Travelling back home on the evening fast train, I was lost in my battered old Shakespeare Paperback until a lady sitting right across me caught my eye. Well actually it was a chic little black gadget in her hand that caught my eye. No it was not an i-pod or a Blackberry considering the way the lady was intently staring at the screen. On a little closer inspection i realised that it was an e-book reader!!
Smart, sleek, portable and capable of storing hundreds of books at a time, the Electronic Book Reader saves up precious space in you bag while you're on the move and you can practically carry your library with you. I looked depressingly at my paperback... was the e-reader soon going to put the traditional books out of circulation? Was the good ole paperback nearing extinction?
Sitting there, my mind already taken over by the above mentioned depressing thoughts, i decided to do a mental E-Reader v/s Paperback debate :)
What tosses the coin in favour of the E-reader is its portability. Now who wouldn't like their bag to be a little lighter while going to work in the jam packed Mumbai locals? Also, the e-reader has a vast memory and so you can store as many books you like in it... so if mid way you finish off a book, you do not need to wait until you reach home to pick up a new book to read!!
And then there came a deluge of women rushing right inside the compartment and the crowd wouldn't stop knocking our knees!! Let me tell you, in such a situation, it is far more easier to take care of your book as compared to your e-reader. What would happen at the most is that the book might be knocked out of your hands, it will fall, get a little dirty or a page or two might come loose. But the e-reader won't survive such an assault and there goes your Rs. 15,000 down the drain!
Also, while you can flip through the pages of your book easily, the constant tapping and scrolling through your e-reader gets a little frustrating and strains your fingers after a while.
What will happen if your book is stolen? Well you can always go back to the bookstore and buy a new one... 300 bucks are not that heavy on our pocket; but if your e-reader is stolen (and the chances of this happening are very high), how many people will be as willing to shell out 15-20k for a new gadget again?
And lastly, there is no comfort as lying on your soft couch, sipping a nice cup of coffee and reading a book.. the gentle sound of the turning pages is extremely soothing :)
While I do not say that the paperback is Better than the e-reader or vice versa, the mental debate put me at ease because i know that the e-reader along with its amazing pros also has it cons and so it will surely never kill the paperbacks.
Hi there..thanks for visiting my Kindle blog. You have very aptly put in all the arguments that one might have before getting an ereader. However, the convenience of an e-reader is indeed unbeatable. Once you probably migrate to this form of reading, you might just have a hard time getting back to fat heavy books!..and yes, I use the ereader in the crowded trains here!
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