That one is really a mixed blessing. I also frequently have several books on the go at once, and have no difficulty in finding my place when I switch between them, even with long intervals. I enjoy a very good memory - but I think this is partly because of having to remember that information prior to the availability of digital text. I never liked using bookmarks and preferred remembering page numbers, and would often recall obscure details or sources by thinking back to where I was when I read them or some information about the book's physical context.
Some people see this as overhead; I see it as exercise that helps me stay mentally fit. It's important to me to be able to maintain a deep mental stack that can operate on conceptual, semantic, and associative levels as well as purely textual ones - searching for text is an extremely one-dimensional affair by comparison.
Sometimes I reach a point in the story that suddenly makes something that I read in chapter 3 or 4 much more important, it's way easier to leave one finger where I am and flip back to that pivotal moment (especially helpful if I had put the book down for a few weeks before picking it back up again).
Sometimes I'm having a conversation with my fiance later in the day or the week and something that I had read was really relevant to the conversation even if I didn't think that it was important enough at the time to highlight it. If I had read it in a physical book, I have an idea where it was physically and can usually find it in a couple of seconds by flipping through the pages. If I had read it on my kindle, then I just have to do a mediocre job of paraphrasing a beautiful turn of phrase.
Actually they do, comprehension and memorization are parts of reading. Events (like reading) that engage more senses engage us more deeply and enforce comprehension and memorization.
Aside from looking at the ink, none of these things actually have to do with reading. They're all things that deal with paper. I've never seen them as important, though I understand that some people enjoy them. But so much that you cannot read without it? (Or at least so much that it makes reading significantly less enjoyable).
To me, that's like someone saying they like eating popcorn while watching movies, and that they could never watch a movie without popcorn. Do you really even enjoy the movies, or just the popcorn?
I also have a vinyl record collection. I really enjoy the ritual of setting a record on the turntable and playing it, studying the packaging and any inserts included while it plays. But 99% of my music listening is done through Spotify or Bandcamp.
eReaders have so many advantages aside from just space. I never lose my place, even when reading 5 books at once. I can highlight what I'm reading without worrying about it being harmful to the book. I can look up a word in a dictionary instantly, on the device (this ended up being a much nicer feature than I thought it would be). Being able to easily read with one hand. My library is entirely backed up online, so if I lose or break my device, I still keep my books (this isn't so true about the collection of books I left at an ex-girlfriend's house).
>I think it boils down to the actual experience
Certainly. It just surprises me how many people seem to enjoy the experience of reading more than the actual reading.