So today, I decided to post another entry for my Book Updates. And our topic for today, is Which do you prefer? Real Books or E-Books?
Now this topic is not the newest one but, I still want to share to you guys my opinions, and my friends opinions too.
For all of you guys, I decided to put some pictures
Let's begin!
1.) Affordability. Who doesn't look at the book's price?
2.) Availability. This is also one of the main factors why readers get annoyed. The feeling of excitement and happiness while entering the bookstore and suddenly, you found out that the book you've been wanting is sold out. On the other hand, the e-books stores never run out of digital copies of books. Especially when the book is newly released, e-book is one of the first solution of those who were not able to purchase the actual book.
3.) Durability. This is not very talked about or elaborated from various readers. So I took the opportunity to express my opinions regarding the two formats' durability. A physical book, can easily be torn, soaked, creased, etc. but it costs a very impossible experience to be able to torn or ruin a lot of books at the same time. On other words, 1 book can get ruin at a period of time. Also, a book even though it was soaked, I believe can sometimes be read even though it has that wavy pages. On the other hand, and e-book reader, cannot be torn, creased, etc. but it can possibly break when it fell from a high place or soaked into water but e-book reader has a different case, once a reader breaks the hundreds of books on that machine disappears too and It's very hassle to restore all of that. Physical books also last longer than e-book reader when given the same care. So in this factor, physical books are much durable.
4.) Sentimental Value. Physical books can be inserted with notes, can be a gift one by one, can be wrapped one by one, can be passed to the next generation, can be a vintage or old book, you can have them signed, the sentimental value possibilities are endless. On the other hand e-books can be, yeah, purchased and you can have gift cards, yeah. (Real Books - 2 ; e-Books - 2)
5.) Experience. This one has to be the most wanted thing a reader can think of. The physical book just gives you so much experience than the e-book. The smell of freshly printed pages are like the bibliophile's drugs. The feeling of turning the last page of the book is a priceless moment. The feeling of rereading the exact same book that you read once will never replace e-books. On the other hand, e-books provide a much modern experience, you can easily bookmark, put notes, or search in the dictionary. Though for me, regarding this factor, the real book is no match for an e-book.
6.) Convenience. A reader will be more inspired to read if the book or reading experience is convenient. The physical book, is very hard to read while laying in your bed, it's also very hard to do another task such as chatting, eating or something while reading a physical book. Real books also are heavy and not perfect or recommendable to bring, especially if you're a fast or wide reader, during vacations. E-Books, on the other hand, are much convenient to read. It only requires one of your hands to flip the page and you can bring a thousand of book in just a single device.
My final evaluation is a tie. 3 points for Real Books, and 3 Points for e-Books, but because I'm the judge here, I'm adding a thousand points for the real books, because of the factors above (mainly with sentimental factor, and experience). Don't judge me. Just don't. And so for me, the Real book is much better. Though, I believe that it's not about how, when, what, why, where, you read a book, it's about learning from, enjoying with, and living in the story.
