Physical Book or E-book???

Hey all! So one of the most debatable topic that many book lovers are facing is, would you rather choose a physical book or e-book to read? Well e-books have become a trend nowadays. Most popular e-book selection is of course Amazon Kindle.

But which one would you prefer? Would you prefer a physical book over E-book? And why?

OK, So let’s take printed books first and label out the cons and pros of a printed book

Pros

• Traditional books are more tactile in nature– don’t you all agree that there’s something with turning pages, the smell of brand new book and words emblazoned in the pages? And holding the book? You would never get that type of feeling with the e-books
• With printed books, you do not need to worry about battery dying or even do not have to worry about carrying a charger!
• Cover fetish! I am a die hard fan of book cover arts and so I love with when I am holding the book and while reading, sometimes, I look at the book cover. You don’t really feel that with the e-books.
• You can focus more while reading from a printed book than reading from an e-book
• You don’t have to worry about loading pages with physical books unlike in e-books or even worrying about scrolling down.
• You don’t have to depend on the internet when reading printed books (especially when downloading e-books into whatever electronic device, you need an internet)
• Unlike with the e-books, with printed books, you can feel even your emotions and deep connection with the book.
• With printed books, you can keep a collection of those books and can be passed around as well to others.

Now let’s look at the cons of reading the printed books.

• Some printed books are too heavy to handle. That means unlike iPads where it’s portable and easy to carry, some books (especially the hardcover ones) are too heavy to carry in the bags
• Printed books can easily get damaged, especially torn pages thus making it hard to read.
• Sometimes, printed books are very expensive to buy compared to e-books–especially the newly released books.
• Printed books unlike e-books are not environmental friendly–why? Trees are needed to make more papers when publishing a printed book.
• You need to actually go to the book store to buy a printed book or order online and wait for months or days to get the printed book compared to e-book where you can get the book immediately.

Now let’s look at the pros and cons of using e-books

Pros

• E-books are more portable and easier to carry around than printed books and you can read anywhere you want!
• E-books are environmental friendlier than printed books–why because using e-book will save lot of trees!
• There’s no shipping costs or handling costs–in other words, e-books are more cheaper than printed books!

Now let’s look at the cons of using an e-book

• Piracy–one of the biggest issues with online is piracy. With traditional books, you don’t have to worry about that
• Forgot your charger? Then you are in trouble, you would need a battery charger whenever you are using an e-book otherwise, what would happen if the electronic device you are using to read e-book, the battery dies?

• Not good for eye sight–too much staring at the screen will put a strain on your eye sight
• E-books unlike printed books, cannot be collected.
• Unlike in printed books, reading ebooks will not have the same effect as the printed books have on the readers.

Personally, I prefer printed books over e-books–you could say I am a traditionalist but it’s simply because I love them!

So what are your opinions about printed books and ebooks? Which one you prefer? Comment below!