Of late, I have been hearing many in booktubia espousing the delights in book ownership and denouncing the eBook. Now, I love books in all their forms, with the exception of audio books, and have many books filling my book shelves at home. Yes, booktubia, I agree with you.....books do smell nice, and feel nice in the hand, and look pretty on a shelf, and there is a tactile pleasure in turning pages, and you just can't beat deckled edges...but eBooks have their own pleasant characteristics, as well.
I have owned an iPad since they were first released and I absolutely love using it as an eReader. Now I will always love tangible books, but an eReader makes for such a pleasurable reading experience, and I find myself reading eBooks with more frequency. The benefits of using an eReader are quite numerous.
- AFFORDABILITY. eBooks are quite a bit cheaper than a physical book. I can generally purchase an eBook from $0.99 through $12.99 and there are a lot of books, in the public domain, which are available for free. Sue Moro has a fantastic video on Nooks, Kindles, and Free eBooks, and I recommend that you watch her video if you have an eReader.
- AVAILABILITY. I live in an area with limited access to local book shops and my nearest Barnes and Noble is 90 miles away, so I appreciate the availablility that I have to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and iTunes (for iBooks). If I have a desire to purchase a new book, I can make that purchase in mere seconds.
- PORTABILITY. With my eReader, my entire eLibrary is portable and available to me at all times. Andy Moosernan has produced an excellent video entitled eBooks, Kindle, & Me which addesses the issue of portability extremely well.
- ACCESSIBILITY. eBooks have a unique ability to enlarge fonts, change fonts, change the background, and can be read easily in the dark.
