipes in my mom's collection: messy page = recipe worth trying).

When the machine can handle getting broth or cocoa powder on it, maybe.

Until then, cookbooks.

This reminds me that I need to set a longer period before screen timeout on my ipad *before* I start cooking, so I don't have to keep turning it back on with my messy hands!

I like using my ipad for recipes, and I like having cookbooks, too. Not ready to declare either medium the winner yet.

i am cook book lover,and would never replace them..;-)

Conceptually, I love the idea that in a small house I can use one gadget to eliminate all my paper cookbooks and reclaim my bookshelves for art.

Practically, there's no way my favorite cookbooks (some of them multi-hundred page professional books that cost me hundreds each) will ever be on a modern gadget - so - I'll be sticking with paper for now.

Maybe the generation after me will Never begin collecting paper cookbooks but I did and for better or worse I am hooked!

I look at this way -- my cookbooks (of which I have dozens) will never require a charge, so no wasting energy; they will never need an upgrade; nor will I ever worry about having to buy the latest version; or worry about having a wifi or wireless connection, say when I stay at my friend's low-tech cabin.

That said, I do use our Ipad for cooking, and I can certainly see future generations foresaking books -- but that's their loss.

Here's the problem with ebooks, et al.

THE PUBLISHER CONTROLS THE CONTENT.

One day the recipe that worked for you, isn't the same anymore as they updated it for the latest gadget or technique or changed taste profile.

One day that really good recipe that you had is now part of a 'higher price tier' that requires you to pay for it again.

One day that publisher sells the rights to someone else who decides to change the pricing structure to annual or per use from one time.

ebooks et al, are only LICENSES to USE, you do NOT own the book.

Think this is a joke? Cook's Illustrated is doing exactly this. They develop and publish print magazines, cookbooks and TV shows. You pay extra for the web site access even if you are a subscriber to the magazine, and additional for any recipe that's actually IN a cookbook even if it was published in print magazine that you subscribe to or was available for free in the past once the cookbook is published. They have a video library subscription. The 3 publication websites are no longer in a combined recipe database and you must pay additional for access each CI website.

Give me a cookbook any day! Call me old fashioned, but I don't want a Kindle replacing my books, and I don't want an iPad replacing my cookbooks!

Heck no! I love hard copy cookbooks. And as a 20-something whose most high-tech gadgets are a GPS navigator and her 4 year old laptop (cell phone is oldschool clamshell, thanks), I find the prevalence of "apps" to be mostly annoying and directed only at a certain demographic of the nation.

Plus, as someone else indicated, you can't write on them, make notes, substitutions, or, as I frequently like to do, particularly with bread recipes, write down the double and triple ingredient measurements.

And as I always like to think about - what happens when the servers crash? Or you drop your iPad and it breaks? There goes all your content. I'll keep the heavy, unwieldy, but much more permanent (and less destructible) books, please.

"When I can jot my notes and substitutions on the page, maybe.

When I can see from the stains that the recipe is a much-used keeper, maybe (this is how I trawl for recipes in my mom's collection: messy page = recipe worth trying).

When the machine can handle getting broth or cocoa powder on it, maybe.

Until then, cookbooks."

My sentiments exactly. Thank you cmcinnyc for speaking my heart. Even when I look up recipes online I print them out, take them home and insert them into my 'homemade' cookbook. ;)

Oh, I'm sticking with my paper cookbooks.

I use the internet for recipes all the time BUT I like the security of being able to cook even when the internet is down, or when the power is out. And I have already had it happen that some of my favourite bookmarked recipes disappeared. I'm with Stan on this -- with ebooks, the publisher controls the content. And that makes me very uncomfortable...

Plus, I like having my notes and comments, the fingerprints and stains, as well as the paw prints of long-gone pets on the pages of my books, and hope that my children do too :-)

I have more than 300 printed cookbooks. I also have a smartphone, a netbook, a larger laptop and a full-size desktop computer. And I absolutely detest reading recipes on any of those devices. Give me a good old cookbook to hold in my hand any day.

I agree with Gormaya - I think there's room for both. I have my beloved cookbooks and I will keep buying ones that speak to my heart, but I also think there's a place for e-books and apps. Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything app is a great example - I find the app much easier to navigate and find a recipe for dinner than the book. But on the other hand, David Tanis's beautiful books will always work better as physical books for me. Just my own individual feelings on the matter!

I have to admit that, although I own several cookbooks and love paging through them, when I get down to baking or cooking something, it's the internet all the way. I rarely have a cookbook open on the counter while cooking.

I am really looking forward to the day cookbooks with an app assist. Because I love flipping through cookbooks at home, but I shop I my way home from work. And it is a pain to remember most of the recipe's key ingredients on the fly... so its really nice to have the recipe or an ingredient list digitally.

I'd be willing to give up the tactile experience of reading for a lot of books, but I think there is an exception for cookbooks in my mind. I have a ton of cookbooks and wouldn't dream of having to go to an electronic device to do a 'quick find' of something I'm looking for.
Part of the joy of cooking and baking is stumbling across a recipe that looks and sounds delicious; it's not something that you can just do a quick search for an it's at your fingertips.

You cannot inherit or pass on apps. Cookbooks have have historical value, both personal and societal.

I love surfing the net, bookmarking hundreds of recipes, dozens of cooking blogs and visiting product sites for specialized recipes and I enjoy the various tutes on skills I need to learn or brush-up on, but I can certainly live happily without them as long as I have my extensive cookbook collection.

Some cookbooks are simply fun to red, reflect special periods in the life of our culture, or are satisfying tactile artistic creations.

I wonder how many cooks and bakers were interviewed or polled to create that "breakthrough" pronouncement about cookbooks being unworthy to survive.

Whether you have one or hundreds, cookbooks are essential, hands-on collections of memories and dreams.

I have to agree there is a room for both. I recently purchased a cookbook app/database that I am in the process of logging all of my favorite recipes into. Falling on the border of Gen X/Millennials I love my technology. I love the ease of compiling shopping lists from multiple recipes or typing in a main ingredient and finding matching recipes. On the other hand, I like flipping through books to find new things to try. I expect most of my books will become digitized and passed on to friends and family, but that just gives me room to get more books!

Let me add my voice to those agreeing with cmcinnyc!

Plus, I LIKE having books -- including cookbooks -- displayed. Sometimes just walking by where my cookbooks are and seeing the spines will jog a memory of a certain recipe.

And sometimes I adapt a recipe enough that I rewrite it and tuck it in with the book, like my favorite basic biscuit recipe that now has *3* variations tucked in with it.

I wonder a bit if staring at screens, which is fundamentally different than staring at printed paper, is going to turn out to be good for us -- or not.

I know I am 100x more distracted on a computer even reading a blog I like, than I am sitting and reading with a paper book. hmmmm

I love reading paper cookbooks while eating breakfast-- it gives me great ideas and reminds me what I loved the first time I read the book!

No. I don't have an iPad nor Kindle (though my partner is thinking about sometimes, so when travelling he can have as many books as he wants) and I can't imagine why I'd ever need one. Heck, even my phone is the old Nokia 3315.

I'm happy with the internet and writing down the recipes I like by hand. And paper cookbooks are awesome.

my husband writes books on how to build apps, they sell more in printed copy than they do on digital devices...hows that for the move to tech??? we have every gadget known to man and i have tried to make switches here and there but i just can't bring myself to replace my printed cookbooks. the layout is by far more in line with how i cook in the kitchen. this being said i do enjoy a well done app or digital version of a magazine, sometimes even better than print ;)

i guess i'm in the minority, but i really love having all of my media digitized and easy to access. i've been cataloging favorite recipes and menus on my laptop for years. i don't have an ipad quite yet, but i can't wait to see how it changes and enhances the pleasure i take in cooking.

I have to agree with peaceofwestphila, I definitely prefer having my recipes available digitally. I keep meaning to transfer some of my favourites to digital, but it's a daunting task. But I like having access to stuff when I'm traveling, and digital is the only way to go for that.

On the other hand, some of the websites I use are definitely not reliable as a recipe source in the long run. Cooks Illustrated is very difficult for me to swallow, as there seem to be so many up charge tactics. I just think they somewhat slimy.

Bottom line it, I live in a small space, so I don't have room to collect cookbooks. Digital solves that issue for me...

I never use cookbooks anymore, just the digital format.

Actually, I moved almost exclusively digital for all of my books. So much easier.

Love my iPad, love reading books on my iPad but cookbooks, no, no, no. Some tomes just scream for the printed page.

If I'm looking for something new to try, a search online is where I head to. If it's good, it gets copied into a personal cookbook. Otherwise, I use traditional cookbooks and look forward to the day my mom hands me her (well used and stained!) Fannie Farmer cookbook.

In the minority as well, but my ipad is amazing for holding cookbooks. And for those that have complained about losing favorite recipes when a website changed? Try Evernote - it's a free service that allows you to capture pictures, text, and make notes throughout. You can tag all of your entries with stuff you want to search later, and it allows you to pull in from a multitude of websites. It also allows you to access from any place you install it - so I can look up recipes on my work laptop, add them to evernote, and they're automatically on my iphone for shopping, and my ipad for when I get home to cook.

I use my ipad, and evernote in the kitchen and can't imagine going back to only cookbooks. I have a select few, but I find that I rarely open them anymore.