Flipping pages or flicking pages?
Being an avid reader, I had been put up with this question around 2 years back (when I got my first tablet) on what should I go for: paperback or eBooks?
Let me go back a few years. Around five years back, I loved paperbacks, I would sit in my balcony and keep reading the paperbacks the whole day. That time too I would never buy books, as my dad was in military: he got a club membership in some posh club where they had an amazing library. Another way was to go asking friends for nice books.
It went on for 3 years. After that we had to shift to Delhi. Here: there was no library near my home nor any club. I and my sister had decided to buy a tablet (Delhi ki hava ka asar!) So, when we got the tab, I looked on for eBooks as it had an inbuilt eBook reader! I looked for eBooks by my favorite authors- and that’s how I entered the eBook world. Now I can say: they are an important aspect of my life.
So, now the topic arises, why didn’t I go for the idea of buying paperbacks? The thing is I read around 1 book per 1-2 days. Looking at that: I was denied the privilege to buy new books. So, eBooks it was. And in this post, it is on why eBooks will be trumping the hard copies in the coming years.
Ease of Access:Yes, you can read an eBook from any place as long as your reader has a charge left in it. You can ever read a book with the lights off! (People who love reading but have to switch off the light at night- Rejoice!)
Cheap and easy to buy:Whenever I go to a bookstore, I just keep adoring the books on display and read the plots of the books I seem to like. As I am not allowed to buy books: I just remember the name or make a list of those books. Then I go back to my home: pick up my e-reader and add eBooks of the books I liked. EBooks come cheaper than regular books and are easy to buy. After all, you can buy the books from the comfort of your house, snuggled in your blanket with a mug of coffee in hand. The only thing one needs is an internet connection + money.
It has the power to remember!!
This is not an exaggeration, suppose you are reading a Book and suddenly your mom comes in and says that guests are coming, so, clean your room. You get up quickly and start cleaning the room. In all this commotion, you forget your book and your page. If this had been an eBook, your book would be open at the page you left it. Pretty cool, right?
The current generation.
It has the ability to highlight important points!
You are reading a novel. Some questions from that novel would be coming in a test. Now if you had a paperback: you would highlight the important points. After the test, you will most probably grieve as highlighted text steals away the pleasure of reading a book. Again, eBook trumps in this area. You can highlight the text and then delete it too. (Even if one uses pencils: erasing them is a chore!)
Dictionary is present at all hours!Reading a book and suddenly stuck on a word? Tired to find that thick oxford dictionary? Again, eBooks come to the rescue. They have dictionaries inbuilt and with apps like Play books; meaning of the word comes in a hover box. Clean, right?
Piracy!Well, well, well. Now it comes to this. One can buy an old book at 10-50 Rupees. That’s cheap for a paperback. But, take the case of eBook: one can download for free from torrent or other sites. Both genres have piracy: but in the case of eBooks, it is a bit more and cheaper. After all, one only needs a e-reading app or an e-reader.
Who will prevail?Now comes the most important question of this post. According to me: both. eBooks have their own flair in themselves, but, it is the paperbacks which make one feel the quality of a book. The reassurance it gives a person. So, paperbacks are not going to be dead. Rest assured: keep reading!
Now, this is my opinion on eBooks v/s paperbacks. What do you feel? Tell us in the comments and the poll :)
What do you prefer?eBooksPaperbacksPoll Maker
