Monday, August 4, 2008

eBooks have Arrived, and How!

Here is an excellent guest post from Heather Johnson -- all about eBooks.  She is probably "preaching to the choir" here, but the points she makes about eBooks are worth revisiting and remembering.  This is a great article to pass along to your friends and relatives to explain the importance of eBooks.

ereaders

The world we live in is increasingly becoming digital, and books are no exception. Paper and print have transitioned into bits and bytes that are floating around in cyberspace ready to be downloaded to your computer or mobile device at the click of a button. You no longer have to set foot in a bookstore if you choose – your reading habits are taken care of by your friendly cyber-neighborhood e-store. True connoisseurs of the art of reading are yet to become eBook aficionados, but what they do not realize is that there are various advantages to the electronic version of books that their papery counterparts do not offer:

· Most of them are free: The Gutenberg Project, the brainchild of the inventor of eBooks Michael Hart, is an initiative to convert as many books to eBooks that are available to all as free downloads.

· They last forever: Paperback novels and books tend to tear and lose pages with time and improper handling. Digital books are not prone to such damages.

· They take up no shelf space: Your eBooks need virtually zero physical space and don’t demand shelves and libraries. They only occupy space on your hard disk which is a part of your computer anyway.

· They reside on your computer: Anywhere you take your laptop, your whole library comes along. You don’t have to tote heavy books in your luggage just so that you have something to read on long flights and journeys.

· They can be read with PDAs: Various eBooks are available as downloads on your personal digital assistants and smartphones. The Gutenberg Project offers free software called Plucker to help read your eBooks on your mobile handheld device.

· They are also available as audio files: Most eBook readers provide options to listen to the books as audio files.

· They protect the environment: eBooks do not consume paper which means that a smaller number of trees have to be cut in order to produce books.

· They are cheaper to publish: Anyone can make eBooks of their work and get it published online with just the minimum number of resources.

· They have a larger reach: With the popularity of the Internet, eBooks reach more people than regular books ever will.

The Internet has made avid readers out of those who have never before shown interest in the habit of reading, and it’s all due to the easy availability and access that eBooks provide.

By-line:

This post was contributed by Heather Johnson, who writes on the subject of teaching certificate. She invites your feedback at heatherjohnson2323 at gmail dot com.

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