Excuse me, 11 bucks for a little notebook? What the hell is going on here?

You can get the same thing on OfficeMax for like 3 bucks.

What’s wrong with you people? Wake up!

yeah, what’s wrong with you people? You can write notes with the end of a burnt match on the bark of a birch tree! Matches are free at restaurants and diners… 3 bucks for a little notebook..

…just kidding…

Managing your personal life is a very personal thing. Some do it with 50cent-per-hundred note cards. Some use a $20 notebook. Some use a $200 PDA AND $2000 computer. Jeez - some people make a living doing it for other people (so someone is paying many thousands of dollars for it)

If you can afford it, and it works for you, then why not do it that way? A tool you like is a tool you’ll use.

Well anon, like I always say, it’s a preference, and those things are awfully hard to defend. Your point, such as it is, has been perpetually taken numerous times here.

(For reference to future drive-by karmasucks: your illuminating observations are much more likely to remain here when they arrive with an accountable name and email address.)

Moleskine is a primitive notebook, ridiculous overpriced. But they make good money with people jumping on every train, so what?

merlin, i almost feel like this post was meant for me. yesterday, when i went out on my picture-taking expedition, i took my quadrille notebook (obvs), only to find it had fallen out of my pocket within the first 15 or 20 minutes of the excursion. now, i spose there’s hope that someone will be nice and mail it to me or call or something, but i had pretty much resolved myself to its being gone for good.

now, this, though. totally hot. i’m ordering one immediatement. will report back.

“Moleskine is a primitive notebook…”

Them’s fightin’ words.

Seriously, I find them to be anything but primitive. They’re very well constructed, durable as hell, and as configurable as you want them to be. Mine serves about half a dozen different functions, and I’m quite a bit more organized since I got it. I didn’t get them either, until I got my own. But Merlin’s right: it’s mostly a personal thing.

The reporter model looks cool, but I don’t think I’d enjoy it so much. I’ve never found that style to be very convenient at all. Don’t really care for flipping vertically through pages, especially when I’m writing.

I got mine on Tuesday from Ninth Ways Design, and I love it. I do not use it for the more private reflective writing I do in my traditional notebook, I am using it to keep track on information in my professional life. (Yes there are cheaper options, but it’s a matter of taste).

I was a little fearful the first time, but yes, you can flip the top cover all the way back without any apparent serious damage to the spine. This is what I wanted, as I am often scribbling notes standing up, and flipping the cover back permits the notebook to be supported one-handed without a desk.

Somehow, the simple change in format makes the experience very different, inspiring a different kind of writing, opening up new frontiers. I like.

I use NYPD style leather binders with regular reporter notebooks. Moleskine ones seem to be missing binder rings that all reporter notebooks I’ve seen have.

Picture of one at use: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stompy/6671593/

How’s that for a contrast - a 1930s fountain pen and an 2004 PowerBook?

I don’t think the binding is as sturdy as the sidebound journals, probably because there is less of it.

Will have to give them a try soon, which is good because it will make me want to write more to use the ones I currently have.

Didn’t see anything about if any of the pages are tear off. I hope so, especially in that format.

The last 14 pages are perforated so they can be torn out.

There is still an accordion pocket on the inside back cover.

Stompy - gorgeous photos. Thank you.

http://www.lifehacker.com/software/productivity/pen-and-paper-porn-036535.php

I thought about ordering them when Moleskinerie posted that they were available from 9th Wave, but I waited until MoleskineUS advertised them. MoleskineUS is a great store committed to customer satisfaction. I don’t get a dime for plugging them, but they get plenty of my dimes for the way they have treated me in the past.

Moleskines are to grownups what having the coolest Trapper Keeper was like in Junior High. Sad that some of us haven’t gotten out of the “it has to have a label or it’s not cool” phase.

Sad that some of us haven’t gotten out of the “put my negative two cents of flamebait on a website under the mistaken assumption someone cares what I think” phase, too, but I see no end in sight there either.

These look cool, thanks for the article. I loved Moleskines before I knew that I was a bandwagon-jumping sheep for doing so. I just thought they were durable, well-crafted notebooks. I’m glad to see they’re going strong.

I actually love Erin’s comparison! I was actually a big Trapper Keeper fan, too. Cool-ass folders.

I do disagree both that things must have a label to be cool and that it’s “sad” to make decisions about what you think is valuable using your own money.

Totally, facile, C-minus drive-by comment to be sure, but +1 for dropping Mead science! :-)

Heh. While I do fall in the “Holy hell! 11$ for a wee little notebook?” camp[1], and would have to be in a damn spendy mood to pick one up[2], I also fall squarely into the “If it works for you then, ‘rock on, brother’.” camp. As I mentioned a little while back in the google group, I use a laboratory notebook much like the one shown here. They cost about 20 bucks, as opposed to the 2-3$ that a mead spiral would cost, but I actually feel like writing in the lab book — plus it survives the harsh environment of my bag much better than any spiral bound would, hence 20$ well spent. I’d assume the same goes for you and your Molesikines, eh?

[1] Said in my dad’s voice. [2] Especially when I can get my little Ampad or Roaring Spring pocket pads for 1.50$ each…

Besides, you can’t even really see the Moleskine label! :-)

I bought my first one at a bookstore in Lexington, KY. I picked it up because it was just the right size. Little did I know that I would fall in love with the paper, the elastic band, and the pocket in the back. To my dismay, I found that there were people out there who were as neurtic about these notebooks as I was. I didn’t even know they were popular — and I guess most Moleskine-heads didn’t either when they fell in love.

Birds of a feather…

plus it survives the harsh environment of my bag much better than any spiral bound would, hence 20$ well spent. I’d assume the same goes for you and your Molesikines, eh?

Correct. I could care less about any cachet. I thought I was the only one who bought the damn things until I found this weblog, honestly.

I’ve had one large one that I use as a travel journal whenever I go places. Had it for a couple of years. A $1 notebook could not survive the beating the Moleskine has taken.

I should point out, too, that “across the pond” here in England, we pay about £10 for that notebook. That’s about US$20 for the same thing.

It doesn’t change the fact I’m ordering one. I’ve been waiting for a Reporter-style Moleskine for eons. Eons.

one thing you guys might not have thought about yet maybe because you’re not left handed….. this thing is ideal for lefthanded people as well !!

somehow i always smudge a bit with my left hand when i writing in a regular ‘skine.

I bought one last week from the Books Etc in the RFH (London, UK) because it makes more sense than an ordinary notebook for a man on the run like me. And it’s very nice. But it’s only a notebook. Materialism is not cool, people, and £8 for a load of blank pages is more than a normal paperback book. Even the ones that don’t sell. And don’t give me the economy of scale stuff - Moleskine is making far too much money off the brand for my liking. I would like some competition in the market.

@vish: if another company were making less expensive, threadbound, acid-free notebooks that held up to backpack abuse for less money, I would so be all over that. But until I see public disclosure of Moleskine’s profit margins, I’m somewhat skeptical of claims that they’re making “too much” money off the brand. How much is that? Do you have information about that? Because I’d be genuinely interested.

(Not aimed at vish) I have to say, I’m as skeptical of knee-jerk reaction against trends as I am of reflex action in the other direction, moleskine notebooks included. You don’t like something because other people do? Wow. Great. You’re still a fucking lemming.

I shell out for a $10 moleskine… once, maybe twice a year. And that’s because, of all the sketchbooks and notebooks I’ve tried, it scans best, because it lays flat on the scanner, and it holds up under incredible amounts of abuse. This is not true of the composition book, the $1.50 spiral bound notebook, and the I-forget-the-brand sketchbook I’ve used over the last two and a half years.

Go ahead and sneer. If I find something better, be certain I’ll say something about it.

I just bought my wife a Moleskine Reporter for her birthday. The ‘Moleskine’ logo is embossed in black on a black background, it’s not a freakin’ Louis Vitton notebook. And as several others have noted, they are Sturdy McSturdy.

I’m completely in love with Pilot G-TEC-C4 pens, anyone else tried them?

I bought some imitation Moleskines from eBay about two years ago. Mistake. They “looked” the same, but they were rather flimsy, and not so well constructed. Also, not as durable.

There’s something about Moleskine notebooks (or other similar “expensive” notebooks) that needs pointing out: The cost itself is a positive. I’m less likely to lose/misplace a $10 notebook than a flimsly 99 cent one. I use mine as a semi-wallet, w/ receipts and extra cash, and such inside the pocket. And then use it take notes as I run around the library doing my grad research (the pocket also carries my library copy card). The great thing is that sometimes I just pop in the library, w/o my laptop or other materials, but I have my notes (articles to look up, etc) and my copy card, and I’m ready to do some impromptu research work.

My guess is that those who mock people who use expensive notebooks (whether it’s Moleskines or not) don’t do a lot of journal/personal writing, or don’t value writing as a creative excercise on a regular basis or as an integral part of their daily life. But I could be wrong.

I discovered these at Flax in downtown San Francisco for $5.50 apiece and had to get three of the lined ones: one each for my stepmom and dad, who were visiting me this week, so they could record their experiences of their trip, and one for me.

I must say that all three of us enjoyed writing in them, and at that price point, I might switch from the pocket ruled to the reporter ruled permanently … well, even if the price increases, really. I think they’re wonderful, and much easier to use than the standard notebooks.

JoshD - part of the problem is that notebooks were once cheaper but Moleskine have raised the bar and the marketing for these once simple things. I don’t have any information about the amount of money they’re making, as it happens, so it was really my opinion, but based on costs of notebooks I’ve bought all my life, production isn’t that expensive.

Bearing in mind my old artists’ sketch books and such like made from cartridge paper took a good beating too - although I found the softer books take more abuse than harder books - very Taoist - those older sketch and notebooks seemed to have disappeared or changed their image and name and increased their pricing. That ain’t good. Maybe it’s because fewer people write these days - maybe people can’t remember how to. Maybe they never did.

As of today, £8.99 is $17.22, for my reporters notebook, and nobody whinge to me about exchange rates. Even bookfactory.com produces lab books cheaper. My old books for lab work were much cheaper and took chemical spills as they should. They weren’t acid-free for long.

Moleskines are tough, pretty and not the most expensive, but the marketing sticks in my throat. Maybe I should have thought before making wild claims about the money they’re making. Americans are the biggest market of all - they invented the whole idea and the whole branding thing. Moleskine are a little like Leica - claiming credit for things they don’t deserve in a nifty little way. Any photographer who claims Leica is responsible for his or her pictures just likes kit. And Leica play on that, in a huge way. And Moleskine play on their association with writers to imply that they’re responsible for great writing.

I couldn’t care less about people’s definitions of marketing and branding - products should speak for themselves. Shame they can’t, I suppose.

I own two moleskines and some of their little notebooks. Very nice. Very dull after you open them and use them for a week. They’re notebooks. Big deal. I get pretty bored with camera discussion rather than picture discussion, too. The fact that I’m sitting here writing this means that the Moleskine replicants have already taken over, though. :)

Magnus: I’m completely in love with Pilot G-TEC-C4 pens, anyone else tried them?

I’m using the black Pilot B-Tec C4 pen on my new blank moleskine and love it! It’s smooth writing, and is fine enough to double up as a sketching pen too!

Forget Moleskines. What you need is a waterproof notebook so you can write in the shower. I picked up one at

http://www.duluthtrading.com/items/91581.asp

for three bucks (plus shipping, of course, which dwarfed that since it was the only item), and it’s amazing. I wrote notes on it with a ballpoint, ran the faucet over the open page for a while, wrote some more, faucet some more, tried to smear it, nothing.