Comparison of E-Books with Print Books
Advantages
- Text can be searched automatically and cross-referenced using hyperlinks, making the e-book format ideal for works that benefit from such functions.
- E-books can allow non-permanent highlighting of books.
- Less physical space is required to store e-books, and hundreds or thousands of books may be stored on the same device.
- A single e-book reader containing several books is easier to carry around than several print books.
- Because they require little space, e-books can be offered indefinitely, with no going out of print date, allowing authors to continue to earn royalties indefinitely.
- Readers who have difficulty reading printed books can benefit from the adjustment of text size and font face.
- Text-to-speech software can be used to convert e-books to audio books automatically.
- E-book devices allow reading in low light or even total darkness by means of a back light.
- An e-book may be more comfortable for some to hold because it need not be held open like a - physical book and can also be set down and read without needing to be held open.
- An e-book can automatically open at the last read page.
- It costs little to reproduce or copy an e-book, which makes it ideal for archival and backup purposes.
- While an e-book reader costs more than one book, the electronic texts are generally cheaper.
It is easier for authors to self-publish e-books.
- Ease of distributing e-texts means that they can be used to stimulate higher sales of printed copies of books.
- Although they require electricity to be read, the production of e-books does not consume the paper, ink, and other resources that are used to produce print books.
- E-books may allow animated images or multimedia clips to be embedded.
- E-books allow for greater fidelity in colour reproduction compared to CMYK colour printing (although some e-book readers have only monochrome displays).
Disadvantages
- If not viewed on computers, eBooks require the purchase of an electronic device and/or peripheral software which can display them. If they are to be viewed on a personal computer, it may require additional software
- Not all publishers produce the e-book equivalent of their print books; thus, it is highly encountered that one may not find the electronic format of a book easily found at a store. Additionally, even if a publisher regularly makes its books available in an electronic format, there might be a considerable time interval between the publication date of the printed version and that of the electronic version.
- All e-book devices require electrical power, resulting in the consumption of electricity.
- Looking at a screen for a long time may cause eye trouble and sometimes headaches.
- Certain e-book formats may become obsolete and incompatible with future devices.
- E-book readers are more likely to be stolen than paper books.[citation needed]
- E-book readers are more fragile than paper books and more susceptible to physical damage.
- As an e-book is dependent on equipment to be read, it can be affected by faults in external hardware or software, such as hard disk drive failure.
- E-books can be hacked through the use of hardware or software modifications and widely disseminated on the Internet and/or other e-book readers, without approval from the author or publisher.
- If an e-book device is stolen, lost, or broken beyond repair, all e-books stored on the device may be lost. This can be avoided by backup either on another device or by the e-book provider.
- There is a loss of tactility and aesthetics of book-bindings.
- Screen resolution of reading devices may be lower than actual paper, making it difficult to read e-books.
Equality
- With the pervasiveness of the Internet, both e-books and print books can now be purchased from electronic stores such as Amazon.com and do not require going to a bookstore.
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