Digital comics vs. the real things
Just a few years ago, I'd argue that paper > digital (x100) 'til I was blue in the face.
Nowadays, though - I'm defiantly the opposite. I just finished burning Marvel superhero (November '61 to December '71) onto three DVDs; and they take up a heck of a lot less space than the same material sitting on gorilla shelves in shortboxes, I can move 'em (over long distances) and back 'em up over and over again (ensuring that they'll likely be around centuries from now) with almost no effort, and although I used to have an aversion to reading from a computer screen, I actually prefer it now that I've (slowly) gotten used to it.
I'll never, ever get rid of my physical comics, but...I don't think I'll ever be buying any more, either (aside from the softcover Marvel Masterworks, which just look hella cool on a bookshelf).
Anybody else in the same boat that I am?
I'm all about digital comics now. I have an iPad and I load 20-25 books on it at any time. I love the convenience of having all that in one place along with all my music and a couple of novels. I have thirty long boxes of comics and I plan to slowly whittle that down to just my nearly complete Avengers run.
But I think everyone else should stick with the classic paper copies though, namely mine. 
To really enjoy digital comics as much as possible it helps to have a tablet. It is so much better to read than a computer screen. Really - a tablet is very worthwhile for reading comics.
Paper still beats digital for longevity. The lifespan of digital media doesn't match paper. Like you said - you will need to have a digital preservation plan that would ideally involve back-ups and multiple hard drives set up in some sort of RAID configuration.
But I have to agree fully that I prefer digital to paper for reading, storage and ease at which I can find an issue I want to read (versus digging through my file cabinets).
-Rob
I agree, a tablet is a must for reading digital comics... it makes such a huge difference to be able to read it on a comic-sized medium, swiping to turn pages.
Long ago, I switched to mainly tpbs instead of monthlies to cut down on the long boxes. That gave way to hardcovers, but I still ran out of shelf space. At this point, I'd be all in for digital if there were larger levels of discounts... considering I can order comics from DCBS or mailordercomics with a 33% or more discount, I'm not paying cover price to not have a physical copy. I do check the 99c sales and buy, sometimes even rebuy stuff so that I can have it digitally. But I'm loving stuff like Shonen Jump Alpha. In fact, if there were a comics rental option like Marvel Digital Unlimited that worked on the ipad, that would sate a lot of my comic-reading desires; I'm not really in it to collect (especially since the vast majority of comics won't hold any value, and I would further say that the vast majority of comic books I have no desire to re-read), I want to read stories.
Long ago, I switched to mainly tpbs instead of monthlies to cut down on the long boxes. That gave way to hardcovers, but I still ran out of shelf space.
I'm just curious; did you have some kind of system as to whether to buy some things hardcover vs paperback if the option existed?
I suppose I'm a little slow on the technology uptake, having just invested in an iPad for the first time about two weeks ago. Of course, one of the first things I was motivated to purchase was some of the recent Boom! Studio releases of Peanuts comics. I'm definitely liking the clear, bold, colorful graphics in digital form very much and will certainly continue to pursue the format. That said, I'm terribly old fashioned and cannot fathom giving up my printed copies, so there you go... I'm all about the best of both worlds and have gotta have both. 
No, no system, which is why my collection is such a mess.
Used to be, I'd buy a title like Invincible monthly, then transition over to tpbs once I found that it read better in chunks. Then they came out with these large hardcovers, and I transitioned over to that.
Marvel would release these premier hardcovers before their softcovers, and I would get those, mainly for conformity since that's what I started series like Peter David's X-Factor on. However, these editions collected fewer and fewer issues while maintaining the same price... at some point a three or four issue hardcover really doesn't make much sense. Because they collect 99.9% of their stuff, I long ago stopped bothering with their monthlies. Eventually I realized that any run that's even semi-popular will get an omnibus treatment, so now I wait for those.
The interesting thing about trades become prolific is that it caused me to change my buying habits... before you'd have to buy a comic monthly or risk having to search far and wide for back issues to complete stories. They started collecting everything and it took away that need (at least for me) to get everything as it was coming out. Digital takes that a step further... for instance, DC discounts all month-old comics by a buck. But those are always going to be available (presumably) and Comixology regularly runs 99c sales, so if I'm not in a hurry to read anything I'll wait. And what happens when you wait is that you find that creative teams and directions change so much, that by the time you get around to wanting something, all the stuff that happened in it was retconned already. Comixology very recently had a massive Avengers sale that pretty much had a ton of issues of the most recent Avengers, New Avengers, Secret Avengers and Avengers Academy series, but you know what, even at 99c I passed, because they're in a brand new direction.
I have boxes full of comics, and more tpbs and hardcovers than I'll ever need, and I can wait for deluxe editions of the best of the best. Sure, I'm tempted by stuff like Uncanny Avengers, but I can wait.
I'll tell you one digital release that still has me excited... Shonen Jump Alpha. Great value, I don't even mind that I can only view a year's worth of backissues, I look forward to a new anthology coming out every Monday and they're going to be day and date with the Japanese release as of next year.
I have a question for fans of digital comics, are there any good programs out there for scanning a print comic and creating a decent, digital copy? I've thought of doing this for some of the TMNT comics since I would like to have them available for reference without having to dig out my physical copies each time.
I don't know what it is, but I just can't enjoy a comic on a device. I need to hold it and be able to turn the pages. I like looking at my Library and being able to see all my TPB's at once to make a reading selection.
Music? No problem. I've purchased one physical CD in ten years and that was only to get it signed by Danzig.
For me, I need a hard paper copy.
