I LOVE eBooks and let me tell you why

I LOVE eBooks and let me tell you why:

So I have done an “I love me Kindle and let me tell you why” and the ladies at Bodice Rippers Click here to view post at Bodice Rippers did a post of “eBooks vs. Paper books” which got me thinking… I know trouble, I shouldn’t be thinking. Lol. It is no secret that I am an advocate of the eBook, I originally started reading eBooks because I could read them on my computer at work and now there are several reasons why I stick with eBooks and I would like to take a moment to get on my eBook soapbox and maybe I’ll convince a few people to convert as well.

1. Uses  very little Natural Resources: So I am not the most “Green” person ever, but I do try when I can. Here is a very simple way I can reduce my paper waste. When you think about the shear amount of natural resources that goes into each book produced, it really seems irresponsible to the planet to continue reading on paper. When I think of the number of trees that are chopped down, the amount of gas that is used to ship the books and whatever natural materials used to go into the actual printing of millions of books it makes my earth friendly heart hurt.  For this reason alone I would consider switching to eBook format.  

2. Portability: I have a Kindle 3G, a Kindle Fire, Kindle and Nook apps on my phone and Adobe Editions, so no matter where I am I can literally take my entire bookcase with me. Hundreds of books at my fingertips at all times.

3. Size/Storage: I live alone, and my place reflects that. I have maybe 750 square feet to work with, and that estimation is being generous. Before I switched to eBooks I had books EVERYWHERE, I could not look around without seeing at least one paperback laying around somewhere. I had clothes, movies, stuff and books competing for shelf and other storage space and the books usually lost. Now, I have hundreds of books taking up no more than 7 inches of space.  Now I rarely see a book lying around in a random place because I have nowhere else to put it. The physical books that I do still have (I sold or donated a lot to the library) are tucked away on their shelves or hiding places.

4. Weight: My Kindles weigh less than a hardcover and about the same as a paperback. I can easily hold either one of my Kindles in one hand and click to change the pages. No more using two hands to hold and turn the pages of the book; which may not seem like a big deal but when it’s cold out that is one hand that gets to remain wrapped in the blanket to keep warm.  Now some of you might protest and say that you like the feel of having the book open and using two hands, well there are covers for your eReaders that open like a book. Mine does and when I feel like having that open book feeling I’ve got that covered.

5. eInk:  With eInk technology if you get an eReaders such as the first generation Kindles or Nooks that do not have the backlit screen they have the eInk technology and literally the background and print looks so much like what the page would look like in a book you can barely tell the difference.  This technology will only get better and better.

6. Font Adjustment: With a printed book what font you see there is all you get. Do you have poor eye sight?  Well too bad if you have problems reading what is on the page you have to get one of those clunky magnifiers or search for a large font book that they may or may not make for your books of choice.  With a eReader, no problem just go into the settings and switch the size.  Personally I switch of the font sizes fairly often, when I go to the gym the small font is just not going to cut it when I am on the treadmill.  So I jack that font up so I can continue my reading while at the gym, because let’s face it, if I couldn’t read at the gym the likely hood that I would actually go drops significantly. So for me the ability to adjust font size at will is very nice.

7. Multiple Functions: This really comes into play with the Kindle Fire and Nook Color and Tablet. With most eReaders you can read a book highlight passages, bookmark and make notes as I go. There is no writing in margins, no ink soaking through the page or folding pages over.  Every time I “dog eared” a page I always thought of Sean Conary in “Finding Forrester” where he plays an author.  When he said something like “You dog eared it? Have some respect for the author?”  LOL!  When you are done with the book you can rate it right then and Tweet to all your bookish friends your rating right from your device. You can also download music onto your reader so you can listen to music and read from one device. When you start getting into the Fire, Color and Nook Tablet then you expand your capabilities to much much more.  But if all you are going to read, the more inexpensive options of the eInk readers are the best ones for you.

8. Free Books: Amazon and Barnes and Nobles have a ton of free books in their library! You can always find something to read for free and if you like the classics almost all of them are free.  With Amazon Prime you can even borrow one book a month from the Lender Library which has some great books in it such as the Hunger Games trilogy. Libraries support eBooks, so you can even continue to borrow from the library.

9. Durability: Do you re-read books? I know I do my favorites I read over and over. The result I have books that are literally falling apart. You know that feeling a lot of people love for cracking the spine, well that damages your book. It loosens your pages. So if you are like me each time you read that book you are loosening the pages more and more until at some point pages can start falling out. I’ve had entire sections fall out of the book, so then I have to go rebuy the book. An eBook, there are no pages falling out, the books do not get damaged and you can back them up on your computer or on a “cloud drive”.  So in my eyes that is a Win-Win!

10. Organization: You can organize your bookshelves very easily you can organize them how you want them for example by author. Now I know you can do this with paper books, however it is so easy for those to get messed up and as your bookshelf expands you have to keep moving books around. With a Reader when you put them in your shelf they stay there unless you so decide otherwise.

Ok, those are my Pros for eBooks and readers, but it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows so here is my problem with eBooks and accompanying reader.

1. Loanablity:  Physical books you can loan to friends pass them around, the more the merrier. With eBooks some of them you can “loan” some of them you can’t. It depends on the publisher. And if it is loanable you can only lend once, ever.  Which I personally am against, I don’t actually loan a lot of books even when I was still reading paper books, I just don’t have that many reader friends, but if I did I would like to be able to loan them a book if I so desire. You know you rant and rave about a book that you loved, but your friend isn’t so sure. So as a good friend you say; here is my copy, give it a whirl, see if you like it. Then hopefully they love it as much as you do and the next book they buy for their own.  I really think the publishers are missing it on this. I know they are trying to limit pirating but I really think that is narrow minded. How many times have you found a great author or series because a friend loaned you a book. My own person example was the Hunger Games, sure I had heard of it, sure I was curious, but I wasn’t ready to go out on the limb and buy it to try it. A friend had copies and lent me Hunger Games, guess what I was hooked and what did I do? I immediately went online and purchased the trilogy from Amazon, Win Win! I’m happy because I found out before I purchased if I liked the book, the publisher is happy because I bought their books.

2. Price: So there are TONS of free eBooks there are even TONS of discounted eBooks, so this is a positive and a negative. There are also a lot of eBooks that are at the same list price of the physical book. Now I know this is nitpicky of me and a lot of other people with the same gripe, but I figure if it costs less to produce then it should cost less to the buyer. Also it would give more people an incentive to go eBook.  Now Hardcover prices sure, the eBook price is usually about $10.00 less than the actual hardcover price but I think the eBook should at the most be the usual paperback price, because there is no cover. Why am I paying on average $4.00+ dollars more for “hardcover” when there is no cover? It doesn’t make sense to me. I paid close to $20.00 for J.R. Ward’s Lover Unleashed in Hardcover as an eBook. Erg! I so was not happy about that one.

And that’s it, those are the only two things I had issues on with eBooks and eReaders. Hopefully you have looked this over and are considering the switch.