Benefits of E-books

Electronics run the world today, and with the latest creation, tablets, the world will change even more. Tablets such as the iPad, Nook Color, Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle are changing our world drastically by one simple feature, e-books.

E-books are books that can be read electronically on digital devices like computers or tablets in this case. These can be very helpful in the fact that a person doesn't have to carry around all of his or her books.

By downloading the books legally online a person can have hundreds or even thousands of books with them at once. This not only saves space, but it also allows a person to search for topics within the books.

For example, if a person needs to find a specific section in his or her textbook, he or she can search key words to help narrow the search down. This saves a great amount of time.

Another great thing about e-books is the bookmarking feature. A person can bookmark certain parts of an e-book to come back to. Whether it's where he or she left off in the book, or he or she wants to share it with another person.

For my second semester here at Simpson College I had to purchase 15 books. I spent nearly $300 on these books. Which brings me to another great benefit of e-books, cost. E-books are much cheaper than buying actual books and textbooks. There are even times when you can download the books for free.

My final point about e-books is the immediacy. When purchasing a book you have to go to the store or even buy it online, but with e-books it's only a click away. You can purchase all you're textbooks necessary for classes and any other reading materials that may interest you at your home.

I believe e-books are the next big thing in today's world. I think in the next five years if you look into a classroom you won't see textbooks sitting on students' desks, you will see e-books.

Photo Credit: Livia Iacolare, via Creative Commons

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The Future of iPads and E-books

We've all heard about iPads possibly replacing textbooks, magazines and newspapers, but columnist Matthew Ingram of Gigaom sees a future for children's books.

A company called Atomic Antelope recently created an iPhone application based on Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. The application gives interactive features to the book's original text and illustrations.

Ingram wonders if this will become standard practice for e-books. Each book will have its own application and readers can choose whether to purchase it; just like books today, except virtual and more interactive.

The current price for the Alice in Wonderland app. is $8.99, similar to what the book's price would be in a normal bookstore. Many of the newly released books for the Kindle, an e-book competitor are $9.99; again, typical pricing for traditional books.

In light of the digitization of media, many newspapers, magazines and book publishers worry about making a profit. The development of apps. could help them maintain their income without losing content.

We should watch for book publishers hiring computer programmers and app. developers. The public likes interactive media, and if companies can make money from it, they will embrace it wholeheartedly.

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