An e-book or an electronic book is the publication of book in digital form with texts, images on a readable flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices such as Kindle. There is free electronic book software available for all popular operating systems. You can download versions of the Amazon Kindle that work on a PC, Mac, iPad or cellphone. E-books are becoming more and more popular among the crowds. But everything has two sides.
Some of the advantages and disadvantages of using the e-Book in today’s era are:
Pros of eBooks:
- The e-books are delivered almost instantaneously. You just have to purchase them and you can start reading them the very next minute itself. Many of the e-books are also available free of cost. No need of carrying yourself over and over again to the bookstores nor the need to have the patience of having them through mails for days and weeks. They are just a click away from you. Also, there’s no need for any deliveries, thus cutting of the delivery and shipping charges. The updates costs are also low.
- It’s a great way to save trees. No more tree cutting to produce papers to manufacture books.
- Not just literature but also educational books are available on the e-books. You need a certain information? You can get it immediately on an e-book.
- Most of the e-books available online are sold with bonuses, which you do not get in printed books. Also, these are less cheap than the printed books, adding value to your purchase.
- They typically do not need any space to stack them up. You don’t need a separate room for their storage. You can download hundreds and thousands of books in your reading device.
- They are portable and can be easily available with you everywhere whenever you need them without even worrying about their weight. It’s basically carrying your entire library in your pocket.
- They are much more interactive than the printed books containing audio, videos and animations thus enhancing the texts and keeping up the interest of the reader. It’s also contains the dictionary feature thus enhancing your vocabulary at the same time.
- Fonts can be easily altered according to the necessities of the reader. They allow you to add and delete bookmarks and notes at will and as many as you see fit. The text is searchable and can be hyperlinked. Some e-books even have flash applications that allow the reader to “interact” with the contents (i.e. drag images around using the mouse). This is quite useful for kinesthetic learners.
- You can have a backup of your library with an online backup service. Thus, the risks of losing and your books and documents can be decreased to a great extent.
Cons of eBooks:
- It costs you money. The device, like Amazon Kindle, itself is costly. And once books bought cannot be returned, whereas for the printed books you can return it or sell it off for approximately half the price.
- Not all the programs are compatible on all the devices. Every e-book provider will allow different formats of texts like PDF, Word, HTML, etc.
- These are quite vulnerable to internet for the attackers to exploit. You need to buy the books through your credit/debit cards which increases the risks of them being hacked. To save yourself from these vulnerabilities, you need to but software’s and security patches and updates for your protection, again adding up to the costs.
- Since it is a n electronic device, it is battery operated. If there is power outrage and the battery dies the user won’t be able to access it in any way unless it gets the required power charge.
- Although the fonts can be adjusted on the e-books, still continuously staring and reading on ad electronic screen causes eyestrain. The screen does not have the same resolution like the print of the paper. It is hence not convenient to read. Sitting for prolonged time periods can cause muscle strain, backache and even cause you to gain weight.
- None of the electronics we use nowadays has a defined lifespan and nor does eBook. Software’s and hardware’s can get outdated that contains the components for the e-book to run. When upgrading to a new software, the risks of losing your saved books and losing the formatting of the documents are really high.
- The risks of piracy are quite high. Your files can be easily emailed to someone living miles away from you. It can also be placed in a public server for anyone to download it.
