Online reading anyone?

(Sources: asia-globalstudies.org)

Reading books online? Technology make things from imposibble to something that is posibble for us to do or read. A relatively new phenomenon is the E-Reader, be it Kindle, iPad, or a number of other new competitors coming into the marketplace.  When you think about it, these devices would seem to be more environmentally friendly than your typical paper and cardboard book, even a paperback.  Should we be buying our loved ones e-readers or traditional books this holiday season?

There is a certain tactile value to “real” books, just feeling the paper, turning the pages.  I find that I miss this when using an e-reader.  But on the surface, the e-reader would seem to be much more green. Well e-reader would be more convenient in a way readers doesn’t have to carry thick books anywhere they go.

For light reading, the overall reading experience on a Kindle is roughly comparable to that of a book, with some pros and cons of reading online.

One of the good things is that The Kindle font is attractive and print is crisp and easily readable, even in bright sunlight. The font size is adjustable. I think the readability is the strongest point of Kindle, and I think it is potentially a benefit for elder people or people with vision problems (although perhaps even larger fonts would be desirable). The most important Kindle controls--book selection and font size selection--have dedicated buttons. Kindle remembers the last page you have read when you shut it off and opens to it when turn it on again. Kindle lays flat, while books usually do not. It is lightweight and handy, and, so is particularly good for travelers. Those who tend to travel heavy, with lots of reading matter, and books take up lots of space and weight, and a Kindle would obviate this problem.

(Sources: engadget.com)

There is also the bad part of it. It is impossible to do anything like browsing through a book. It's almost impossible to tell how long a book is. In a book that consists of a series of short stories, say, the table of contents gives the name of each, and a link to jump to the start of each, but no location numbers, so you can't tell how long each is, without jumping to the start of each and noting the location, something much too frustrating to do. It would be much better if this information were listed in the table of contents. For a novel, say, there is no easy way to find out the lengths of the individual chapters, something you can easily do by flipping the pages of a book. Often, when reading, reader would like to know how long a chapter is or how near the end of one would finish the book or chapter. Also, there is no way to closure between two pages.

(Sources: commercelibrary.info)

Anyway most for experiencing reading online would be something that readers will try. But probably even though technology is expanding reader would still prefer books as they can feel and know where to start and end their reading.