The new generation of electronic book readers offer a modern and practical alternative to traditional paperback books. Lightweight, simple to use and ultra-convenient will these do to books what the MP3 player did to CD’s or are they yet another gizmo which will fail to catch on?
E-book readers have been around for some time now and many are saying they will take over as the medium of choice with book readers who appreciate the convenience and practicality that these electronic gadgets offer. Others hold the opinion that books have an intrinsic tactile value which goes beyond merely displaying words and paragraphs in a wieldy manner.
What happens over the next few years will be interesting and there are some heavyweight names involved who believe this could be the beginning of a reading revolution.
What are e-Book Readers?
E-book readers are electronic devices which store and display books in digital form. Around the size of a large paperback they are designed to store a collection of digital books which users can download, store and read at their convenience. Although specific brands of electronic book readers such as the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader are what people will immediately think of as e-book readers, in theory – any electronic device such as a mobile phone, pda or laptop could effectively be described as an e-book reader.
Titles are available to download, either on-line or, in the case of the Kindle, wirelessly and, at the moment, cost more or less the same as their paper counterparts.
What’s Available in e-Book Format?
In the US a wide selection of best selling and regular fiction as well as non-fiction titles are widely available, as well as most popular newspapers and leading magazine publications. In the UK the choice is more limited and restricted to best-sellers and popular authors, although once Amazon can negotiate a deal with the mobile phone companies, whose networks would deliver the book titles over the airwaves, then the choice will be greater.
What Plans are there for the Future of e-Books?
The companies behind these devices are hoping that eventually it will become as common to download a book to your e-book reader as it is to buy a paperback today. It’s also been suggested that traditional newspaper publishers could offer electronic book readers to their subscribers as a means of providing their businesses with ongoing revenue streams.
Whether electronic books make a real impact on the public remains to be seen, at the moment they are being embraced by the young and technically literate but it will probably be some time yet before the older generation become entirely comfortable with this new format?
It’s probably likely that e-book sales will rise as these devices and electronic books become more affordable but there will always be a number for who the traditional book remains favourite. For those who are constantly on the move and have busy lifestyles, electronic books offer a practical solution and could well lead to more book reading generally – and that can’t be a bad thing?