Many of us, at one time or another, have read E-books. The number of readers switching from paper books to E-books is increasing day by day. Many educational institutes are also urging their students to shift to E-books. More and more Ebook reading devices are being introduced in the market with Kindle Paperwhite being a prime example. With the number of E-books increasing every day, the question to be asked is, Can E-books replace paper books?
What are the various mediums to read E-books?
Simple, E-books are accessible on your laptops, Smartphones or tablets. However, Kindle devices are considered best for reading E-books. Many Apps for other devices like Amazon Kindle allow you to purchase and read books directly from the app. Sometimes different apps are required to read E-books already downloaded on your gadget. E-books can be found in various file formats; .pdf, .mobi, .epub being the prime examples.
Why are Ebooks so successful?
More and more readers now prefer E-books. Many of them prefer E-books over paper books because they are easy to carry and store. Paper books are sometimes heavy and require a certain amount of space. However, this is not the case with E-books. Environmental activists are also urging people to read E-books to reduce deforestation, which on a larger scale reduces the impact on the environment. With the decrease in the number of printed books and increase in the figures of E-books published, the trend becomes very straightforward to observe. Another factor, but not of vital importance is that E-books are usually cheaper as compared to paper books.
Why some people still don’t prefer them?
E-books have certain disadvantages that keep people from favoring them. Particularly for authors, a major concern is Piracy; the illegal downloads of E-books is quite common, which results in writers and publishers losing money. Coming to the readers’ perspective: reading books on any electronic device for a long time can damage the perusers’ eyes. Whereas, in certain parts of the world, resources are rare to find, which is why E-books aren’t quite a standard. Kindle devices or other large screen devices like tablets or IPad have to be purchased and aren’t usually affordable.
So, are E-books the future?
Yes and no. Yes because paperless learning is becoming more popular. Schools and colleges are adapting to newer learning methods like smart class and digital classrooms. Students can now get notes and subject related material directly through their Email IDs. In a way, E-books are making learning easier. They are comparably less harmful to Environment and are helping fight a major concern: deforestation.
However, on the other side, piracy is still a big issue for E-books. Illegal downloads and sharing of E-books are eating up on the profits of the writers. Which is also the reason, why all books aren’t published as E-books. In the long run, E-books can surely replace paper books, but to a certain extent.
