Electronic books sound like a futuristic phenomenon or something from a sci-fi movie. The thought itself may even seem intimidating to those who still consider themselves to be computer illiterate. But the fact is, that E-books are creeping their way into our society and life, and how the public reacts to this technology may determine the future of written literature. It is not surprising therefore, that a great amount of attention, both positive and negative, has been placed around these books and what the technology could accomplish. My opinion is that E-books will slowly infiltrate society, eventually replacing much of the printed text as we begin to rely on the electronic medium for our literature and information.
Although my opinion rests on the belief that E-books are a positive invention, they do have their own set of advantages and disadvantages. After downloading the Microsoft and Acrobat E-book readers, and also doing some research online, the advantages of E-books seemed rather obvious. The very first thing that I noticed was the price difference between a paperback or hardcover printed book bought at a store, and the electronic books which I found online. Not only did I find websites where entire books could be downloaded for free, but I also found best sellers, and new releases for discounted prices. I bought Stephen King’s book “Riding the Bullet” from Amazon.com for only $2.95. Although this book was only a short story of about seventy-seven pages, it most likely would have retailed as a printed book for a much higher price. I was stunned to find a book which I was interested in reading for such a small fee, and as a college student, the price of something is of significant meaning.
The greatest disadvantage I found with reading an E-book, was that my only source to view it is on my laptop computer. This meant that after about two hours, when my computer battery would die, I would have to remain somewhere that was accessible to an outlet. Therefore, reading outside on a nice day for hours is simply out of the question. I also found that curling up on the coach to read a good book is a lot harder with a laptop versus a paperback. I have found alternatives online, such as E-book readers, which are smaller and more convenient to use than is a laptop, but I also found the prices of these readers to be out of my budget.
I experimented with two different programs to read E-books, Microsoft Reader and Acrobat E-book Reader, both of which I downloaded offline for free. The most desirable option would be to combine both of these programs into one, although I have concluded that the better of the two programs is the Microsoft reader. One of the greatest advantages of the Microsoft version was that I never had to scroll down on my screen to read an entire page as I did with the Acrobat reader. This may sound like a small element, but it can be very distracting to have to stop reading, move the mouse over to the scroll bar, scroll down the page, and then continue on reading. Of course the Acrobat reader was able to present a complete page on the screen as it would appear in printed form, but in doing that the print became too small to read, whereas the Microsoft reader could present a full page on the screen in a legible format.
The greatest feature of the Acrobat reader is simply that it was easier to bookmark than was the Microsoft reader. This may inconsequential, but it made a significant difference in the ease at which I used the program. Throughout my experience with the Microsoft version, I never did fully figure out how to bookmark my spot and therefore continuously was unsure as to which page I had previously ended with. Whereas, using the Acrobat reader, I was able to figure out how to bookmark rather quickly.
Creating textbook E-books would completely change how students would approach their reading. No longer would a student need about five or six cumbersome textbooks, instead they would all be stored a single computer. As with every other rising technology, there are advantages and disadvantages that would accompany the idea of electronic textbooks.
One of the greatest advantages of having electronic textbooks for students would be the discounted prices. Since the publishing company would not have to charge for printing and paper, the high cost of these books would be greatly reduced. Also, there would most likely be more outlets at which to purchase these books, instead of having to rely on the school bookstore. This would cause companies to become more competitive, resulting in lower prices for the consumer. Although lower prices would be an advantage to me, electronic books would cause a great number of people to lose their jobs, especially those involved in the printing and distribution processes.
E-book textbooks would also allow a student to search through their reading with greater ease. An index section would no longer be necessary, since a keyboard shortcut would be able to take them to the location of a specific term or phrase. To search with such ease would allow students a great amount of time to devout to the understanding of a concept.
There are also disadvantages that would accompany the use of electronic textbooks, the greatest being many people find reading off of a computer screen to be tiring and sometimes difficult. Staring at a bright computer screen for even a half hour can sometimes cause my eyes to become fatigued and blurry, and can even cause headaches. Also, forcing our eyes to focus on a bright screen has been shown to be unhealthy. Many professionals whose job requires them to spend many hours using a computer have been found to develop eye site deficiencies over time.
Also, while I read through my textbooks, I find it helpful to highlight certain concepts which I find important, and I also like to jot down notes and questions to myself in the margins. This type of process could not be done with such ease in an electronic format. Although both readers, the Microsoft and Adobe programs, both have a highlight feature and a way to create notes, it is more difficult to accomplish than simply doing it with my own hand. This problem would force a lot of students to change the way in which they read and learn material, and although I strongly support the idea of e-book textbooks, this simple problem of highlighting continues to trouble me.
There is a great variety of ways in which an e-book technology could be used and implemented. For example, if an atlas were to be converted into an electronic format, a person could carry around an almost unlimited number of maps on one handheld device, making travel much easier and convenient. Also, shelf space could be saved if encyclopedias were transformed into e-books. Further, e-books would be a great tool for libraries. They would be able to store all their books electronically, allowing them to have a greater collection, easier organization of materials, and possibly permitting them to loan the same book out to many people at once.
As I have stated throughout this paper, I believe that e-books are a valuable tool and I ardently hope that they will penetrate society, becoming a part of our everyday life. I formed this opinion after spending a considerable amount of time not only researching the technology, but also using it to read two books. I began by downloading the Microsoft reader from the Amazon.com website. I was able to download the program for free, and without any difficulty. I also downloaded my first e-book from Amazon.com, “Riding the Bullet,” by Stephen King. I had trouble in this process, because I was unaware that I had to register the Microsoft Reader, before I would be allowed to download any books for it. After fiddling with the program for about five minutes I figured out how to register it, and then was able to download my book, which conveniently appeared right in the program. As I began to read the e-book, it felt strikingly similar to a conventional paperback book.
Once I had grown accustomed to the Microsoft reader, I decided to download the Acrobat program onto my computer as well. This time I found the program on the Acrobat website, and again had no trouble in the downloading process. As I searched Amazon.com for a new book, I realized that certain books could only be used on one program or the other. Eventually I found a second Stephen King book, compatible with Acrobat Reader, and downloaded it onto my computer. I found this process to be slightly easier than with the Microsoft version, because there was no need to register anything, and so therefore the process was much simpler.
As I stated earlier, both of the books that I downloaded I found at Amazon.com. Although there were other good websites, such as BarnesandNoble.com and EbookMall.com, Amazon by far had the largest and most varied selection. Many other websites that I located which sold e-books had only a small number of choices, many of which did not interest me. There were also quite a few websites dedicated to the free distribution of electronic literature, a phenomenon that could change the way in which the sale of information and knowledge is sold. These free websites had small collections of e-books, though much of the collected works was composed of books considered classics, such as “Tom Sawyer” and “The Scarlet Letter.” If the e-book technology catches on, and further spreads its influence, more such sites dedicated to the sale and distribution of e-books will be created. Possibly a greater number of free e-books will be available to the public. At the present time though, I believe that authors and publishers find the area surrounding e-books to be slightly risky since many people have never heard of the technology. This results in the small amount of e-books which are available to the public. Publishing companies should put a greater amount of trust into the e-book market, because by doing this they would create a greater interest in the area by consumers.
I am unsure of the future of e-books since many new technologies turn out to be simply fads and their popularity is short lived. My experience though has been a positive one, and I have relayed that message to my family and friends, creating a greater interest in e-books. I have found that most people seem to respond positively to the suggestion of electronic books that can be downloaded, and then read from a computer or special e-book reader. Although, like almost everything in this world, e-books are accompanied by their own list of advantages and disadvantage, but my belief is that the good outweighs the bad.
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